Apraxia
Greetings to everyone.
Over the last several weeks we have been working diligently with Xavier to get him speaking better. Miss Robin noted Xavier is six to eight months behind in his speech skills.
He and she have been meeting once a week. Xavier is determined to speak, so he engages diligently with Miss Robin the whole hour. At home, we have flash cards and we work with him in many other ways on a daily basis.
Before today, one of the things we noticed with Xavier is his struggle to get simple words to form. The most notable one so far is the word sit. This word seems to be one which typifies his struggle with words in general. He must concentrate to say the word, as if squeezing it out of his brain. He starts out with a hard and protracted "Sssssss" then works to force out the "it" almost as a short second syllable ending in a very hard T.
Xavier has a vocabulary, but he often slurs his words when he uses them (this is not the same class of slurring and cutsie pronunciation most might expect from a two year old). He will speak some words clearly and with great ease, then go for weeks before saying the word again with such clarity and control. He can babble and speak structured sentences in Xavierese all day long, but English for him is a big challenge.
Apraxia, or in this case, CAS, is a poorly understood neurological condition, fairly rare in children, and seen in many adults who suffer brain injury. In its most general definition, it is a condition making it difficult or impossible to make various motor movements, though the muscles are fully capable.
Today, that is the name Miss Robin gave to Xavier's speech difficulties. "Don't Google apraxia," Robin warned Rebecca. "What you find will scare you." She was right, apraxia can be scary. However, Robin confirmed that Xaiver has a mild case of it. With therapy, he will be able to overcome it.
The biggest potential problem will be his parents, but we are doing everything right, we are told. The problem from the parents would be forcing Xavier into making and sounding his words perfectly—to obsess over him getting every attempt correct. That will frustrate him and he will shut down trying, the very thing that will derail his healing. Our work will be to keep him engaged and excited about speaking as we work with him.
Though this news disturbed us a little, we know Xavier will come through it victoriously. We will keep him in therapy and diligently work with him at home. We have even researched preschools which offer appropriate therapies. As it turns out, the highly coveted school just down the street has such a program. Because we live in the district, we don't have to be on a waiting list. Glory to God!
Though we are doing much with therapy and exercises to help Xavier train his brain, we do not leave such things to chance and Human effort alone. We are praying over Xavier, asking Father to heal our son. We know that great is our God, Who has not brought Xavier this far just to let him stand outside the promised land. Like all Xavier's obstacles in his past, this wall will fall also!