By Leslie Lindsay
It’s that time of year again…and so we load up the backpacks and lay out a freshly pressed outfit, new shoes, and the IEP.
Wait. I don’t mean to be glib, but it’s definitely on the minds of us parents who have a child with special concerns. 
Except me. No, I am not gloating. We definitely have been there. We *are* there. Only the IEP is no longer for apraxia. It’s for “other health impaired’ (OHI), and no I am not skirting around the issue by semantics. Kate definitely had apraxia, and it most certainly impacted her ‘access to the cirriculum’ as is the criteria for establishing an IEP. She couldn’t participate in circle time very well, reading was a challenge, so was writing.
But then something clicked. It could have been the years of speech therapy. It could have been her motivation, but most likely, it was a combination of all of that along with Kate’s developmental age finally “catching up” with her peers.
For those of you who are curious, the “clicking” happened for us when Kate was a 2nd grader (about 8 years old). There’s a reason CAS is called “childhood apraxia of speech,” it is usally limited to those early years of a child’s speech-language development. But that’s not to imply that your child will simply, ‘outgrow’ apraxia. Nope. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, namely: working directly (and exhaustively) with a qualified SLP. But parents and guardians aren’t off the hook just yet. CAS requires plenty of home practice.
At fourth grade (??!) Kate is still struggling with the remnants of CAS. Slower reader, yes. Poor speller–yep. But what she lacks in those areas, she makes up in imagination and creativity, and well-energy.
Which brings me to her next issue: AD/HD.
This is why the IEP reads, “Other Health Impairment” (OHI).” It’s the combination of residual apraxia and AD/HD that have given her that–cringe–label.
Back up a week and some change. We head over to the elementary school for the meet-and-greet welcome night. We peek into the library, the old classrooms of grades past, and then make our way to the 4th grade wing. Kate unloads her school supplies and shyly checks out the other students. Ah! A friend.
Her teacher comes by, hand outstretched, a big grin on her face as she introduces herself. And you know what? Kate smiles in response and in a clear voice says, “Hi. I’m Kate.”
A surge of pride swells within. Did I even mention apraxia? No. I can safely say that this little beast is well behind us.
Coming Up:
- We will be taking a hiatus from apraxia on Mondays while shifting our efforts to AD/HD. In fact, it’s one of the most cited co-occuring disorders with apraxia/CAS. Those posts will run on TUESDAY.
- There will be NO MORE “Apraxia Monday” blogs. But you can still find me on Twitter, @LeslieLindsay1 and also on the companion FB page, SPEAKING OF APRAXIA where I’ll continue to post blurbs, photos, updates, quotes, etc. on/about apraxia.
- I’m always open to fresh, new voices! If you have a story, insight, worry, etc. about apraxia and would be interested in being a guest blogger, by all means, give me a a holler at leslie_lindsay@hotmail.com
Speaking of Apraxia 