My dearest Ashlynn, Your courage amazes me daily. It inspires me and pushes me beyond any limit real or imagined. Today was your first day of 3rd grade. You have been waiting for this day since the last day of 2nd grade. Actually, quite possibly since the first day of 2nd grade when you told me,“After 2nd grade you I will be in 3rd grade!” I emphatically responded, “We need
What I learned today was our kids with apraxia are going to be okay. Empowering them with knowledge and giving them a platform to educate and be their true authentic selves is going to be the winning formula. Beyond resolving or not resolving, having residual effects or not, empowering our kids with knowledge and then giving them the opportunity to educate is going to change the world. It really is, and I know our kids may struggle in school, but they are going to win in LIFE.
“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
Ashlynn received two grants to help with her speech and occupational therapy over the summer! The United Health Care Foundation and the Lindsay Foundation made it possible! I am so grateful. Ashlynn will be back to getting intensive 1:1 speech and OT services. As far as speech goes, Ashlynn communicates her wants and needs. She has basic conversational skills and really does try to tell us what happened in
Let’s face it. Being a parent is rough. Whether you have a child with special needs or not, we all want for their happiness, that they will feel successful, that they will be confident, and that they will never hurt. Of course we know that without trials they cannot fully appreciate the successes, without sadness they could never fully experience complete happiness, without hurt they simply wouldn’t be human. School
Ashlynn turned four this Halloween, and it brought another milestone: being able to say “trick or treat” and be understood! When she was two, she couldn’t even attempt to say it. At three, she could say “ee o ee” but then clammed up and wouldn’t say it on command. At four though, we had success! She still needed prompting and encouragement, but she was able to say an intelligible “trick