A milestone...

[Guest guest]

As some of you older timers know, my apraxic son turned 8 today. It

has come without angst, without issue - and I want to pass that onto

today's newbies.

At 2, my son had no words - he said " da " for everything, and it was

hard to get that out of him. He was clearly VERY strong, but

couldn't quite figure out how to crawl right, and stood and ran at

11 mos instead. He also couldn't figure out how to roll himself

over, but did so by accident fairly frequently. No one was really

concerned because he was so clearly healthy - a whopping 24# at 4

mos. and off the charts huge on every scale there was. No failure

to thrive, here. You know how most babies lose weight when their

breast fed? Not mine... So, no one was really concerned - he was

healthy, happy, and doing MOST things on time.

Then, when I realized that he was, in fact, pretty different from

other 2 year olds, I took him into my doc who said he wasn't really

worried, but to get an eval if I wanted. I did, and got one of the

world's worst therapists. We just kept telling ourselves that it

might not be helping him, but it wasn't hurting him... Then the

therapist basically told me that he was apraxic AND dumb -

potentially retarded and that I was a deluded mother. How could I

POSSIBLY think he knew his letters and colors at 2?!??

Got a new therapist who rocked (NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER question

getting a new therapist - if you don't think yours is working, GET A

NEW ONE!). She worked with him very well and, even when he was

tired, she gave him the right amount of praise and kept him

working. Geez! We spent MONTHS on S,F and Th.

At 5.5 he was discharged from ST - kind of a surprise for me as his

pronunciation wasn't perfect, but it was, in fact, perfectly age

appropriate (he still struggled with Th, but could correct himself,

so we didn't worry about it - he says it fine, now). Big party.

Middle of preschool. Kindergarten came and went with him learning

tons, reading well and being generally happy. Now 1st grade has

come and gone, with him at the top end of his class (where a full

75% of the kids in-district test out as gifted). He's now in the

other room working transformers to their full extent.

So, for those of you just beginning this journey with a 2 year old

and wondering what the future will hold, remember that this can

often be overcome with lots of therapy and lots of love. It's a zen

thing, but if you hold in your head that your child WILL talk, then

getting there is just a matter of finding the path instead of adding

in the detour of " IF " - that's just a waste of time - especially at

2.

I'm going to transform Omega Supreme now and I'm sure at some point

I'll have to ask him to be quiet. What a nice present for me!

Marina