So, I went back to work this past month. As I was going through my new caseload and reviewing files, I came across a boy I’ll call Ben. Ben was a nonverbal Kindergarten student in the Spanish classroom with above average intelligence. Ben had suspected Childhood Apraxia of Speech. The SLP who was substituting for me, wrote me an email saying, “he has no motivation or desire to communicate right
I have been antsy since the poor and disappointing experience I had in the school district. Poor Ashlynn has once again been subjected to constant therapy all day long. In addition, I couldn’t stop thinking that I still have a month until she starts school and therapy, and then it might be another month or more after that to “give the therapist a chance.” We could potentially be losing two
So yesterday we had Ashlynn’s initial eligibility meeting. I am so used to be the one running the meeting and telling parents the results of testing, that it was a little surreal to be on the other side of the table. I have to say that the entire process was underwhelming and I left less than impressed. You would think that knowing I am an SLP for a neighboring school
I’ve decided I have to turn this unique situation as an SLP and a mother to a child with apraxia into a positive experience. I can’t keep sitting around feeling depressed and worried. I”m a believer in signs from God, and I believe this a big one that has the potential to positively impact others’ lives. I’ve decided to make videos of Ashlynn for two purposes: one is for me
When I held my baby, and even when she was in utero, I had visions and dreams of her being this incredibly verbose child with a large vocabulary. In fact, I dreamed she would be like me. The first few months brought all the regular milestones: tracking with her eyes, smiles, giggles, and even rolling over. However, she did have a case of very pointy toes. So pointy in fact,
Apraxia has been a topic of intense interest to me, ever since I was a speech/language pathology assistant. Apraxia is misunderstood even among the SLP community. Many SLP’s learned about apraxia, but may not have the skills or experience to correctly diagnose and/or treat it. I was fortunate to have a mentor who was familiar with the disorder and who took me to a professional development workshop given by Ruth