Jake's Journey with Apraxia

This time of year I am forced to clean out the sixty minutes of recording space in my FlipVideo camera and download any keepers into my computer so I can make room for new holiday memories. I had hoped to blog about the ghost of Christmas past and show a video of Jake’s speech from this time last year and contrast that with the ghost of Christmas present accompanied with a video of his speech today.

But as I scanned through each video, I realized Jake was virtually silent last holiday season. He was 2.3 years old and at best he had a four word vocabulary, which he didn’t even use on a consistent basis: ball, pizza, bye, and daddy. All the videos were of me saying, “say this, and say that,” but all he did was return a blank stare into the lens, smiling that big grin of his.

One year later, we have come a long way! My goal was to film Jake using the latest, greatest words he has learned in speech therapy, but he still doesn’t want to fully cooperate when he sees the camera pointing in his direction. Also, because it is the holidays, he’s taken a step or two back. He’s been sugared up, overstimulated with new toys, and I have let him slide for the past four days with his speech lessons at home. Unfortunately, these things have resulted in Jake talking less, but on a positive note, he’s been playing hard, enjoying being a kid, and having a blast!

Even though I wish the ghost of Christmas past could have stretched the truth a bit and shown me a word or two that Jake must have said last year, I am happy that he is responding to speech therapy and that he’s able to now say about fifty words consistently, although not always correctly. I remind myself daily, to focus on the progress he is making, instead of comparing him to other children his age. I know he will get there … one word at a time.