Learning as I go…

“It’s a funny thing, how much time we spend planning our lives. We so convince ourselves of what we want to do, that sometimes we don’t see what we’re meant to do.”
― Susan Gregg Gilmore, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

I had plans for my career and I still have plans, but my currently my priority is making sure my 2 kids receive the support, care and therapy they need. I do my best to educate myself about their condition, Childhood Apraxia of Speech.  I read books, blogs, visit CASANA’s website, attend workshops, follow others with Apraxia on Facebook.  At this time in my life, this is what I was meant to do.

So I’d like to share with you some tricks and helpful hints, I’ve learned on this journey with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

First, become an advocate for your child’s condition.  It is important to educate others about the condition, so this means educating yourself.  I would suggest visiting CASANA’s website. http://www.apraxia-kids.org   This website is an excellent resource and I use it to help me answer many of the questions I and others have about Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Facebook has been an excellent resource. I follow these pages, Mikey’s Wish – Verbal Dyspraxia Awareness, SLP mommy of Apraxia/Dyspraxia, Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA), APRAXIA-KIDS-Every Child deserves a voice group and my local Apraxia-Kids Pennsylvania Group.  These pages have become an excellent resource for support and education about Apraxia.  I am able to connect with other parents and share our stories.  Facebook is also a great way to share information about Apraxia.  I use Facebook as a communication tool to update family and friends on my kids’ progress.  Facebook provides me an excellent outlet and links me to a community.

Books are also an excellent resource.  These are two books I have enjoyed reading:

In our home I do my best to organize our speech resources.  I save homework lessons, word cards and other items our therapists provided for at home practice.  I have intended to keep notebooks for each child to document their therapy sessions and what they have learned and worked on, however, my iPhone is an excellent source for note taking.  Most importantly, I have made each child a binder.  In these binders I keep all of important papers we have received on our journey.  Paperwork from Early Intervention, IEPs, summaries of therapy sessions, diagnosis papers, calendars, and any other paperwork I feel is important to save.

I have returned to these binders a number of times.  I pull paperwork when I have progress meetings.  This paperwork is also extremely important when I work with our school district.

Collection of paperwork since Maya began therapy