While it seems like just yesterday that I wrote about our journey thus far with Wills speech, it has actually been quite some time since I spoke about that journey. I guess I have continued to keep this little department of my life a little on the private side. God and I have wrangled over pride and control in the past year or so and He has really opened my eyes and humbled my heart big time. I am so thankful that the God has molded me and may have given me this vessel to help other Moms in my shoes not only have hope for their littles but more so have hope in their Lord first.
All this to say that I am so humbled by the favor and progress that the Lord has provided us with the last six months. Since my post in October, we have made the big move to Charleston and had to say goodbye to our first SLP(speech and language pathologist), Cheryl. I teared up on our last visit with her. Not because she miraculously got Will to talk but for the first time in his life he felt understood thanks to her working with him and equipping us with information. In our time with Cheryl, the phrase that she kept using to describe his issues was "motor planning". She used those words a lot and quickly concluded that he had a ton of thoughts in his head but was super frustrated because he couldn't express those thoughts and just felt terribly misunderstood. Hence, constant meltdowns and whining. We were told to keep up with therapy and that a lot of kids who have trouble with motor planning will turn the corner and their language will just catch up and communicate all of a sudden. She encouraged us to really rely sign language to communicate with Will to help with his frustration and encourage verbal language as well. This helped his confidence so much. We went from whining and pointing at everything to learning the sign for his wants and needs. Still very very little verbal communication though.
As our season in New Jersey ended I started making plans to get him in therapy in Charleston as quickly as we could. I had no idea what a process this would be since it was such a smooth process getting him plugged in in New Jersey. Long story short we moved January 1st and it took almost till March to even get him evaluated to see if he qualified for services. It was so hard to sit by and wait knowing the progress he had made in his four months of therapy in NJ. My impatience in this process seemed to prove helpful in this scenario. I was always searching for a point of comparison for Will. I just wanted to figure out what we were dealing with. I was praying and begging with God to just open my eyes if there was something serious going on that we were all missing. While I felt confident that Will was a very intelligent little boy, I knew in my heart that a "speech delay" was not all we were dealing with. I would watch him while he played and just knew there had to be a name for what he was struggling with. I fell back to what Cheryl said and started researching "motor planning". I thought there would be all sorts of information on childhood development and speech, and was secretly hoping there would be helpful information on ways to encourage speech with this problem. I was disappointed that there really wasn't much information on "motor planning" in regards to speech. Everything I found related to children struggling with gross and fine motor issues, which was something Will didn't have trouble with. There was very little clarity until I found the word "Apraxia", Childhood Apraxia of Speech to be exact but it was what I had been looking for!
I had hit the jackpot on information that I felt like I had been spinning in circles for. There was videos, articles, and information that all matched up. These kids, this description, this was my Will! There was a term for what he was struggling with and I had found it! There was no doubt in my mind. So any who, Apraxia; the Mayo Clinic spells it out in detail here. My short mommy definition is that the part of the brain that tells the mouth how to move is either immature, miscommunicating or being lazy. Whichever it may be, it leave these kiddos unable to form their mouth into making the sounds they want. Reading through all of it made so much sense and all lined up with most of our mile stones along Wills two and a half years of life at this point. So why has no one said anything or clued me in on the fact that this might be what we are struggling with?? Well it turns out this is a condition that apparently doctors and speech therapists do not like to diagnose till later and they know for sure. That is just fine and I do not need a proper diagnosis to ease my heart. It was more so the finding that he is not the only child on the planet that struggles with this and it gets better, KIDS DO OVERCOME THIS!! Due to the nature of what these kids are working through it does take therapy and it does take time, but there is hope.
