a word on casey...for casey.

can you imagine a child of mine not being able to talk? i couldn't have imagined it either...until he was staring right at me.

as casey was nearing 2, i noticed that he wasn't nearly as vocal as ellee or sophie was at his age. when i talked to people about it, i got the ol' 'don't compare your children. he'll talk when he's ready' kind of thing. not that that was bad, but in the end, it just wasn't true.

by the time casey turned 2 and a half, he had about 4 words under his belt and most other communication was done by screaming until we could guess what it was that he wanted. there were many many days that i lost sleep about my sweet sweet boy and the challenges we faced with him.

i would often mention to people how much work we were doing with him and most of the time people would respond as nicely as they could telling me that they could recognize a difference...that they were seeing some improvement. it became very robotic and even i didn't believe it after a while. it wasn't until his grandma said in a very honest way that she really didn't see improvement and that he was, indeed, quite delayed.

hearing it, out loud, from a person who knew what she was talking about, really scared me. but more than that, it motivated me. while i had thought many times about contacting the district in order to get him assessed, it wasn't until that day in july that i made the call. he was 28 months old.

working with the school district was amazing. wonderful professionals came to our house and completed about 6 hours of assessment over the course of approximately 4 visits. it was grueling, but worth it. when we finally met to discuss the 'results' it was sobering to hear the news. casey's only 'disability' was found in speech and communication but in both of those areas he fell in the 1 percentile. ouch. they found that he had about 4-6 usable words and unless those words were translated by someone who knew there meaning, you probably couldn't decipher what he was saying. on average, a 28 month old has a vocabulary of anywhere from 1,000-2,000 words. casey had, at best, 6. and to make things worse, he didn't know how to use the 6 words that he had. no sentences. no names. no good.

four weeks after making the initial phone call, casey began his speech therapy sessions (btw, it was on that day that he instantly fell in love with his teacher, maria.) maria comes each week and works with him on both vocabulary and effective communication. it's been an uphill battle not only teaching him new words, but retraining him how to couple his new words with appropriate behavior. the challenges have been significant, but we are all making real progress.

recently, maria began talking with me about the possibility of a new diagnosis for casey. she is, each week, assessing him for what is called apraxia of speech. apraxia is different from an articulation delay (which is what the original assumption was) in that it involves more of casey's neurological function as opposed to just his ability to pronounce words correctly. if he does have apraxia, then his brain is having a hard time telling his mouth what to do. he can say everything he wants to say in his mind, but when it comes out, it sounds very different than what he intends. there are a lot of symptoms that allow a solid diagnosis of apraxia, many of which casey demonstrates, and working to make a final decision is difficult and may involve more assessment.

the good news is that maria is thrilled with casey's increased vocabulary. he is speaking in sentences and his overall behavior has improved so much. ironically, it's the increase in vocabulary that is leading to the apraxia diagnosis. casey can now say countless numbers of words and phrases, but he cannot articulate them them and in fact, mispronounces them differently each time. if, in the end, his teachers decide that he does have apraxia of speech, he will have a big increase in the therapy he receives and in the type of work they do with him. all of this, in an effort to get him on track for kindergarten...which is three years away. sigh.

on top of those changes in his therapy, when he turns three in march, casey will also say good-bye to maria. he will begin going to school at least two mornings a week (unless that number is increased) in a class where each student has an IEP. it is a new road for us and for casey and so we approach it with a brave face and a many prayers.

if you're interested in learning a little more about apraxia, check out the link below...and if you think of him, say a little prayer for my boy. and because he can't say it, i will; thank you.

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=chKMI0PIIsE&b=839037&ct=837215