When Neil Sedaka blended the notes perfectly together back in the 1960s to sing the song, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, he didn’t know that one day someone might disagree with his heartfelt chorus. Anyone who has tried scripting with their apraxic child knows that breaking up a word or sentence into a simpler …
When Jake first got diagnosed with apraxia and I was on a Google frenzy, I read, When a child has Childhood Apraxia of Speech he or she may need 3,000 productions of a sound combination or word to learn a muscle memory for that combination. Whoa! To say the least, that statistic upset and overwhelmed …
Quite often, Lil’ Man gets bored with his speech homework, so I am always searching for new and exciting ways to switch it up. Modifying Cranium Cariboo – A Magical Treasure Hunt game was a huge success in our house. This game came out a few years ago and my older son loved playing it. …
Sometimes when you’ve been working on perfecting a certain sound, like /h/ for so long, the process can become diluted in your mind. And before I sat down to write this post, I had to really ask myself, When did it all begin? As I dove into my memory bank, I remembered the first /h/ …
In April of last year, Jake ended public therapy with Babies Can’t Wait and began seeing a private SLP at my older son’s private, elementary school for one thirty minute session each week. During this time, there was no rhyme or reason to the words and sounds he worked on each week, and his therapy …
I couldn’t let the 108th anniversary of Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2nd, pass without blogging about it. To celebrate the occasion, Jake’s school had “Who Hair” day this past Friday, which simply meant the kids must show up with some type of silly hair style. LD was so excited to fix his brother’s hair …
A couple of months ago, I wondered if Jake would ever say the sound at the end of words. When he first started speaking, I was just happy to hear him say something as simple as “boo.” But if he had to work so hard to say this simple word, how on earth was he ever going …
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the beautiful, wise words of this prayer. And now that apraxia is a part of my everyday life, I have …
When I first started this blog, back in December, I told myself I would not attempt to explain technical speech terms because I do not have a master’s degree in speech-language pathology. I do, however, have a journalism degree, which means I’m a lover of: learning new things, embracing fresh ideas, and then writing about …
Recently, I found a great “Speech Sound Acquisition” chart on Pinterest that gives the ages that certain sounds are acquired. When I first found this resource, I promptly repinned it, commenting passionately, “Why isn’t this hung up in every pediatrician’s office?” Seriously. Maybe if mothers had some basic knowledge of speech off the get-go, we …
Jake's Journey with Apraxia 