Two months ago, when Ava had barely three words, and yet could understand everything going on around her I could see the frustration building. She had so much she wanted to communicate and it was all locked inside her. In fact, I think it was her frustration that was making her so stubborn about even trying to imitate. She wouldn’t even try. That was why we started by giving her completely new ways to communicate. We used signs and the communication boards and you could just see the light in her eyes. She was so excited to be able to communicate successfully.
We also started working on her speech. I worked with her at home and she was seeing first one (twice a week for half an hour – private therapist), then two (once every two weeks for an hour – local apraxia expert), and now three (once a week for one hour – state early intervention therapist) therapists. Once she experienced the tiniest bit of success, and the praise and attention that went along with it, she began progressing quickly and steadily. She went from simply learning how to and being willing to try to imitate, to imitating single syllables with familiar sounds, to imitating single syllables with new sounds, to repeating multiple syllables with those sounds, to spontaneously trying familiar and new words, and finally to making some two and even three word utterances. The progress in speech alone is wonderful and gratifying.
What is amazing is the personality and confidence explosion that is taking place at the same time. It’s like I’m finally getting to meet my daughter and she’s finally getting to meet the people around her too. Her bond with her family members has intensified exponentially. She and her brother are communicating and playing with each other so much more. She’s trying to sing. She’s engaging in imaginary play. She’s initiating play with other children instead of pushing away every advance another child makes. Today, at her two year pediatrician visit, she went through all of the usual things (being weighed, measured, having her ears examined and her heart listened to, etc.) with a minimum of protest. The last time we went, the doctor and I could barely hear each other over the constant screaming. Today we were able to carry on a conversation without raising our voices at all.
The changes are fairly dramatic and almost all positive. Fine, I probably could do without the loud and gleeful shouts of “no” which she seems to use just because she thinks it’s fun. Seriously, there’s an amused gleam in her eye. She obviously finds it entertaining. But overall I’m delighted to see her personality unlocked and I like the little girl I’m finally getting to know.
A Speech Pathologist Mother and Her Daughter Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sometimes I just want to be me
In an alternate reality I live in a world where I am completely selfless, well-rested, and perfectly healthy. In that reality, I have the energy and enthusiasm to devote hours of my time to my children. I would play with them, do enrichment activities with them (cooking, art, music, physical play, literacy, etc.), and make sure that Ava and I get at least 30 minutes of direct, targeted therapy time every day.
In this reality, our household has spent more time sick this winter than well. This makes everyone tired and cranky in addition to the actual symptoms of the current illness (stomach bugs, colds, sinus infections, pink eye, etc.). I seem to be operating on a constant sleep deficit which is being exacerbated by Ava’s desire to wake with the sun. In our area, the sun is currently beginning to show up before 6am. And, to be perfectly honest, I am selfish. I want some time to call my own. I want some time separate from my children. I want to read, or blog, or play a game, or do a craft activity, or have a quiet moment where I do absolutely nothing. As a stay at home mother, I am with my children from the moment they wake till the moment they go to sleep all seven days a week. As much as I love them, that is a lot of time to spend with a two year old and a three year old who don’t know the meaning of independent play yet.
Each day, Ava wakes from her afternoon nap at least an hour earlier than her brother. This is supposed to be her therapy time. It’s the perfect time to do it in theory. She’s well rested and with a small snack, well fed. Sometimes I just don’t want to. I’d rather let her watch tv while Michael finishes his nap. This effectively extends my afternoon break from about one hour to about two. But I feel doubly guilty about this desire. First, tv is the root of all evil (ok, not really, but how many articles do we read about how bad tv is for our children?). Second, it’s her THERAPY. It should be non-negotiable. I shouldn’t even be considering letting it go. It doesn’t matter that she’s getting it elsewhere anywhere from three to five times a week. I have the skills to supplement her therapy myself. I should be doing it. Boy do I hate the word “should.” Anyway, sometimes I just want to be mama (and an imperfect one at that), instead of being a therapist.
