People with Apraxia: Just like you and me

We are a family from Latvia living in Germany. My husband and I have 2 Kids: a son 8 years old and a daughter 7 years old.

Now I would like to share the story of our daughter Ksenia. After she was born, a doctor examined her and said that she was perfectly fine. She grew up and, as it seemed to us, started talking. However, we were concerned that she was only using vowel sounds.

We started visiting a speech therapist. After numerous sessions, the therapist referred us to a children's center, where it was determined that our daughter has a speech disorder, and we were told to come back for a check-up in six months. We didn't wait and went to a private speech therapist. She diagnosed our daughter with apraxia, which was later confirmed at the children's center in Munchen.
It was the beginning of our long journey to help our daughter learn to speak. The hardest part was finding a specialist who specifically deals with apraxia. We continued visiting a regular speech therapist and kept searching for an apraxia specialist. The long waiting times to get an appointment with any necessary specialist made things even more difficult. A year and a half ago, we finally found a speech therapist who works with the Vedit system, but from our personal experience, this system did not help our daughter much. When she was 6 years old, in desperation for solutions, I found a piano teacher, and our daughter started taking music lessons twice a week. After three months, consonant sounds began to appear in her speech. Eventually, she started playing with both hands and singing small songs simultaneously."

We saw some small improvements in her speech. Then, she entered a stage of stagnation.

Now, our daughter has finished the first grade of a regular school. She has an assistant in her lessons. Her biggest challenges are reading and writing. She knows all the letters but cannot read or connect them into words. She also cannot write words from memory. In our town and surrounding area, there is no speech therapy school. There are other specialized schools, but they do not fit our daughter’s needs.

In everyday life, if someone does not understand her, she points to objects and uses gestures. For example, once we could not understand that she wanted a Kinder Surprise. She took a box of eggs from the fridge and placed a toy inside, repeatedly trying to indicate with the words that she wanted a Kinder Surprise. And yes, we understood her request.

I would like to make our apraxia community stronger and speak louder about the issue of apraxia. I wish that professionals will share their experiences and best practices to improve the support for children with apraxia. Also, support and advice on managing stress are crucial for parents. I believe that collaboration between families and specialists plays a key role in supporting children with speech disorders.

To all families with children who have apraxia, I want to say: believe in yourself and your child. Your belief gives strength to your kid and makes him or her stronger, helping the kid navigate this challenging path. Cherish the small victories and progress of your kid. Every achievement is a step forward.
Thanks a lot to the Apraxia Kids community for your work and support.

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