Apraxia of Speech

Brian was recently diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. He has been receiving speech therapy services for just under one year and has made unbelievable progress! When Pamela the speech therapist first came to our home Brian was only able to grunt and whine. Learning his vowel sounds six or seven months into therapy was torture. Then about a month ago Brian just lit up. He started using all six vowel sounds and twenty or so consonants. They are isolated, but it's a long way from grunting and whining. And then... "ball." I thought I was going to cry! Wait, I did cry! Finally my little boy seems to be coming to life. He has discovered the satisfaction in verbal communication and is beginning to use more sign language as well as his new found words. "Yes, no, ball, cat, dog, Doug, more, bug, balloon, blue, bye, boat, Bob (yes as in Sponge-bob!) vroom, ow, whoa, wee..." perhaps there are more. For now, that's what I can list. I am filled with such pride and joy. I can tell Brian is too. He has come so far- and there's still a ways to go. But together we're going to get there. *****
I've copied the definition, explanation and treatment for Childhood Apraxia of Speech below this post because speech delays can often be confused with language delays. In Brian's case it's not just that "he's a boy and he'll have a language boom when he's three years old or so..." I hope to help others understand my little boy a little better.

"Apraxia, a motor-speech programming disorder, is diagnosed when a child has difficulty executing and sequencing the skilled motor movements needed for speech... the apraxic child finds it difficult to produce and combine phonemes (the smallest unit of speech sound) to create words, phrases, and sentences at will. These children hear the words but are unable to put the consonants and vowels togetherto form the problem syllables and words. They understand the words, and they know what they want to say, but they cannot execute the sounds and movements properly to form the words.
"The best generally accepted ways to help the apraxic child is through speech-language therapy utilizing repetitions and drills, conversation with the child filling in blanks and finishing thoughts, and modeling speech after someone offering the proper prompts and cues.
"Children can learn through the repetition of songs and rhymes and even the repetition of a sound they are comfortable with. Reading with the child and engaging him in a familiar story...in a theraputic setting or home..."
- Woliver, Robbie. Alphabet Kids: From ADD to Zellwegger Syndrome.

Confessions of a Stay at Home Mom

So here it is. My messy home. I've decided that there is no sense in pretending that I ACTUALLY keep a tidy home. Now, that having been confessed there is a difference between tidiness and cleanliness. There are three things that are required for cleanliness in my house:
1) The bathroom scrubbed top to bottom 1-2 times per week
2) Sweeping and vacuuming the floors (a constant battle but necessary with a crawling baby running wild in the house)
3) Laundry. Three children, a mechanic for a husband and me- well, I have to pick up the messy children, so my clothes are just as interesting as the children's.
Okay, so really there are four requirements:
4) Dishes.
Some of you may have read my status on facebook a few days ago about my frustration with dishes. I'm the kind of woman that likes to do a job until it's done and then I enjoy revelling in my accomplishment. With dishes, however, they are just never done. Many have suggested that the same is true for laundry, but I think it is a little different. Anyway, dishes, obviously is my struggle. Even when I try to wash a dish immediately after it's used usually situations arise that make it impossible for me to turn the water on, get the rag sudsy and scrub the dish. And most often it's not just one but four or five plates, cups, forks and the dish we cooked with. That makes as many as 16+ dishes! So, I'm letting you in on my "dirty" little secret with a bit of ulterior motive. First, so I can learn about what some of your organizing/cleaning/tidying systems are. What is your motivation? Do you clean throughout the day or first thing in the morning? Do you wait until kids are asleep to begin attacking the messes made throughout the day? Second, maybe this will help alleviate some of the pressure women in our society (intentionally or not) place on each other to keep perfect homes with everything in its place. How tidy (or not) our homes are is NOT, in my opinion, a reflection of who we are or how good of a mother we are. FYI: my dishes get stacked up when we're on our fourth day in a row of playing in the backyard together from sun-up to sundown; when I'm making myself available for my children to facilitate games, crafts, snacks, breakfast, lunch, lemonade stands, stroller walks, bike rides, trips to the library or the playground, filling the swimming pool with water from the hose, making the hose into a sprinkler with my thumb over the hole because we don't actually have a sprinkler!) pushing everyone on the swings (almost always 3 kids simultaneously) building sand dunes in the sandbox, discovering bugs, playing "RED LIGHT! GREEN LIGHT," or reading books together on a rainy afternoon. I'm not a maid I'm a mother. Some day my kitchen counters will be clutter free, the dishes always clean, toys and books always in their place. But for now, I'm relaxing my standards and remembering that when my children have all grown they won't write in a Mother's Day card, "Thanks, Mom, for keeping a clean house and always doing the dishes. You're the best!"