This gave me such confidence when we were finally set up with our SLP in Charleston. We were introduced to the best coordinator ever! Mrs. Lauren has seriously been an angel sent to us from the Lord. I knew so very little about childhood development and speech and now Apraxia aside from my little bit of google, and didn't even know what questions to ask or where to start. Lauren met with me, evaluated Will, answered any questions I had, and we made some short term goals. After explaining to her my little Sherlock Holmes endeavors on the Internet, she agreed that Will definitely had some of the tell tale signs of Apraxia but couldn't make a call herself, and would wait for an eval from our new SLP, Shannon. I was told that she was well versed in Apraxia and could not only identify if Will was in fact struggling with this but even better have a great game plan for overcoming it. After a pretty in depth evaluation and asking me a ton of questions about the ins and out of life with Mr. Will Shannon was fairly confident that Will in fact had Apraxia. His receptive language was very strong but his expressive language was super, super behind. This was no new news to Mama. I was so excited to not feel crazy and was so pumped that Shannon had a game plan for helping Will. Will loved Mrs. Shannon, she always came with cool toys and could hold his attention and move so fast it looked like something from a magic show. I would just sit and watch with my mouth hanging open. Little mans transformation in the first month was amazing! Shannon used different prompts, signs and cue to encourage Will to start forming new shapes with his mouth. He was like a different child! He realized with using these new fun sounds he can get what he wants so much more effectively and even sometimes sans whining! Keep in mind he was not speaking in full sentences, he was simply able to say "O" for open and "Daa" for Dino. Might sound pretty simple for your average Joe, but a reason for celebrating in the Fitts household!!
Kids with Apraxia usually don't babble very much if it all, Will was no exception. He made very few sounds as an infant. That is the way babies figure out how to move their mouth in different way to produce sound. Since he didn't do much of this as a baby the muscles in his mouth have become weak, and it turns out that he was very unaware of what was going on with his mouth. So much so that when he would start playing with something or using his hands a lot he would start to drool a ton! The weak mouth muscles also made very simple tasks seem difficult. For example, blowing bubbles. That very tight O shape that you have to get your mouth to form in order for you to get enough wind to make a bubble is hard for my guy! Will had made due for so long with the few sounds he knew how to say, so essentially we were starting from baby sounds. We are starting with simple consonant sounds and working on the ones he knows, to adding sounds together to form words. Like I said, I am know very little about speech lingo but have come a long way.if any of you reading this are SLPs or know a lot about speech, feel free to chuckle at my awkward description of all this! It has warmed my Mama heart to see such progress in him but it is also so motivating to keep working with him to reach our goals knowing that we have a journey ahead of us!
We knew that when Will turned three we would have to say goodbye to Shannon due to insurance stuff, so he has recently been introduced to his newest lady friend, Mrs. Liz. She happened to know Mrs. Shannon and got the scoop on all of Wills favorite things ( Trucks and Dinosaurs) and greeted him with a bag of each at their first meeting. Needless to say, Will Fitts is a fan of Mrs. Liz and would be regardless of her knowing his love language; she is so sweet and upbeat! This was another area the Lord orchestrated so beautifully! We were unsure of who would be Wills next SLP after he turned three and were not sure if we would be able to find anyone familiar with Apraxia. God provided in a huge way and not only is she experienced with kiddos with Apraxia but she has such a heart for these kids! We are so looking forward to be continuing to work with her on this journey and have her help Will to continue to strengthen those mouth muscles and form new sounds and words!
Here is the skinny of where we are now. We have figured out what Will's challenge is and are thrilled that we have such a great group of professionals working with him each week and training and guiding me to help him at home every day. We have made huge strides in his speech development but here's the deal...To your average English speaking person, Will Fitts is still not talking. He babbles and makes approximations and knows and understands what we are saying but he is no where near communicating the way a three year old should be. In fact Crawford is on the verge of being on his level expressively. He is not going to pick up and say full sentences one day; he is going to have to work really really hard for every single syllable. And guess what...That is OKAY!! Here is the great news. Will has not changed in the funny, smart, and animated department since my last update. He has his days like every three year old and, yes, our tantrums look a little different sometimes but he can be such a treat some days! We play dinosaurs and trucks; we go swimming and some days we go to the ever so exciting "bok bok" (Chick fil A) and life is good! We are enjoying every little milestone for both of our boys and celebrating big with every new sound or word! We have two little boys that are just as sweet and tender as they come every dream of mine comes true when I get to make dinner and watch them wrestle on the living room floor with their Dad.
