What apraxia taught me during the COVID 19 pandemic
It is March 14th, 2020.
Normally on this day my social media news feed is filled with jokes and memes about Pi day. Today though, I never even thought about it until I saw a faint shadow of a meme posted hiding in the onslaught of posts regarding the CoronaVirus – aka Covid-19.
I am 39 years old. In that entire time I have been exposed to the Gulf War and Desert Storm, SARS, 911, The Great Recession of 2008, H1N1 otherwise known as the “swine flu” that struck the country when I was giving birth to my first child in 2009.
I remember the “swine flu” vividly because children were not allowed to be visitors in hospitals during that time, and my niece was distraught she couldn’t come hold and cuddle her new baby cousin.
However, where our focus goes, our energy flows.
In uncertain times, it’s easy to solely focus on: Fear. Worry. Uncertainty.
If being a mom to a child with apraxia and related disabilities has taught me anything, it’s that I’ve lived and have been living with all of these things already. That is the reality of having a child with unique needs.
It has also taught me, that no matter WHAT the challenge, together, as a family, we can of course take necessary and sometimes uncomfortable measures, but at the end of the day, we keep our focus on joy, love, faith, and family.
Laura Smith, M.A. CCC-SLP is a 2014 graduate of Apraxia Kids Boot Camp, has completed the PROMPT Level 1 training, and the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP). She is the author of Overcoming Apraxia and has lectured throughout the United States on CAS and related issues. Currently, Laura is a practicing SLP specializing in apraxia at her clinic A Mile High Speech Therapy in Aurora, Colorado.