A Speech Pathologist Mother and Her Daughter Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Apraxia Adventures
You might notice that I've added another blog to my blog list (lower right). It is called Apraxia Adventures and is written by a mother of a young daughter with apraxia. She attended the CASANA conference held this past weekend and wrote a great post about a session she attended that was conducted by five young adults who had all been diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech when they were little. Laura's thoughts about the session and the young adults who conducted the session are a valuable read for anyone who wonders what the future holds for their little one.
Difficult in pairs
Ava is experiencing a return of the Mama Phase. See here and here for the original version of the Mama Phase. I'm sure it didn't appear from nowhere, but somehow I didn't notice until it hit critical. Ava now wants me to do everything for her and refuses to accept attention and assistance from anyone else. She doesn't want her Daddy to kiss her hello or goodbye. She doesn't want her Daddy to get her from her room in the morning or after nap. She doesn't want her Daddy to help her go to the bathroom, dress her for bed, read her stories, get her milk, wipe her face, or anything else. "No! Mommy do it!" is the phrase we hear all the time around here.
This time, we know better than to give in. We learned last time that giving in only makes it worse. We also know that the way to fix it is to give her reduced Mama time and extra Daddy time (making it fun) until the phase passes. It is even more "fun" this time around though because she has so much more speech. As she was pitching a huge fit the other day because Daddy happened to be the one carrying her out of Chick-Fil-A instead of Mommy, she tried a variety of tactics to get him to switch. "I need Mommy" didn't work. Then she tried, "I need to pee, I need to go poopy, I need to get down." Sigh. These situations are even more fun in a crowded public setting. So that's Ava right now.
And then there's Michael. It just wouldn't be as much fun if my children didn't experience their difficult phases at the same time. I remember saying the following statement. I remember saying it to multiple people, on multiple occasions, over several months if not years. I really should have known better. I said, "Unlike Ava, Michael is fundamentally a rule follower. He usually pretty much listens to what I say and doesn't question it much."
Oh boy. Little did I know that he was just saving up all his defiance for 3 1/2 instead of for the "terrible twos". You name it, he's trying it right now. Where did my sweet, compliant little boy go? I say, "Don't do X." He immediately responds by doing the forbidden action. Then, in the action specifically designed to increase my temper into the red zone he giggles and runs around in glee at my obvious anger. He's hitting, throwing, and making messes several times a day. In his defense, they're all pretty low level versions of those things and he's obviously just testing, but it is driving me crazy. I need to take a step back and come up with some kind of plan, because I really don't like the amount of yelling I've been doing recently and it isn't working anyway. Ideas?
Oh, and as a bonus, when not dealing with all of the above, the Why phase rages on here as well and it is contagious. Now they're both at it. They take turns. This one doesn't bother me as much though. It gets to the point where it is just funny. I enjoy trying to think of the answer to the next why that I know is coming as soon as I finish the last response.
I hope all of your parenting adventures are going more smoothly than mine.
This time, we know better than to give in. We learned last time that giving in only makes it worse. We also know that the way to fix it is to give her reduced Mama time and extra Daddy time (making it fun) until the phase passes. It is even more "fun" this time around though because she has so much more speech. As she was pitching a huge fit the other day because Daddy happened to be the one carrying her out of Chick-Fil-A instead of Mommy, she tried a variety of tactics to get him to switch. "I need Mommy" didn't work. Then she tried, "I need to pee, I need to go poopy, I need to get down." Sigh. These situations are even more fun in a crowded public setting. So that's Ava right now.
And then there's Michael. It just wouldn't be as much fun if my children didn't experience their difficult phases at the same time. I remember saying the following statement. I remember saying it to multiple people, on multiple occasions, over several months if not years. I really should have known better. I said, "Unlike Ava, Michael is fundamentally a rule follower. He usually pretty much listens to what I say and doesn't question it much."
Oh boy. Little did I know that he was just saving up all his defiance for 3 1/2 instead of for the "terrible twos". You name it, he's trying it right now. Where did my sweet, compliant little boy go? I say, "Don't do X." He immediately responds by doing the forbidden action. Then, in the action specifically designed to increase my temper into the red zone he giggles and runs around in glee at my obvious anger. He's hitting, throwing, and making messes several times a day. In his defense, they're all pretty low level versions of those things and he's obviously just testing, but it is driving me crazy. I need to take a step back and come up with some kind of plan, because I really don't like the amount of yelling I've been doing recently and it isn't working anyway. Ideas?
Oh, and as a bonus, when not dealing with all of the above, the Why phase rages on here as well and it is contagious. Now they're both at it. They take turns. This one doesn't bother me as much though. It gets to the point where it is just funny. I enjoy trying to think of the answer to the next why that I know is coming as soon as I finish the last response.
I hope all of your parenting adventures are going more smoothly than mine.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Chipmunk
My parents took Ava Friday night. (Thank you Mom and Dad!) When they brought her home Saturday evening she was clutching a package of crackers in her hand like it was treasure. I'm still not sure what the story behind that was. Since we were about to eat dinner, I quickly confiscated the crackers but lessened the blow by letting her have two. She wandered around carrying them without eating them for a while but was eventually down to half a cracker.
In the meantime, Michael noticed the sudden appearance of crackers in the house and came to beg one for himself. I told him "just one" and was handing it to him when Ava rushed in from the other room apparently having overheard us. She popped her last half cracker in her mouth and held her hand out for more. I told her, "Absolutely not! You've already had your two." She thought about that for a moment, accepted that it was fair, and pulled that last half cracker right back out of her mouth and walked away holding it.
My little chipmunk.
In the meantime, Michael noticed the sudden appearance of crackers in the house and came to beg one for himself. I told him "just one" and was handing it to him when Ava rushed in from the other room apparently having overheard us. She popped her last half cracker in her mouth and held her hand out for more. I told her, "Absolutely not! You've already had your two." She thought about that for a moment, accepted that it was fair, and pulled that last half cracker right back out of her mouth and walked away holding it.
My little chipmunk.
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