Apraxia of Speech

My Beautiful, Energetic, Full of Life, BABY GIRL!

As many of you know Quinn has had difficulties with talking.   She is considered non-verbal since she has very few words that she uses in her daily vocabulary.  Currently Quinn only has one consistent word "Hi!"  We have seen her make gains but her speech therapist and myself have noticed how hard it is for Quinn to produce sounds.  She struggles to imitate and you can tell her brain wants her to say the sounds or the words but she cannot get her mouth to cooperate and do the same.  I notice how easily frustarted she gets when she wants to tell us something but she can't. 
Last night at her speech session they informed Ben and I that they were officially diagnosing Quinn with Verbal Apraxia.  They feel she has all of the signs for it.  They wanted to let me know that not much would change on their end.  Right now Quinn recieves speech twice a week.  After doing some research and trying to find the best course of action I think its best to request an increase in her speech services. 
Now if you google Apraxia or Speech Apraxia you may find some things that will alarm just about any parent.  Words like: Neurological disorder, brain damage, and a few other scary words.  I think the best explanation of it that I found was through a link my mom sent me.  I have copied the link here so that others could be informed.
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/childhoodapraxia/

Now the mom in me wants to do all the best things for my kids.  Find the best therapies, best options, and lots of resources to help her through this.  I can only imagine what she feels like daily.  She probably has so much to say, tell us, BUT she cannot!  How frustrating, how sad!  I just wish my kids could catch a break!  I know they must be the best kids every because they are so strong and work so hard!  I hope they continue those amazing charatcteristcs through adulthood. 
We will continue to work with our little one daily.  Help her to find ways to produce the sounds she is trying so hard to communicate to us.  Lots of repition and lots of practice and hopefully one day she will be able to succeed in the communication aspect.  The next month will be busy for Quinn.  We will all meet as a team (therapist and myself) to discuss the course for Quinn and her therapy sessions.  We will also talk to the neurologist about this new diagnosis when we meet at the end of this month. 
Quinn may have a long journey ahead of her but I know she will come out victorious at the end!