And that’s my confession of the day.
In this reality, our household has spent more time sick this winter than well. This makes everyone tired and cranky in addition to the actual symptoms of the current illness (stomach bugs, colds, sinus infections, pink eye, etc.). I seem to be operating on a constant sleep deficit which is being exacerbated by Ava’s desire to wake with the sun. In our area, the sun is currently beginning to show up before 6am. And, to be perfectly honest, I am selfish. I want some time to call my own. I want some time separate from my children. I want to read, or blog, or play a game, or do a craft activity, or have a quiet moment where I do absolutely nothing. As a stay at home mother, I am with my children from the moment they wake till the moment they go to sleep all seven days a week. As much as I love them, that is a lot of time to spend with a two year old and a three year old who don’t know the meaning of independent play yet.
Each day, Ava wakes from her afternoon nap at least an hour earlier than her brother. This is supposed to be her therapy time. It’s the perfect time to do it in theory. She’s well rested and with a small snack, well fed. Sometimes I just don’t want to. I’d rather let her watch tv while Michael finishes his nap. This effectively extends my afternoon break from about one hour to about two. But I feel doubly guilty about this desire. First, tv is the root of all evil (ok, not really, but how many articles do we read about how bad tv is for our children?). Second, it’s her THERAPY. It should be non-negotiable. I shouldn’t even be considering letting it go. It doesn’t matter that she’s getting it elsewhere anywhere from three to five times a week. I have the skills to supplement her therapy myself. I should be doing it. Boy do I hate the word “should.” Anyway, sometimes I just want to be mama (and an imperfect one at that), instead of being a therapist.
And that’s my confession of the day.
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Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Mini Review - First Hundred Words
This is a mini-review of First Hundred Words. Each time we see Ms. J (not including our initial visit), she sends something home with us to work on. The first time she sent home the book First Hundred Words with the instruction to use it to work on two word phrases.
This book isn’t simply a picture book like so many vocabulary oriented books. It is actually similar in concept to the Big Book of Exclamations. It consists of a series of two page spreads that feature a family in scenes that would be familiar to a young child. I’ve returned the book to Ms. J, so unfortunately this will only be a mini-review.
From what I can remember the picture spreads include a waking up scene, breakfast scene, bath scene, park scene, and bedtime scene just like the Exclamations book, but this book is longer and includes several other scenes as well. Because I don’t actually have the book any more I can’t tell you all of them, but one was a swimming pool scene and another was a drying off/getting dressed after the pool scene. These picture scenes are an entirely different illustration style from the Exclamations book, but I like them and there are so many details to find and discuss. This book is also much more reasonably priced than the exclamations book and is available in paperback which is a little easier to handle. I would definitely recommend it.
Here is a link to an article called Babies, Books and Speech Development. This is an article that reviews the Big Book of Exclamations and also gives some nice specific tips for using books to help encourage speech development. The article is definitely worth reading.
This book isn’t simply a picture book like so many vocabulary oriented books. It is actually similar in concept to the Big Book of Exclamations. It consists of a series of two page spreads that feature a family in scenes that would be familiar to a young child. I’ve returned the book to Ms. J, so unfortunately this will only be a mini-review.
From what I can remember the picture spreads include a waking up scene, breakfast scene, bath scene, park scene, and bedtime scene just like the Exclamations book, but this book is longer and includes several other scenes as well. Because I don’t actually have the book any more I can’t tell you all of them, but one was a swimming pool scene and another was a drying off/getting dressed after the pool scene. These picture scenes are an entirely different illustration style from the Exclamations book, but I like them and there are so many details to find and discuss. This book is also much more reasonably priced than the exclamations book and is available in paperback which is a little easier to handle. I would definitely recommend it.
Here is a link to an article called Babies, Books and Speech Development. This is an article that reviews the Big Book of Exclamations and also gives some nice specific tips for using books to help encourage speech development. The article is definitely worth reading.
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