One Last Time

Nearly ten months ago, Jamie stepped onto a school bus for the first time. She was four years old and excited for new adventures. I remember that morning vividly. Ashley was just two months old and Brian was days away from turning two. Needless to say, my hands were full. I was more relieved than sad about letting Jamie go that morning because I needed a little break at that point. Papa helped Jamie on the bus that rainy first day and I waved happily to my little girl. I didn't shed one tear. Brian had a meltdown. Where was his big sister going? And without him? Later I prayed over my scrambled eggs and got a little choked up when I asked God to keep my Jamie safe. But I recovered. (FYI: When I registered Jamie for Kindergarten before I was 100% sure about homeschooling, I bawled for ten minutes in the car after handing in the forms and was handed a generic kindergarten brochure I had seen at all the area libraries before...)
And today is the final day of Pre-K. I will put my daughter on the big yellow school bus one last time. She will wave wildly and give me the "I love you" sign until the bus drives out of sight. One last time I will pray that my little girl makes it safely to and from school. One last time I will have from 8:45 to 12:15 with just Brian and Ashley for stroller walks around the neighborhood, trips to the library and quiet activities together. One last time I will start watching for the bus fifteen minutes before I know it could possibly arrive to bring Jamie home. One last time will I feel like SOMETHING (or someone) IS MISSING.
Today is a wonderful day. I have no regrets about putting Jamie into the pre-K program. She made great friends and as a result I made friends as well. She learned a lot. I learned a lot. We grew so much over the last ten months. And now, it's on to the next adventure: homeschooling kindergarten.

Homemade Pizza

Place 2 c. warm water in bowl.
Add 2 tsp. active dry yeast
Let yeast dissolve
Add 2 tbs. sugar
3 tsp. salt
5 tblsp. oil and stir.
Then add 5 c. flour

Stir until it starts to thicken and then knead with extra flour if necessary. (This recipe makes three traditional style pizzas. You can cut the dough ball in half to make the crust a little thicker or in four if you like your crust a little thinner. I typically cut it in thirds, bake one and freeze the others in two separate bags.)

My kids prefer an old fashioned pepperoni and cheese. Mike and I enjoy replacing tomato sauce with blue cheese dressing and adding chicken pieces marinated in Frank's Red Hot and sprinkled with mozzarella. It's also good to add some extra chunks of blue cheese. Mmmmm.

Bake in a 475 degree oven 12-15 minutes.

Some ideas for toppings:
A variety/combination of cheeses
Pepperoni
Green or black olives
broccoli
mushrooms (we buy the canned ones, drain and add to pizza)
Asparagus
Spinach
Thinly sliced tomato (don't use red sauce, instead just butter and garlic)
BBQ Pork
Marinated chicken
Artichoke
Green pepper and onion
Ham
Pineapple

Did I miss any? What are some other toppings you and your family enjoy?

Explanations

When my father was turning the big 5-0 my mother put together a surprise birthday party for him. When the guest list was being discussed she said something about "adults only" would be invited to the party. I was disappointed because I figured that I meant I couldn't go. Perhaps I should have told you that when my dad turned 50 I had been married for over a year. Although I was young, I was an adult.
Becoming an adult I feel has been a process for me. Even now with 3 children ages 1 through 5 and seven years of marriage "under my belt" so to speak, there are days I feel not a day over 17. And then the nice teenager at the grocery store calls me "ma'am." Ma'am? When did I become a ma'am instead of a miss? And reality crashes down on me. I may not be very old in age but my life and its surrounding elements and circumstances have aged me. At the ripe old age of 26 1/2 I have the life of a 35 year old... whatever that means.
So anyway, to the point I've got swimming around in my head... As a child and teenager I always felt obligated to explain myself. Whether it was things at school, home, or church I could never seem to do something, "just because." There always had to be a purpose, a meaning, a greater force driving me to do what I did. But now as an adult I'm wondering if is it necessary for me to explain EVERYTHING I do. Do I need to explain why I've decided to homeschool my children? Do I need to explain why I wasn't in church on Sunday? Do I need to explain why I don't want to attend my Mary Kay business training meetings? Do I need to explain why my 2 1/2 year old with Apraxia can't speak as well as the other kids his age? I'm inclined to think that explaining myself was something I did as a kid. Now as an adult, will there ever be a day I won't have to explain my every move? Be it big or small, explanations can take a lot out of you. I have so much being taken out of me on a daily basis, I don't know that I can offer much else.
I apologize for this post sounding perhaps like a huge complaint. My purpose however, (and here I go again, explaining myself) is to see if I'm alone in this train of thought. Am I being unreasonable?

Father's Day Craft

Father's Day is about 10 days away. I was inspired today while flipping through a book to make these cute prize ribbons with Jamie.

Materials needed:
construction paper (blue would be best since it respresents First Prize)
Markers or crayons
Glue
Scissors
Coffee Filters

Cut two strips of paper about 2 inches wide. Cut bottoms of each strip to make "ribbons." Glue these strips together at the top and at an angle. Glue a coffee filter to the top. Cut out a circle to fit inside the coffee filter and write sentiment on circle. (#1 Dad, You're the best, I love you, Thanks, etc.) Present to YOUR #1 Dad!!

On the Line

On a warm, breezy day a little less than a month ago I decided I wanted to line-dry a load of laundry. I was feeling optomistic, the kids were playing on the swingset and I just felt like being productive. So, I dug out the clothespins, brought the wet clothes up from the basement and starting pinning them to the line. As the fabric absorbed the warm sun and flapped in the wind a huge sense of accomplishment rushed over me. After both lines were full I stepped back and gazed at my children's miniature outfits hung neatly in rows. I was smiling. I laughed at myself. Why were those clothes dangling in the wind such a beautiful sight to me? What was it about line-drying that filled me with pride? I liked how it felt and so at that moment I resolved to stop using the electric dryer in the basement for as long as I could.
It's been a little more than three weeks now since I've used the dryer. Anyone up for a challenge: who ever can refrain from using the dryer for the most consecutive days will win a laundry gift basket (detergent, fabric softener, clothespins, etc.)
Honor System!! Starting now. Good luck!