My dose of humble pie has been a completely different flavor than I would have ever expected but it has made my relationship with Jesus that much closer and sweeter. Yes, my child has a pretty major speech delay but I don't think that makes me all that special; I'm just another sinner working on my stuff. He doesn't want me to work harder to make my life more perfect, He simply wants me to "take up my cross daily and follow him"( Luke 9:23), plain and simple. There are so many people that face big time trials with their children that bring me to tears just thinking about. We are so terribly blessed to have healthy children, no we are so incredibly blessed to have children. And, yes, some days I lose sight of that and lose my cool but thankfully His mercies are new every single day! There are days that I get on my knees and give the Lord every ounce of my being and He fills in my shortcomings and gives me peace and patience that I never knew existed. I really thought this whole thing was about me learning to have grace with my son but it has really turned into God and Will's grace for me. The Lord has shown me so much purpose and taught me so much on this journey and it just makes me to hungry for a closer relationship with Him. I have come to the place of not waiting for the day that Will fully speaks, but waiting for the opportunity for God to reveal more to me that I can pour out into my boys.
The prayers and encouragement are overwhelming my squad and I in the best way! We are so grateful for everyone who has kept up with us and reached out. I promise to not wait another nine months before giving a speech update again because it leads to them being super long! Woops! Thanks for checking in on the latest Fitts adventures!!
I had hit the jackpot on information that I felt like I had been spinning in circles for. There was videos, articles, and information that all matched up. These kids, this description, this was my Will! There was a term for what he was struggling with and I had found it! There was no doubt in my mind. So any who, Apraxia; the Mayo Clinic spells it out in detail here. My short mommy definition is that the part of the brain that tells the mouth how to move is either immature, miscommunicating or being lazy. Whichever it may be, it leave these kiddos unable to form their mouth into making the sounds they want. Reading through all of it made so much sense and all lined up with most of our mile stones along Wills two and a half years of life at this point. So why has no one said anything or clued me in on the fact that this might be what we are struggling with?? Well it turns out this is a condition that apparently doctors and speech therapists do not like to diagnose till later and they know for sure. That is just fine and I do not need a proper diagnosis to ease my heart. It was more so the finding that he is not the only child on the planet that struggles with this and it gets better, KIDS DO OVERCOME THIS!! Due to the nature of what these kids are working through it does take therapy and it does take time, but there is hope.
This gave me such confidence when we were finally set up with our SLP in Charleston. We were introduced to the best coordinator ever! Mrs. Lauren has seriously been an angel sent to us from the Lord. I knew so very little about childhood development and speech and now Apraxia aside from my little bit of google, and didn't even know what questions to ask or where to start. Lauren met with me, evaluated Will, answered any questions I had, and we made some short term goals. After explaining to her my little Sherlock Holmes endeavors on the Internet, she agreed that Will definitely had some of the tell tale signs of Apraxia but couldn't make a call herself, and would wait for an eval from our new SLP, Shannon. I was told that she was well versed in Apraxia and could not only identify if Will was in fact struggling with this but even better have a great game plan for overcoming it. After a pretty in depth evaluation and asking me a ton of questions about the ins and out of life with Mr. Will Shannon was fairly confident that Will in fact had Apraxia. His receptive language was very strong but his expressive language was super, super behind. This was no new news to Mama. I was so excited to not feel crazy and was so pumped that Shannon had a game plan for helping Will. Will loved Mrs. Shannon, she always came with cool toys and could hold his attention and move so fast it looked like something from a magic show. I would just sit and watch with my mouth hanging open. Little mans transformation in the first month was amazing! Shannon used different prompts, signs and cue to encourage Will to start forming new shapes with his mouth. He was like a different child! He realized with using these new fun sounds he can get what he wants so much more effectively and even sometimes sans whining! Keep in mind he was not speaking in full sentences, he was simply able to say "O" for open and "Daa" for Dino. Might sound pretty simple for your average Joe, but a reason for celebrating in the Fitts household!!
