Our New Therapist

Well, we've discovered we are now in the hands of another wonderful speech therapist! Alex is taking his time adjusting to the fact that Miss Kate won't be back, but he's participating well in therapy with Adrienne. She is such as sweet sweet person and we are so thankful to be working with her. You can learn more about Adrienne and her plans to adopt a baby (or babies) from Russia (how AWESOME!) at her own blog. Check it out at Our Journey of Love. You'll be hearing more from us soon as school starts next week! It's back into the preschool routine and therapy, five days a week! In the meantime, we're trying to enjoy the last few days of our summer break!

Where one door closes, another opens...

Alex's speech is developing beautifully, and he's doing so well recently at remembering to use his ending sounds such as /s/ (horse) and /k/ (book) and /t/ (hat), all on his own in spontaneous speech! This is major progress, yet he still has far to go on this journey. I would say at this point, strangers only understand anywhere from 40-50% of what he is saying, where at this age, they should be understanding pretty close to 100%. I am trying to stay positive as we continue this long road of rehabilitation. It is, however, a blessing that we, his family, are understanding so much more of what he is saying in our normal everyday setting. It is so encouraging to be able to understand his needs and wants. He has such a sweet disposition and cute sense of humor. I am so proud of my sweet sweet boy for all of the hard work he's done to get this far.

It has also been a great blessing to have had such wonderful people in Alex's life, such as our current speech therapist, Miss Kate, who is very dear to our hearts, and has been an important part of our lives for the past year. It has been a privilege to know her and we are so thankful for her support and encouragement through this journey. We find it time to say goodbye to her as she moves on to help other children in the school system, who very much need the dedication, patience and love that Kate has to offer in her line of work. We will miss her terribly, but we have hope and trust that God has placed us in the hands of another wonderful speech therapist. We will meet her tomorrow in therapy. I have learned that each new therapist that has worked with Alex has had something to "bring to the table" so to speak, so instead of being discouraged and frightened about the changes this will bring in Alex's therapy plan, we are trying to stay positive that this will be another wonderful experience in the time line of Alex's Journey with Apraxia. Where one door closes, another opens...

Enjoying Summer

Wow, what a FUN summer we're having so far! We returned from the beach today. Tired and a little sun-kissed, but we had a fantastic vacation! The kids have been busy enjoying swimming lessons as well. Vacation Bible School will start soon. All of these activities have cut into Alex's speech therapy appointments. I wouldn't worry so much except that I can always tell he has a harder time when he has had a break from therapy. He has developed such a character and sense of humor through is speech and keeps the family in stitches. Here are a couple of my favorite beach shots of Alex. The ones where he actually looks into the camera he "cheeses" WAY too much, so the natural poses actually turn out to be my favorites. Enjoy!





And, the three of us...

Summer Break Officially Begins!

Wow, where do I begin? So much time has just passed by since my last entry. Life has kept me busy with two little ones. I am enjoying the kids so much at this age though, so I can't complain. Today was Alex's last day of preschool for this school year. We had a little party with hot dogs and cupcakes. The kids had a blast blowing bubbles and showing off for all the parents.

We had Alex's IEP meeting yesterday. After some recent testing in the preschool and also at his place of private therapy, we realized that Alex's expressive speech still lies in the severe category, and he has qualified for preschool services again for the upcoming school year. He scored very well in other areas of testing although he still carries the diagnosis of Apraxia and Expressive Language Delay/Disorder.

He had his hearing tested again and we now know for SURE that he hears us just fine. I guess he thinks if he ignores our requests, we'll go away. Ha! He's really into the "testing" phase right now where he'll go far to see what he can get away with, lil' stinker.

He still continues to be a delight to our family and anyone who has had the opportunity to work with Alex in his therapies. Now that the school year is over and summer is on the way, we have a full calendar of fun activities planned. We'll be taking the kids to the beach for vacation. They have swimming lessons beginning next week. Then there is Vacation Bible School, and everything in before, after and in between. We're going to have a blast and it will be nice to have Sarah home for a while too. Come August and I'll probably be playing a different tune. :o) Tomorrow is her last half-day of school, and we decided to take the day off of Alex's therapy. I think we all need a few days break, and we'll be ready to roll again. We will continue to make private therapy a priority during the summer with visits twice a week.

