Mark your calendars for the Denver Apraxia Fall Festival 2025 is happening on Saturday, October 26th at Centennial Center Park! This special event celebrates children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and brings our community together for a day filled with fun, awareness, and support.
This year’s Denver Apraxia Fall Festival 2025 features:
🍭 Trick or Treat Street – Kids can dress up and collect treats in a safe, inclusive space
🎶 Live Music – Enjoy performances the whole family can dance to
🎁 Silent Auction – Bid on fantastic items to support the cause
🏅 Apraxia Warrior Award Ceremony – Honoring every child with CAS
We’re also incredibly excited to welcome Jordan LeVan, President and Founder of The Apraxia Foundation. Jordan is a powerful advocate and the author of four children’s books based on his own experiences growing up with CAS. His presence is sure to inspire and empower our Apraxia Warriors and their families.
The Denver Fall Apraxia Festival is coming back this October 7th 2023. This event is a fundraising event to benefit The Apraxia Foundation, a newer 501(c)3 founded by an individual with CAS named Jordan Levan. Since I came on the apraxia scene back in 2012 when my daughter Ashlynn was first diagnosed, I have seen the culture around apraxia change, and for the better!
When Ashlynn was first diagnosed, I attended and even coordinated numerous walks for apraxia. Something that was always noticeably missing was the presence of older kids. There was plenty of young children but the attendance for tweens and teens was almost non existent. During my time as a coordinator, I would seek out older tweens/teens to be a guest speaker in hopes of drawing more older children; yet the events largely remained child centered.
Since Jordan came on the scene in 2019, confidently and unapologetically owning his apraxia, more tweens, teens, and young adults have “come out of the shadows” to do the same. The festivals were a conception designed by Jordan where he wanted to celebrate each individual with apraxia and have a “party.” Embedded in the event would be this idea of being proud of having apraxia and allowing a space where no one felt that they had to mask and could be their authentic self in a fun, accepting environment.
Last year, my dream of having older kids and younger kids at an apraxia event came true! The Denver Fall Festival brought in around 250 people with a mix of younger AND older kids. The legendary DJ Archie was definitely a BIG hit. Just look at these cuties with CAS!
Since my daughter was first diagnosed, I also always had a dream of having a spokesperson for apraxia. This dream is what caused me to hunt down Ronda Rousey, go viral, and make Good Morning America. Though that was great for awareness, no one seemed interested in being a spokesperson for apraxia. No on that is, until Jordan. Jordan’s social media grew at an exponential rate and he has written three, wildly successful children’s books! He founded The Apraxia Foundation with his core principles of apraxia pride and acceptance.
I’m so proud to support Jordan and everything he is doing to help others in the apraxia community. He is truly and inspiration and proof our children with apraxia can grow up and achieve all of their goals WITH apraxia. At the festival, Jordan made sure to talk to each and every child with apraxia and give them a heartfelt, personalized message of encouragement. It was truly touching and humbling to watch. Jordan has said he wanted to be who he needed when he was younger, and he is definitely the living embodiment of that.
Since Jordan has put himself out there, so many other young adults have been inspired to do the same with many reporting they used to feel ashamed they didn’t “grow” out of their childhood apraxia of speech.
I can’t wait to see the magic again this year, October 7th in Centennial, Colorado! See you all there!
Do you have a child with a disability? If you do, I’m almost positive that at some point in this parenting journey you have felt a pain of, “I just want him/her to be happy. I want other children to see them past their disability and for just who they are.”
Do you have a child without a disability? Have you ever been sad with your child when maybe they felt left out. If you have, I can confidently say to multiply that feeling by infinity and you’ll have a small understanding of how awful it feels.
Infinity. Infinity.
My daughter Ashlynn is now 12 and started middle school. She’s only ever been invited to one peer’s birthday parties. Despite being happy and kind with a smile so bright it could rival the sun, it’s always been a struggle for her to be included. A natural born socialite, Ashlynn was born with disabilities that have effectively worked as barriers between her and her desire to be social. How much does she long to feel included? I can’t really say for sure but anything I can imagine I’m sure we can multiply it by…infinity.
Infinity. Infinity.
Inclusion is not something new. Disability advocates including special education staff and others have been trying to do this successfully for decades. Though we’ve come farther than when I was in high school, where the kids in special education only had a hallway and never attended general education classes; simply sticking them in general education classes wasn’t including them either. As time went on, we have been learning. Inclusion is not just a place. If it were, kids on the outside would have LONG been included by now. True inclusion then is really a culture. It’s in a culture of people who all viscerally buy in to this idea that EVERY one matters. It’s a culture of many many people beyond disability advocates who accept we all have way more in common than we do not. So what are the possibilities then of an entire culture of people practicing inclusion? I’m no expert, but I think the answer is probably, infinity.
Infinity. Infinity.
