Since Xander has started sitting in the highchair to eat, Gavin has decided that hey he wants a turn too. It's so funny, but he eats almost all his meals in it now. A year ago if I had tried to put him in the highchair, you would have thought I was putting him in a torture chamber! And if I'm too slow or busy, he climbs on the table so he can climb into the highchair. I'm okay with it because it helps contain an active two year old and his mess!
At the beginning of June, we finally got the thumbs up from the eye doctor to stop patching. We were all quite excited to get the good news. As long as his eyes don't revert, we should be done patching, and his glasses will be enough to keep his vision corrected.
For those of you who have met Gavin know he is a sweet, active, little boy, but he doesn't talk very clearly. He's good at copying sound effects and as a baby snorting like a pig when he cried, but he's always had trouble with words. For a while, I thought he would eventually "catch up", that he was a "late bloomer." When he turned two and was still so far behind, I was a little concerned and wanted to have it checked out. We had his ears tested first, and then when those results came back normal, I went to the Infant and Toddler program here in Idaho. In November, they tested Gavin both developmentally and specifically on speech. He was where he needed to be on everything accept articulation. So he qualified to have a speech language pathologist.
Finally in January, one of their SLPs had an opening and Derek began coming once a week to work with Gavin for an hour in our home. Gavin loves it when Derek comes to play because he brings cool toys with him. We've seen a lot of improvement since November between getting his glasses and working with an SLP, but his progress is slow compared to other children his age.
About two weeks ago now, we had a meeting with our social worker and Derek to see if the goals we had made in the beginning needed to be adjusted to better meet Gavin's needs. During this meeting, Derek expressed some concerns and told us that though it's not an official diagnosis at this point he believes that Gavin has a speech disorder known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Because Gavin is young and has only been in speech therapy a few months, Derek didn't want to label and diagnose Gavin yet, though Gavin displays several red flags of this disorder. He asked me to do some research and see if I thought apraxia, or dyspraxia, fits Gavin because often times mother's intuition is correct.
So that's what I have been doing... RESEARCH. Derek gave me this site: www.apraxia-kids.org. I have also looked other places online and gotten books from the library, including one called The Late Talker. From what I've read, I also believe that there is a very high probablity that Gavin does have apraxia. I've had mixed feelings over this likelihood. On the one hand, I hate seeing something that I can't just make better with a kiss, and I don't want my kids to go through really hard things. On the other hand, with a probable diagnosis we can focus the help Gavin gets to really be what he needs, and I also know that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle, and through Him anything is possible: our greatest weaknesses can become our greatest strengths. Hard things in life are how we grow and come to know God. With a lot work and effort on all parties involved, apraxia is fixable. Gavin can learn to speak clearly, but it's a slower road than we first imagined. But we are so proud of him and the progress he has made in the last six months!
For those of you who have met Gavin know he is a sweet, active, little boy, but he doesn't talk very clearly. He's good at copying sound effects and as a baby snorting like a pig when he cried, but he's always had trouble with words. For a while, I thought he would eventually "catch up", that he was a "late bloomer." When he turned two and was still so far behind, I was a little concerned and wanted to have it checked out. We had his ears tested first, and then when those results came back normal, I went to the Infant and Toddler program here in Idaho. In November, they tested Gavin both developmentally and specifically on speech. He was where he needed to be on everything accept articulation. So he qualified to have a speech language pathologist.
Finally in January, one of their SLPs had an opening and Derek began coming once a week to work with Gavin for an hour in our home. Gavin loves it when Derek comes to play because he brings cool toys with him. We've seen a lot of improvement since November between getting his glasses and working with an SLP, but his progress is slow compared to other children his age.
About two weeks ago now, we had a meeting with our social worker and Derek to see if the goals we had made in the beginning needed to be adjusted to better meet Gavin's needs. During this meeting, Derek expressed some concerns and told us that though it's not an official diagnosis at this point he believes that Gavin has a speech disorder known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Because Gavin is young and has only been in speech therapy a few months, Derek didn't want to label and diagnose Gavin yet, though Gavin displays several red flags of this disorder. He asked me to do some research and see if I thought apraxia, or dyspraxia, fits Gavin because often times mother's intuition is correct.
So that's what I have been doing... RESEARCH. Derek gave me this site: www.apraxia-kids.org. I have also looked other places online and gotten books from the library, including one called The Late Talker. From what I've read, I also believe that there is a very high probablity that Gavin does have apraxia. I've had mixed feelings over this likelihood. On the one hand, I hate seeing something that I can't just make better with a kiss, and I don't want my kids to go through really hard things. On the other hand, with a probable diagnosis we can focus the help Gavin gets to really be what he needs, and I also know that the Lord never gives us more than we can handle, and through Him anything is possible: our greatest weaknesses can become our greatest strengths. Hard things in life are how we grow and come to know God. With a lot work and effort on all parties involved, apraxia is fixable. Gavin can learn to speak clearly, but it's a slower road than we first imagined. But we are so proud of him and the progress he has made in the last six months!
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