The story continues...

Okay so the boys are sleeping and I can finally think! I really should be sleeping because I have an early morning with the kids and work tomorrow night.

As I ended in the previous post, we knew that Isaiah had to be assessed. We hoped that he was a late talker, like everyone told me he probably was, but deep, deep down inside in the depth of my gut there was something more.

I started researching everything I could find about speech. I made my own referral to the BC speech center and took the step of asking my doctor for a referral to a pediatrician. I couldn't just sit still and wait as people would say to me.

from http://indiequill.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/gran.gif

"Don't worry he will talk soon and when he starts he won't stop". I would wake up everyday and say okay this is the day when all of the sudden he would talk. This would be the day. But as the day went on he would still only say the same couple of words. He would be frustrated because I couldn't understand him. And I would be frustrated because I couldn't understand him and couldn't deal with his tantrums. It was exhausting, especially for him.

I cannot imagine living a life where you know what you want to say but couldn't say it. And you could see that on his face. Isaiah would try so hard to sound out the words but his mouth, his tongue just wouldn't cooperate. My poor sweet boy :(

On top of things we were not sure if his behaviour and lack of speech was just merely that or more to it. Did he have behavioural problems, is he autistic? will this be cured?

So comes the day we had our pediatrician meeting. I was really hopeful. I was hoping for a definite answer to what was going on. I guess I was being unrealistic.

Did the meeting help? Not really. Don't get me wrong the pediatrician was nice. She did a physical and asked some questions. From her point of view and her short interaction with Isaiah she said that he did not display any behavioural concerns and she didn't think he was autistic. She saw that he was able to use cues, gestures, with his hand to convey what he wanted. She said that he was just speech delayed and to wait. Really wait and see, again?! The pediatrician said that if he did not improve within a year to bring him back if he showed any signs of concern.

Again we were left with more unanswered questions and more waiting. Patience, patience, my dear.

^" My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:2-6

 Patience is an area I have to work on, and God had made sure I had a lot of practice. I am still working on this with much grace and trying to have a better attitude.  I have a lot to work on ;)

So as we wait for the BC speech center to get back to us we decided to have Isaiah in some private speech therapy lessons to help him with his progress. Fortunately, my husband has really good benefits at work and we were able to get a few therapy sessions while we waited. I am glad we went down this route because of his speech therapy we were able to put a diagnoses, a term to what he has!

http://deadwildroses.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/300kdwrhits.jpg

 

Yay! Time to celebrate! Kind of ironic huh? to be celebrating a diagnoses.

But this meant we could learn more about this certain condition called APRAXIA. We would be able to tailor Isaiah's speech sessions towards that and have a better understanding of what he is going through. But having this diagnoses didn't make it any easier. As Isaiah's current speech therapist mentions that having this condition was 100 times more work than just being speech delayed.

This link is an Inside Edition segment on Apraxia and about getting the right diagnoses and treatment: http://vimeo.com/9658253

Here are some websites about Apraxia:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/childhoodapraxia.htm
http://www.apraxia-kids.org/learn-about-apraxia/

Where to start?

I guess I can start from the beginning...

As a person one dreams of starting a family; a healthy Normal family. One that consists of children who are healthy and without any concerns or issues. You know that perfect family with two children and their dog standing in front of a well manicured house with a white picket fence.



I am almost close to that dream, except my fence is a natural wood colour and I live in a townhome.
On that note, one thing we could not foretell in our dream family was that my eldest son has Apraxia. Yes that's right APRAXIA; uh-prak-see-uh, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apraxia?s=ts

This was something very strange and new to us. We did not picture this in our dream family, but who does? However, my dreams did come true because I am a very blessed woman with a loving husband and two wonderful, energy handsome, energetic, determined boys who challenges me everyday.

Isaiah, our eldest boy, was born in 2008 after a very long and difficult delivery; both for him and I.

I  was in labour for a VERY, VERY long time. It felt like an eternity or close to it; it was around 30 hours of very hard labour but I am sure there are other woman out there who can beat me with their labour times.
He was an emergency C-section because his heart rate was dropping while I was pushing. Also in the delivery room the doctors  had a hard time pulling him out because his head was stuck. Besides that hard journey into this world Isaiah is a normal energetic boy except he couldn't talk.

He was and still is a very late talker. At a young age he would babble non-stop. He started as early as a couple of months old with his babbling so for sure we thought he would naturally be an early talker. But then at the age of one he could only say a couple of words. Then at age two he would say those same words and not really anymore. That was when we knew there was something more to him than just being a late talker. We would go to the park and see other kids, who were the same age, talking up a storm with their parents. What heartbreak. My heart would sink. How I hoped and prayed  that Isaiah would also be talking like them.

Another couple of month went by and he still wasn't at his age level for speaking. We knew we needed to get him assessed. There was something more to it than Isaiah being a late talker.

To be cont...