Re: Speech Problems..'s Story/Survey

[Guest guest]

Ross was born on July 30, 2001, the result of a very pleasant

and easy pregnancy. Weighing in at an even 6lbs., he was 3 weeks early but

very strong, and required no special attention. was nursing with no

problems and really thriving. However, he was consistently reaching his

milestones in the " late range of normal " and was a very quiet baby, never

really

cooing or babbling. I just thought he was quiet as compared to his older

brother

, who was practically talking since the day he was born!! Our

pediatrician recommended Early Intervention and began receiving services

before

his 1st birthday. His delays at that time were mainly attributed to his

premature birth.

As time went on it was clear that had a major Speech delay. The Dr.

was persistent in testing and ruling out various possible causes of this

delay. When was 20 mos. old, Dr Chung told us that she wanted to test

and rule out Mosaic Down Syndrome. My husband and I had never even heard of

MDS but Dr. Chung was very familiar with it. We could not believe it and were

sure that the tests would be negative. During the week that we were waiting

for the results, my sister found the IMDSA group on the web. What a

blessing that was!! I was able to read personal stories about children with MDS

and learned so much information. After much reflection I knew in my heart that

my had MDS...and he did.

At 2 1/2, was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech, which is a situation

in which your brain is not able to tell your mouth what to do in order to make

sounds (Motor Planning). had intensive Speech therapy to first learn

and retain all the movements necessary to make the sounds, then to combine

these sounds to make words. It took over 1 year to learn to make the F

sound...I'm talking hard work. But using a talented and highly motivated team

of

professionals working together using all the methods from PROMPT to a

specialized Oral Motor Program designed by Lori Overland, to flying out to

Michigan

to meet with Kaufman, the APRAXIA expert, worked his little

heart out!!! Thankfully, when was almost 3 and ready to enter Pre-school,

I

became very friendly with my neighbor who is a phenomenal Speech Therapist,

and she began treating .

How is now??? “Kirk, we are not playing Star Wars now, we are eating

dinner!†or “, come on, the bus is here!†This from a child who at

age

2 could barely make any sounds and at age 3 had 3 words. It was a very hard

road and I thank God every day for the loving “TEAMS†of OT’s, PT’s,

Special

Education Teachers and the wonderful leadership of the Speech Therapists,

which words cannot describe. But most of all I am thankful for whose

perseverance, work ethic and effort are top notch. He has and continues to work

tirelessly and happily in order to learn and master his goals!!!

At 6 years old, was fully included in Kindergarten and was at or above

grade level in reading, writing and math. However his speech delays

continued...and he began Stuttering. This was almost worse than the Apraxia!!

For

these reasons, I had repeat Kindergarten, to get the stuttering under

control and to advance his social skills and language development. He has come

a

long way!!! He will be going to first grade in the Fall and is doing very

well.

I would love to participate in any study and appreciate and thank Libby

Kumin for her continued support. Much Thanks... Ross Mom to 11,

7

MDS, and Kirk 5

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