SLP Mommy of Apraxia

Tag: daughter with apraxia

  • Ashlynn update 3.10 years

    Ashlynn is in a regular preschool this year with about 15 other kids.  Most are typical with about six on IEP’s.  I asked the SLP if she was talking at all in the classroom, and she looked at me like I was crazy and then answered “yes?”  I presumed it meant she was surprised that I didn’t think Ashlynn was!  In the Spring, Ashlynn was still gesturing and pointing in the the classroom to express her wants/needs, even though she was speaking at home in 2-4 word phrases; so this is major progress!

    Ashlynn for all intents and purposes can be considered verbal at this point.  She no longer gestures to comment or request; rather, she relies on her speech to communicate.  Her sentences are approximately 2-4 word in length, usually including a subject and verb.  Since she started school, I’m getting a lot more of, “momma wook(look)!!” or “momma! watch!”

    Her Grandma and Grandpa both had surgery recently, and a cute thing she said was,

    “Dama (Grandma) ha (have) an owie, Papa ha an owie…..daddy ha an owie too?”  Haha  She says a lot of stuff now that makes me laugh.  I remember waiting for the day I would hear her say cute things, and actually being sad thinking we were missing out on all the funny things kids say as they are learning language….but we are experiencing it…just a little later than some.

     

  • Ashlynn play boats with daddy.

    Ashlynn play boats with daddy.

    This past Fourth of July weekend we went on our annual trip to Glendo State Park in Wyoming. My husband and I have been going since before we had kids. Without getting into all the details, once you go to Glendo for the Fourth, you always go back if you can! Last year we couldn’t go because I was having my son so we were very excited.

    When we went to the beach, Ashlynn saw my husband pull up on the jetski. She looked at her grandpa and me and announced, “Ashlynn play boats with Daddy?” I teared up immediately. I know I sound like such a sap, but when you are the parent of someone with apraxia and they say things and put novel words together in context, it is just the best feeling! I asked her if she wanted to ride the jetski with daddy, to which she enthusiastically replied “yes.” I of course then scripted the appropriate  way to ask the question and had her repeat, I want to ride the jetski with daddy.

    We still have a ways to go. We’ve been working on her using the first person “I” since before school was out. It’s just such a testament to how much repetition a child with apraxia needs, because I correct her and make her repeat her phrases and sentences using “I” every time she refers to herself as Ashlynn. We were so intent on getting her to learn her name that now it’s hard to get her to use something else.  However, I do know that she will get that too, and that’s a comforting feeling.

    Two years ago we took her to Glendo when she was 21 months old. At that time she had just learned to start walking really well and she only had a handful of word approximations. Unfortunately, anything that wasn’t a flat surface was difficult to walk on, so we still had to help her walk everywhere. She only had a handful of word approximations, and her favorite thing to say was “a dah.” and “hi.”  I’ve learned from my parent support group that most kids with apraxia have a go to sound that they use for everything, and “a dah” was Ashlynn’s.

    Fast forward though two years (and a lot of therapy and extracurricular activities to work on motor skills) and she was running on the beach and bending down on the sand. She is still unsteady in the waves and can’t be trusted around the fire pit for fear she will lose her balance and fall, but that will be a progress report for another time. For now, we celebrate that in two short years, a dah was replaced with a complex sentence asking to play boats with daddy, and now she fearlessly got up on the jetski.

    I look forward to coming years when she will be navigating around the campsite without fear of falling, swimming in the water, and maybe waterskiing or jetskiing on her own.  Also, I excitedly anticipate her talking our ear off around the campfire.

     

  • Switching private SLP’s

    There is no easy way to “break-up” with an SLP, but  I made the decision to discontinue private services through the SLP that was seeing Ashlynn.  A lot of parents wonder what is the best way, and I don’t think there is a right or wrong way.  I personally just wrote an email and said I was switching her to my mentor.

    I am very appreciative of all that she did; however, I feel like we had hit a wall with her therapy style.  Her style was to have my 3 1/2 year old daughter sit in a chair across from her for the entire 30 minutes.  The first 15 minutes she would do Kaufman cards, and the last 15 minutes she would play with a fun toy and have my daughter request and comment on it.  However, it was very controlled and my daughter couldn’t hold the toy or play with at all.  It had to be done all her way.  If Ashlynn threw a temper tantrum, she would look at me and tell me that when she has kids they are going to hate her because she won’t put up with that.

    Ya, well, good luck lady.  Kids throw them whether you “put up with them” or not.  It’s called being a toddler.

