It's more like one step forward, slide sideways and slip backwards a bit. It's not exactly where we started but it isn't where we want to be.
My little guy A is day time potty trained. No accidents. But the 13 day emphasis on toileting skills has caused him to loose some language.
I kind of expected it but didn't want to think about it. I had noticed it, but was in steep denial that it was actually happening.
Yesterday, he saw his speech therapist in over a week and she pointed out what I already knew. He had lost some sounds and clarity. "It's expected in children with apraxia. They just can't work on several motor planning issues at one time. Sometimes he will make great progress, sometimes he'll plateau, and sometimes he'll regress. But we'll keep working." That was supposed to make me feel better. It didn't. Neither did meeting up with a normal 3.5 year old.
That just slapped me hard. This bright, coordinated, well-spoken little boy who just ran circles around my little guy. And for the first time ever in his short life, A may have gotten the feeling that he might not be normal. I could see the hurt on his face when he heard this same sized fellow speak.
I came home and cried.
Then visited the Talking page to remind me of how far A has come in the past 15 months. When Andrew was first diagnosed I found The talking page and I was so discouraged. At 28 months, A was no where near any of the youngest entries. He could say Momma and Daddy, uh-oh, bubba, and bye. The rest of his language was grunting and stuttering uh-uh-uh-uh.
I thought he would never get to the point where he could even say his name. Or say Daddy clear enough for others to understand. We bought a name tag from escopes for his shoe in case if got separated form us because we feared it would be years before he could communicate. It was our greatest fear.
But he has made amazing progress.
We'll just keep working.
For as long as it takes.
2 comments:
He is such a lucky little guy to have a Mommy and a Daddy who won't give up on him.
For what it's worth, the cycle of making leaps in one area and experiencing plateaus or even regression in another isn't limited to children with apraxia. It's very normal to see a child who finally learns to speak clearly suddenly start looking like he's developed an inner ear imbalance. Children just don't multi-task well, as a rule.
I know it doesn't take away the heartbreak, but I hope it helps to bolster your hope.
{{hugs}}
Dy
yep, that I know. I just hate to see it. "A" fights for every little success and I hate to see him lose those hard worked skills.
but on a good note, when he does his yearly assessment, we won't have to put down "reliant on parents for all toileting activities." Yeah!!!!
As for appearance of an inner ear imbalance. "A" has the sensory issues on top of the speech thing. Everytime he makes a significant gain, he loses balance for a bit. He's fallen down the stairs twice since potty training. I stopped counting how many times he has just fallen out of his chair.
It's actually quite funny since he hasn't gotten hurt yet. We've considered velcro. LOL
Thanks for the encouragement. It is always welcome.
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