There have been times in my career that I have instantly connected with kids I first meet. Usually, time is spent building trust and rapport, which would be expected really. However, there are rare times when the connection is instantaneous. The first time this happened to me was with a Kindergarten boy who had apraxia. He was nonverbal, anxious, and highly sensitive. I had just come off of maternity leave,
“Well, my brothers have a little bit of a bigger brain, so they are a little bit smarter than me,” declared a second grade student I see who just happens to have apraxia. “I don’t believe they are smarter than you, or have a bigger brain than you,” I retorted. He was so sure though. Not in a defeated, depressed way. No, more in a matter of fact, I know
Nature versus nurture. It’s a phrase that comes up in my profession, even if it’s unspoken. I’m in the business of child language development, and nothing raises more eyebrows about nurture than a child who can’t talk…. or who has poor vocabulary knowledge…… or is lacking in language skills. Oh it comes up in psychology too. We’ve all heard the stories of twins separated at birth and raised in different
We went on a Santa Train again this year at Georgetown Loop Railroad. Ashlynn has never talked to Santa before. When she was 3, she cried and clung to her dad for dear life. When she was 4, we went on a different Santa Train, and though she wasn’t scared, she was too reserved to say anything audible enough for him to hear. This year a four year old girl
I started at a new school this year, and since I specialize in CAS, the other SLP in the building gave a second grade student who has Childhood Apraxia of Speech to me. Not surprisingly I liked him immediately; just like I liked all the other kids with CAS I’ve had the honor of treating who came before him. I’ve only known him for about three months, but he is
For those of you familiar with my blog, I’ve spoke of “Ben” before. A little boy on my school caseload from a Spanish speaking family who has CAS and is nonverbal. However, IQ testing shows him in the 75th percentile! He’s sooo smart. I met him last year in Kindergarten, and we formed an instant bond. His Kindergarten teacher was frustrated that he wouldn’t talk; and I’m not sure if