Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Possible Diagnosis

Caden has been doing speech therapy for a couple of months now with very little progress. On a good day, he can make the "b" sound a couple of times and he might say "uh oh", but these are both rare. It was recently brought to our attention that he may have Verbal Apraxia. Needless to say, I am heartbroken. I have shed more than a few tears the last few weeks while reading and learning about Apraxia and discovering that Caden fits the description perfectly. The speech therapist said that they don't like to make an official diagnosis until 2 1/2 or 3 years old because so many kids under two have speech delays, but all signs point to Apraxia. As a mother, I feel responsible and I want to be able to fix everything and I am having a hard time not being able to and I am feeling very helpless. With early intervention and lots of therapy, the prognosis is good, but it is always hard to hear that there is something wrong with your child. Sign language has been a wonderful tool in helping us understand Caden's needs and wants. He can sign over 75 signs now and is getting pretty good at it. I am so grateful to have some form of communication with him. Between Caden and finals, I have been very overwhelmed lately and have not felt like myself. I guess I just needed to get this all out because I feel a little better now. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

Monday, April 7, 2008

A Quarter of a Century

On Saturday I turned 25. I feel much older than that though, having been a mother for over 10 years now. Mackenzie and Cierra were so sweet and they threw me a surprise birthday party. They planned it for weeks and bought everything with their own money. They even decorated the house. I am so lucky to have such great kids. Saturday night we went over to my Mom's house and had dinner. She made homemade meatballs, baked potatoes, and broccoli and it was so yummy! It was such a great day, by far one of the best birthdays I've had.


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

ENT and Audiology appointments today


Caden had an appointment with the ENT and Audiologist today up at Primary Children's. We saw the audiologist first to test his hearing and his hearing is almost normal now. There are still some tones that he's not hearing, but he said that it shouldn't affect his speech anymore. After that we saw the ENT and he said that the tubes are in place and open. I am so happy and relieved. Between the tubes and speech therapy, hopefully Caden will grace us with some words soon.