That leads me to this new middle school my daughter Ashlynn is at this year. Even just walking through the doors, one gets the sense that THIS building houses a culture of inclusivity. It’s literally written in signs on the walls and throughout the building. In the girls bathroom, positive affirmation notes are hung above the mirrors. I remember washing my hands and wondering if instead of hating my reflection every day as a middle schooler how it might have helped to then read a positive affirmation above it? In hallways, inspirational messages are posted throughout like this.
Ashlynn at 6th grade orientation at Infinity Middle School
Middle school is full of so many changes. Changes to our bodies, our cognition and a way of navigating the world. Imagine a child going through that but reading that sign above Ashlynn every day. Could it change how they feel? I don’t really know for sure, but even if it helped ONE child, it’s worth it. Who knows how many that child would go on to help? Maybe the answer is more like infinity.
Infinity. Infinity
Ashlynn has thrived her sixth grade year being included in general education track and basketball. Her science teacher modifies her school work on his own. He takes responsibility himself for scaffolding her work instead of relying on the special education teacher. The dean of students who helps with traffic flow in the morning took to Ashlynn “helping” her do traffic duty. Every morning Ashlynn happily smiles and waves on the cars along side the dean. It would be impossible not to notice how Ashlynn is being included every morning by teachers, parents and students alike. You know what this fosters? Inclusion times INFINITY.
One of the deans at the Middle School. A real life super hero.
Infinity. Infinity.
The year culminated into something called the first annual “Inclusion Spirit Week.” Excuse me? I’ve worked in special education since 2004 and I’ve never ever heard of anything like this. To make it work though, all members of the community had to believe in and practice inclusion, because as I said, inclusion is not a place, it’s a culture. It’s a culture like spirit week for school pride! It’s a culture like team spirit. It takes a collective group of people, disabled and non disabled, advocates and non advocates who truly believe inclusion matters.
To be clear, inclusion week was not just about kids with disabilities. I’m writing about it because my child happens to have one. No this week had themes of not letting anyone sit alone, or how to be a friend when you see someone sitting alone and more.
The assembly featured games and incorporated ALL members of the student body participating in games against the teachers. That’s where Ashlynn came in. She was on a basketball team of students working to get more baskets in one minute than the teachers. She was paired with a peer buddy who helped her alongside other general education students working to defeat the teachers. How much did this mean to her? Well to quote Buzz Light Year, I’m pretty sure it was “to infinity and beyond.”
Yes I don’t say it lightly when I tell you that Ashlynn’s new school has been nothing short of amazing. Reading, writing and math are important, but so does kindness and mental health. This school offers all of that. What’s the name of such an amazing school you might ask? Well it’s no other than
Infinity….Middle School.
Our gratitude overflows. My husband balled through the entire assembly. The only way to describe happiness like that is nothing shorter than infinity.
Laura Smith, M.A. CCC-SLP is the mother to two beautiful children, one of which has a rare genetic mutation that caused a variety of developmental disabilities. She is the author of Overcoming Apraxia and has lectured throughout the United States on childhood apraxia of speech and related issues. Currently, Laura is a practicing SLP specializing in apraxia at her clinic A Mile High Speech Therapy in Aurora, Colorado.
Today Ashlynn had a track meet. Last meet I saw the other team had peer partners support the kids with disabilities and the para hung back. I asked the coach if this could be something they could do for Ashlynn. To my surprise, Ashlynn had a peer partner helping her navigate her track meet today!!Actually a few did but one in particular was very caring. She even ran alongside of Ashlynn during the 100 meter which resulted in Ashlynn meeting what was probably her best time ever! The best part was the sixth graders at the finish line who were cheering and then high-fived her 😭😭😭😭
I was compelled to go up to her at the end and thank her for her kindness. She smiled shyly and said “Oh it was fun! Ashlynn is awesome and I got to run more so I loved it too.” I’m glad my sunglasses were on because instant tears formed in my eyes. I told her she was a special person.
This world is changing people. I know there are so many negative things, but I’m gonna focus on things like this. Just saying hi. Including someone who is different. Kindness. It’s out there, and I’m so very very grateful.
When asked what she would say to someone with apraxia who is having a hard time, Ashlynn’s response was simple yet profound. “Say hi!” I thought it was an awesome message to start the school year! And to start the school year after a pandemic! When you see someone with a disability, instead of staring or instructing your kids to be polite and look away, advise them to just say hi! It means more than you think! 💙 Side note, the individual may not say hi back. Ashlynn went on to say that sometimes in situations like the pool, her words won’t come out of her mouth. It doesn’t mean she didn’t appreciate the person saying hi though. She did. So do us a favor? When your kids go to school tomorrow, will you ask them to “just say hi” to a kid who seems lonely, or different, or weird, or who has no friends? No act of kindness is ever to small and could just mean the world to someone else. 🌎 💙 Love,
And the clouds came but she was the rainbow, And the sunset, but she was the moon. The fire raged but she was the water,And the drought hit but she was the monsoon. The tears fell but she was the smile, And the worry reigned, but she was the brave. The dark threatened, but she brought the sunshine, And through her spirit we’ve all been saved.Penned by myself – Laura Baskall Smith
