Young Adult With Apraxia

[Guest guest]

Dear Listmates,

Congratulation to Kahlid and Mustafa!! When our kids do what many seem

to take for granted - the pride and success are so wonderfully sweet.

I have been a lurker, mostly, on the apraxia listservs. I wrote about my

advocacy struggles for 's last 2-3 years of high school and since then,

have " lurked " . Once , graduated, I really needed to see more of her

and the world than apraxia - I really needed a break. I am nearing a time

when I can finally organize all of the paper work on (probably more

than 10 large totes) and finally write our story in book form. I know from

raising my own daughter with apraxia, how hungry for information about what the

future can hold, so my book-to-be will hopefully serve that purpose. My

daughter, , just turned 22. She has developmental apraxia of speech,

mild

gross and fine motor impairment, visual tracking impairment - essentially

reading, writing, and talking all take her more time than most. She is

currently

ready to start her 3rd quarter at Columbus State Community College. She wants

to transfer to a 4 year college ( State) and become an athletic

trainer. She graduated from HS in June 01 and then spent two years in a

community

service program called City Year.

Her most remarkable trait is her perservance - she will keep at what she

feels important until it is done. Often, taking 3-5 times longer than others.

Going on to the community college, as most things are for her, is her choice.

She has several accomodations - a note taker, tests at the disability services

center, extended time for tests, etc. Her course load is more to the light

side and she works Saturdays and Sundays at Meijer bagging groceries, bringing

in carts, etc.

Her learning to drive was a journey/process, too. As most things seem to

be. She was terrified about learning to drive, as she had one time run into a

child while riding her bike. She was afraid of crashing. She had the

opportunity and was evaluated at Ohio State (mostly OT visual tasks and car

simulator). She passed the assessment, she felt mostly due to visual training

she had

over the years. So she took regular driver ed classes and had 14 hours of on

the road training with the trainer at Ohio State. She has had her temp lic

for 2 1/2 years. I'll tell you, it was really white knuckles for the first few

months of her driving. It was a much more consciously learned process, as is

most things with apraxia. She has not gotten her license because she will

have to be able to pay for her insurance which might happen this summer.

I just traded in a small car for a mid-size van so it will probably take a

bit more effort to get ready for the maneuverablity part of the driving test.

Probably one factor that has not made this a more immediate issue is that

took our city busses everywhere while doing her two years for City

Year -

they got a bus pass and were not allowed to drive. So she continues to get

bus passes and use the bus daily.

As our kids grow up - the issues change but I believe the basic

values/personality prevail. As a parent, emotionally, it is not such an intense

roller

coaster ride and normal issues of separation, independence, are part of the

puzzle. I'm always grateful when a " normal " developmental situation needs

attention.

Just a note about her bagging job - I called the store manager when

no reply to her application. I told him she was a hard worker with

a

good attitude and that she would probably not interview as well as most due to

her dysfluent speech. An hour later, got a call and was hired. So -

I told her that I could not do that for her indefinitely and that she would

have to learn to do that for herself. So, parental support does go on past

adolescence but hopefully, diminishes with time.