Kids with Apraxia usually don't babble very much if it all, Will was no exception. He made very few sounds as an infant. That is the way babies figure out how to move their mouth in different way to produce sound. Since he didn't do much of this as a baby the muscles in his mouth have become weak, and it turns out that he was very unaware of what was going on with his mouth. So much so that when he would start playing with something or using his hands a lot he would start to drool a ton! The weak mouth muscles also made very simple tasks seem difficult. For example, blowing bubbles. That very tight O shape that you have to get your mouth to form in order for you to get enough wind to make a bubble is hard for my guy! Will had made due for so long with the few sounds he knew how to say, so essentially we were starting from baby sounds. We are starting with simple consonant sounds and working on the ones he knows, to adding sounds together to form words. Like I said, I am know very little about speech lingo but have come a long way.if any of you reading this are SLPs or know a lot about speech, feel free to chuckle at my awkward description of all this! It has warmed my Mama heart to see such progress in him but it is also so motivating to keep working with him to reach our goals knowing that we have a journey ahead of us!
We knew that when Will turned three we would have to say goodbye to Shannon due to insurance stuff, so he has recently been introduced to his newest lady friend, Mrs. Liz. She happened to know Mrs. Shannon and got the scoop on all of Wills favorite things ( Trucks and Dinosaurs) and greeted him with a bag of each at their first meeting. Needless to say, Will Fitts is a fan of Mrs. Liz and would be regardless of her knowing his love language; she is so sweet and upbeat! This was another area the Lord orchestrated so beautifully! We were unsure of who would be Wills next SLP after he turned three and were not sure if we would be able to find anyone familiar with Apraxia. God provided in a huge way and not only is she experienced with kiddos with Apraxia but she has such a heart for these kids! We are so looking forward to be continuing to work with her on this journey and have her help Will to continue to strengthen those mouth muscles and form new sounds and words!
Here is the skinny of where we are now. We have figured out what Will's challenge is and are thrilled that we have such a great group of professionals working with him each week and training and guiding me to help him at home every day. We have made huge strides in his speech development but here's the deal...To your average English speaking person, Will Fitts is still not talking. He babbles and makes approximations and knows and understands what we are saying but he is no where near communicating the way a three year old should be. In fact Crawford is on the verge of being on his level expressively. He is not going to pick up and say full sentences one day; he is going to have to work really really hard for every single syllable. And guess what...That is OKAY!! Here is the great news. Will has not changed in the funny, smart, and animated department since my last update. He has his days like every three year old and, yes, our tantrums look a little different sometimes but he can be such a treat some days! We play dinosaurs and trucks; we go swimming and some days we go to the ever so exciting "bok bok" (Chick fil A) and life is good! We are enjoying every little milestone for both of our boys and celebrating big with every new sound or word! We have two little boys that are just as sweet and tender as they come every dream of mine comes true when I get to make dinner and watch them wrestle on the living room floor with their Dad.
My dose of humble pie has been a completely different flavor than I would have ever expected but it has made my relationship with Jesus that much closer and sweeter. Yes, my child has a pretty major speech delay but I don't think that makes me all that special; I'm just another sinner working on my stuff. He doesn't want me to work harder to make my life more perfect, He simply wants me to "take up my cross daily and follow him"( Luke 9:23), plain and simple. There are so many people that face big time trials with their children that bring me to tears just thinking about. We are so terribly blessed to have healthy children, no we are so incredibly blessed to have children. And, yes, some days I lose sight of that and lose my cool but thankfully His mercies are new every single day! There are days that I get on my knees and give the Lord every ounce of my being and He fills in my shortcomings and gives me peace and patience that I never knew existed. I really thought this whole thing was about me learning to have grace with my son but it has really turned into God and Will's grace for me. The Lord has shown me so much purpose and taught me so much on this journey and it just makes me to hungry for a closer relationship with Him. I have come to the place of not waiting for the day that Will fully speaks, but waiting for the opportunity for God to reveal more to me that I can pour out into my boys.
The prayers and encouragement are overwhelming my squad and I in the best way! We are so grateful for everyone who has kept up with us and reached out. I promise to not wait another nine months before giving a speech update again because it leads to them being super long! Woops! Thanks for checking in on the latest Fitts adventures!!
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