This is the first time I have gotten flowers in years. They are from Grandpa Mike and are beautiful. Today makes me 36. Not too bad.
I haven't heard anything this morning about Gwen or the baby. I am assuming that no news is good news. My friend is going to call and check in a little bit to see what is what. Thanks to everyone that is praying for her. I KNOW that prayer works. Happy New Year's Eve everyone.
A pregnant friend of a friend had a seizure today and had to have her son taken by c-section. She has been in surgery for 3.5 hours because they can not stop the bleeding. Please pray for healing and comfort for her family. Her name is Gwen and this is their first baby. Prayer works so please help us pray for her.
*update*
Gwen is out of surgery. An artery to her spleen ruptured and cause the problem. She is in ICU, but may have brain damage. There are a lot of unknowns. The baby was sent to a different hospital and is on ventilator. If you pray please add them to your list.
Angie was brave enough to admit that the previous post was kind of hard to read. It was technical, for sure. Basically, Apraxia means that the brain knows what it wants to say (ex. I want the ball), but the signals themselves going from the brain to the mouth muscles are broken OR the muscles aren't receiving them correctly. What comes out may be ahh baa or even less understandable as pure gobbledeegook.
Essentially, it might be like trying to talk when your mouth is completely numb from the dentist? You know what you are trying to say, but your mouth isn't responding exactly right. You have to really slow down and focus to talk to your family as you wait for the feeling to come back. I read somewhere online comparing Apraxia to having Cerebral Palsy of only the mouth. There are varying degrees of severity and varying responses to treatment.
Treatment is intensive speech therapy where they have to learn to talk. It is not like traditional speech therapy for children that are delayed in speech or have pronunciation problems. Imagine learning a foreign language while your mouth was taped shut or full of pudding or something. Your brain has learned it, but you have never had a chance to practice. Now, the learning tapes are gone and you are required to speak the language.
I have heard stories of children who speak completely normal after therapy and are no longer considered apraxic. I have also listened to a tape of a 15 year old boy reading and he obviously had a serious speech issue, but was understandable if you focused. I have also heard of children being forced to rely on alternate means of communication because their speech never becomes understandable.
I don't know that Jack has Apraxia yet. I suspected it after much research and the speech language pathologist mentioned it without me bringing it up. I am not going to mention seeing an SLP to the other SLP that he sees on January 7th and see if she comes to the same conclusion. Many professionals believe you can NOT diagnose it until 2-3 years of age because a child needs to be able to participate in repeating a few words to do the "test" to diagnose.
I tried to tape him copying me saying bubble today, but then realized I was in my nightgown. Geeesh, woman, pay attention!!! I will try again tomorrow. It's adorable. He says "bu -b" He kind of swallows the second part. You will have to see it to know what I mean. So, cute.
I got this defination from the Apraxia Kids website. Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder. For reasons not yet fully understood, children with apraxia of speech have great difficulty planning and producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech. Apraxia of speech is sometimes called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal dyspraxia. No matter what name is used, the most important concept is the root word "praxis." Praxis means planned movement. To some degree or another, a child with the diagnosis of apraxia of speech has difficulty programming and planning speech movements. Apraxia of speech is a specific speech disorder.
The act of speech begins with an intention to communicate. Next, an idea forms, outlining what the speaker wants to say. The words for the desired message are put in the correct order, using the correct grammar. Each of the words are comprised of a specific sequence of sounds (also called phonemes)and syllables that must be ordered together. All of this information is translated from an idea and information about order of sounds into a series of highly coordinated motor movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and soft palate.
The brain must tell the muscles of these “articulators” the exact order and timing of movements so that the words in the message are properly articulated. Finally, the muscles must work properly with enough strength and muscle tone to perform the movements needed for speech.
In typically developing speech, children make word attempts and get feedback from others and from their own internal systems regarding how “well” the words they produced matched the ones that they wanted to produce. Children use this information the next time they attempt the words and essentially are able to “learn from experience.” Usually once syllables and words are spoken repeatedly, the speech motor act becomes automatic. Speech motor plans and programs are stored in the brain and can be accessed effortlessly when they are needed. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty in this aspect of speech. It is believed that children with CAS may not be able to form or access speech motor plans and programs or that these plans and programs are faulty for some reason.
But here I am. Funny how that works?? I am typing with one hand because Jack is snuggled across me, wallerin' would be the correct term. He is getting molars, poor kid.
Four more days until.......
I turn 36
2008 turns to 2009
My friend, Teresa steps down and I assume the role of Childrens Chairperson to the Christian Education Board
Having the boys home for break is always such a good time. I really dig my kids, they can be so sweet. Don't get me wrong, they can be real jerks when the teen mood swings get moving, but they calm down much better than many kids I know.
My favorite gift this year was having the ex husband visit so close to Christmas. All the kids loved having that time with him and when they are happy, I am happy.
My oldest son is on the front row far right, but you can't really see me as I am in the second row middle. We are playing chimes as opposed to handbells for this song.
