I’ve been brainstorming this month and decided that on Fridays I will share the highs and lows of our week with apraxia. This week has definitely had its ups and downs.
On Monday and Tuesday, Jake’s speech pretty much disappeared, which upset me. He replaced all of his words with “mama,” the cure-all word for everything. On Tuesday in the car, I finally said, “Jake! You have to use your words! Mama can’t stand it when you say mama all day long. You have to tell me what you want.”
Ten seconds later, he said, “mama,” which came out more like “momo.” When I looked back in frustration he just smiled that big smile and his fingers formed a perfect “I love you” sign. Yes, my heart melted.
Speech therapy did not go well on Tuesday; he significantly regressed with the /p/ sound. Last week, his SLP said that if he gets 90 percent of his Kaufman words right, three times in a row, he can move on. Last week, he successfully said almost all of his beginning words for two consecutive sessions, but today we started over.
My mom, who lives close by, came over Monday and Wednesday afternoon for the third week in a row to work with him on his words. He’s been unfocused with my husband and I, so we were trying something new. He did no better with her; he still wants to play and although he said most of his words, he didn’t give 100 percent.
Time of day I think is important. My mom has tried coming over at 3:30, right after nap time, but he’s still a little groggy and his brothers are home from school. ‘Work? No thank you,’ says Jake. I’ve also tried keeping him awake and having her come at 2:00 while I go get the boys from school; that way, they have one-on-one time. But that doesn’t seem to work either. Probably because he’s in school those days and is tired.
On Wednesday night – presto, presto – Jake’s voice returned and he greeted my hubby with a big, “Hi Daddy!” when he came home from work. He played abcmouse.com for about 30 minutes and colored the “Art” segment of his lesson plan with different colors. He’s never done this before, even though I used to encourage him to, “Color the grass green, color the sky blue,” etc.
Thursday’s speech session with our SLP was much better. /P/ wasn’t completely back, but almost. And, he got 50 percent of his two-syllable words right (baby, bubble, daddy, mommy, puppy, etc.), which was a big improvement from last week. I think the Kids’ Express KET SET 1 has helped with these particular words during his time away from the SLP’s office.
Now, it is Friday and Jake is sick with a stomach bug. I’ve been up since two a.m. and my Lil’ Man has thrown up at least ten times today. I’ve been planted on the couch all day, waiting for each episode, and ironically it feels like we are taking some much-needed time off. Jake’s been watching television, which he hardly ever gets to do, and I’m praying that God heals his little body as quickly as possible.
Jake's Journey with Apraxia 