“Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder. For reasons not yet fully understood, children with apraxia of speech have great difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech. a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of speech is a specific speech disorder.
The act of speech begins with an intention to communicate. Next, an idea forms, outlining what the speaker wants to say. The words for the desired message are put in the correct order, using the correct grammar. Each of the words are comprised of a specific sequence of sounds (also called phonemes) and syllables that must be ordered together. All of this information is translated from an idea and information about order of sounds into a series of highly coordinated motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate.
The brain must tell the muscles of these “articulators” the exact order and timing of movements so that the words in the message are properly articulated. Finally, the muscles must work properly with enough strength and muscle tone to perform the movements needed for speech.
In typically developing speech, children make word attempts and get feedback from others and from their own internal systems regarding how “well” the words they produced matched the ones that they wanted to produce. Children use this information the next time they attempt the words and essentially are able to “learn from experience.” Usually once syllables and words are spoken repeatedly, the speech motor act becomes automatic. Speech motor plans and programs are stored in the brain and can be accessed effortlessly when they are needed. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty in this aspect of speech. It is believed that children with CAS may not be able to form or access speech motor plans and programs or that these plans and programs are faulty for some reason.” - apraxia-kids.org
So we are preparing ourselves for a trip to Holland. I'm not sure how long we will stay. I'm still thinking we will make it to Italy, but I don't know when or how exactly that will happen. But the best part is that I get to be on this trip with Red Fish and my family so it will be okay wherever we end up. She is so smart, so special, and has lit up my life in ways I never knew were possible. Whatever this trip brings, we are going to find ourselves in a good place.
"When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland." - Emily Perl Kingsley
10 comments:
We love you guys! I just wanted to let you know that Christian routinely lists Red Fish as a member of his family, and he prays for her all the time. I think that you will really enjoy your stay in "Holland," because you have a talent for finding beauty in your surroundings.
What a great post. While I think your situation is unique, I often find myself in Holland in one way or another. Good reminder to look for the windmills and tulips and not worry so much about Italy.
While she may have this speech hurdle, all that I have seen in pictures of her creativity and spiritedness and kindness proves that Italy or no, she's got more going for her than most kids.
You're one of the best moms I know! I'm sure this "road bump" won't slow you down at all.
She is a very special girl, and she came to exactly the right family to take the trip with!
I just barely talked to one of Doug's co-workers wives about this because her daughter has it as well. I'm glad that you have a plan and feel at peace about everything. Good luck with everything and I know you'll all do great because of how great you all are!
Thank you for sharing that. You are a remarkable mother and Red Fish is a beautiful little girl. I think Holland is a beautiful place.
Dido to what everyone says. This is reminding me exactly of the way I felt when we found out that josh was going to have a cleft. It was hard in the beginning to imagine what the future would hold. But as the future cane we were able to deal with the issues at hand and I found that things weren't as bad as I expected them to be. We still deal with issues all the time, but with heavenly fathers help I know we can accomplish anything. I know you and your family can too. She is so expressive in her artwork I know this will all work out.
I love that you are always so positive about everything. You really are the best mom, and I am so glad that I can call you my friend. Please let me know if there is anything at all that we can do for you or your cute family. I think Holland will be a fine place, as long as your with your family.
What a great post! I think Holland has been good for me although in reality it's a lot more work and some days I still miss Italy. Sometimes I forget we're in Holland and sometimes I think we've left Holland and have no idea where we are...it really is a journey for me. I'm learning that it really is OK to grieve over missing Italy sometimes.
Welcome to Holland. It's a beautiful place to be. We *heart* all of our therapists who have helped us make lemonade out of the situation we're in. HUGS to your family and PLEASE know you can call and talk at anytime.
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