Update Time

It's been six months since I last posted. Time flies.

The group speech thing wasn't as successful as I had hoped, but in my readings I found that kids with Apraxia don't usually make much headway in group speech therapy settings. When we went back to one on one Speech Therapy in January I requested that Mikail go two or three times a week. We went twice a week for two months and then back to once a week now. The headway Mikail made in this time is incredible. In one month he went from clearly saying a dozen words to over fifty. I have now stopped keeping track because his vocabulary is growing so quickly. Basically he went from the speech of a 12 month old to the speech of a two and a half year old in the span of about a month. So great.

As it is with kids with Apraxia, they hit a wall now and again and it seems we are hitting one now. So, it's time to take a bit of a break and let him find his comfort in the place he is at right now. We are still going to Speech Therapy once a week, but not pushing as hard as we were when he was soaking it all up.

This week he had his pronunciation assessment done for the Government Funded Preschool Program that we hope he will get into. The rest of the testing will happen mid May. The sad thing about this all is that the testing needs to come in as 'bad'. He needs a 'severe phonological delay' to get into this program. So although we are wanting him to make huge gains, we need the tests to come back showing a severe delay so that he will be able to receive the education he needs through this specialized preschool program.

Part of me wants him to NOT get in. He's not even three yet. I never thought our kids would go to preschool. I wanted them to be home until Kindergarten, but this is not about me. This is about what is best for Mikail, so whatever happens will be about him and what's best for him. He just seems so little to be off to school already. (insert Mama tears)

What else is new? Next week we get to go to the PhysMed Clinic to see how he is doing physically. He hasn't seen OT or PT for months, so I am curious to see what they will have to say. Dr. Watt comes out from Edmonton twice a year to see the 'graduates' of the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Mikail only sees him once a year since he is doing so well and that is also the reason there has been no PT or OT for a while.

In mid May we are also off to the Stollery Children's Hospital for Mikail's follow up clinic with Dr. Yager, his Pediatric Neurologist. Lots of things happening around his third birthday. But we expect that he will WOW everyone again.

So that's it for now. Doing awesome considering the initial prognosis. Working very hard at catching up on Speech.