    After a couple months of this, my daughter was pretty over it.  The first 15 minutes turned into more like 20-25 just trying to get her to say the cards.  Apraxia therapy can be boring, but my goodness, I needed her to get creative!  I did bring up that maybe we could put it in a more naturalistic setting, having them play etc.  In her defense, she did try; but she still had Ashlynn sitting in a chair.  If she didn’t get something accomplished, she just told me to do it at home.  I remember thinking to myself that Ashlynn is one of the most compliant toddlers I have seen.  I wondered how “typical” toddlers who need to MOVE do in therapy with her?

    I tried to be polite, but I informed her that as a school based SLP, I don’t have the luxury of having my carryover plan include parents doing homework.  I have to get creative!  Kids need to be having fun, and besides, that’s how they learn the best!

    I had a great mentor whose therapy plans usually included 3-4 different activities in one thirty minute session. They were multi-sensory in nature, which are methods that involve using any sensory and motor input available to enhance verbal skills.  This usually involves some type of play activity that might have them throwing a bean bag, walking like a crab, or even using felt and velcro boards just to do something different with those same old picture cards.

    David Hammer, a well known CAS expert out of Pittsburgh does this as well.  I’ve been to a couple of his presentations now and he shows a lot of video.  I rarely see a child required to sit in a chair across from him. He has them doing puppet shows, hitting the cards with a nerf gun after they say their sound, or tossing bean bags in and out of a huge dinosaur’s mouth aiming at the artic cards.  He has them banging on drums to represent each sound or syllable etc.  This is the way to promote carryover, and I could see this SLP wasn’t going to do that.  She may have known the Kaufman method, but her therapy style wasn’t what I was looking for.

    That’s the thing.  There are always going to be reading programs, math programs, and speech programs out there, but teaching style or therapy style plays a big if not bigger part in facilitating change.

    When I was an SLPA (assistant SLP), I worked under a lot of supervisors and was able to see a lot of different styles.  All therapists are qualified and trained professionals that will most likely get the job done, it’s just some got the job done a lot faster.  That’s the kind of SLP I strive to be, and that’s who my mentor is.

    Since it’s summer and my mentor is off, I”m switching Ashlynn to her.  I know Ashlynn would have progressed, but I need her to progress faster, which means I need someone more multi-sensory. This is where I have seen my mentor shine and I’m excited for Ashlynn to start with her.

     

  • She is the definition of perseverence (a poem)

    She is the definition of perseverence (a poem)

    You went to speak, but the words wouldn’t come,
    Stuck in your brain,  so easy for some.

    You went to crawl with the best of intents,
    Yet your body didn’t know what your brain meant.

    You went to walk, big smiles and all,
    yet every time you tried, it ended with a fall.

    You went to drink from a big girl cup
    You would sputter and spit till it came up.

    A new car for Christmas kids want to ride
    Spins in circles, hard to learn how to drive.

    But

    You are a living example to persevere
    and with it you conquer all our fears.

    One day you said mommy, and I love you
    One day you crawled to daddy’s shoe.

    You don’t just walk but now you run
    You drink from any cup till it’s done.

    and I know in time you will do it all,
    with  more patience and practice
    you will conquer it all.

  • “I Will Wait” Struggles have made victory that much sweeter.

    Ashlynn’s progress continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  So many times I catch myself smiling and my eyes well up with tears to see her knock down all of her obstacles.

    Last month she learned to jump for the first time at 3 1/2.  At the beginning of the year, it broke my heart to watch her try on a classroom trampoline.  On their turn, all the other kids exuberantly bounced away.  When it was Ashlynn’s turn, all she could do was march.  Now, she is not only exuberantly bouncing, but she is catching air in my kitchen, on my patio, and even on her bed.  I was scolded for jumping on the bed, but I don’t care if she busts every spring and I have to buy  her a new one.  It’s worth it.  It’s all worth it.  Every penny spent, every happy and sad tear shed, every minute in therapy; it’s all worth it!  
    She also sang to a song that she had never heard before in the car last week.  Mumford and Son’s “I Will Wait” song was on the radio.  I was singing to it, and all of a sudden I heard her.  Her little voice filling the car with the chorus.  There are no words to describe the feeling.  I will buy the CD and put the album cover in her baby book. 
    These little triumphs, so sweet when  you have a child with a developmental delay.  She has taught me so much.  We may have had challenges, but we experience something so much sweeter when there are victories.  We appreciate all the little things so much more.  We never take for granted, not even for a second, her talking, her jumping, her SINGING.