I guess that's about it! I always enjoy hearing from those of you who visit our site. I love to hear YOUR stories and I can always use a word of encouragement or two! I feel pretty confident in the path we are taking now, but it is defnitely a roller coaster ride. Alex has good days and bad with his speech and still shows difficulty with his speech sounds if we take a significant break from therapy. Right now he seems to be at a plateau. He has gained so many speech sounds one right after the other... now we just need to get him to use them in his spontaneous speech!

Praise You In This Storm

If you have not yet heard this song by Casting Crowns, and you are in need of encouragement today in your own journey, run don't walk to get this CD, or download this song. Everytime I hear it the tears just flow, and my spirits are lifted and encouraged! I hope they will be for you too. Here are the lyrics...

I was sure by now
That You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen"
and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God
Who gives and takes away

Chorus:
I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
Every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry You raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God
Who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

Just a Little Update

The time is just flying by. Only about seven more weeks of school left before summer break. Alex has come SO far this year. His preschool teacher even mentioned that she doesn't know if he will even qualify for the following preschool year. If not, I hope maybe he can get it a couple of days per week at Sarah's old preschool. She loved it there and I know that it would be great for Alex too. Either way, he will still continue to get individual therapy twice a week, where he is making GREAT improvement. The /d/ sound is coming along nicely and pretty soon I just know we'll be hearing "daddy". We are so proud of how far Alex has come in the past year. I continue to feel blessed daily as Alex now speaks to me in full sentences!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

My Valentine baby boy has turned four years old! I can't believe how the time has flown. He is such a big boy now. He got a new "big boy" bed for his birthday and train bedding for his room. He was thrilled. Look how darling it is...



This year has been full of challenges already, yet through all the chaos I can truly say that Alex's continued progress has given me so much joy! Our insurance company case worker called yesterday to just check and see how therapy was going. I love sharing such great reports. Alex is talking non-stop in sentences and so much more of what he is saying is understandable to me. I would say maybe 85-90% of what he says I understand (keep in mind some things are easier taken in context) and that teachers and family members are continuously commenting on how much more they are understanding Alex. I would guess that a stranger may understand only about 50% of what he says at this point. I can tell as his speech is emerging that there are some obvious expressive language delays. I know that will come too, and is partly normal for young children his age. For example, instead of saying "we are here" Alex might say "here are we". There also continues to be much articulation error in his speech. So he may be telling me a sentence of six or seven words, but they have consistent errors. "I like puppies and trains" might come out "I yie puppy an cain". Nonetheless, a great report, taking all history into consideration. We continue to love our sweet therapist Miss Kate. She is doing wonders for Alex, and helping me to help him at home. She plans to record him soon with a video camera. I loved when she recorded a session of his therapy on a cassette. I can listen to it now and it reminds me again of just how much progress he continues to make! Praise the Lord!

Happy New Year

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last entry. Thank you all who continue to check on us and send encouraging words and prayers to us through email from time to time. Alex took quite a bit of a break from therapy during Christmas. It turned out that it took him about the whole Christmas break to get sick and then well enough to return to school come January. He had some sort of viral infection which led us to the emergency room one early morning after Christmas. We also happened to be out of town, which made things interesting. Alex's fever was spiking and holding at about 104, and when he began hallucinating, we decided we would take him in to be checked out. Now, THAT was scary! I had given him Motrin for the fever, and was told that we were just to push liquids (he wasn't eating at all, and barely drinking, so there was a concern for dehydration as well), keep up the Motrin and do the best we could do to make him comfortable until the virus had run it's course. Fortunately, the next day we did see some significant improvement. He's been happily back to preschool and back into our therapy routine since the beginning of the year. Of course, now he has caught a cold and has a congested cough and runny nose. My poor baby. If it's out there, he's going to catch it! Anyway, he continues to show steady progress with his speech and delights us almost every day with the new things he can say. A few examples are "I got coal in my train car!, I smell it (skunk) too!, and I go tell my mom!" LOL Of course, there are still many articulation errors, but we are talking about a child who was unable to say "mama" and was struggling to put two words together just this time last year. I am so excited to think about how he is going to mature and make progress this coming year! So, stay tuned! :o)