To Be or Not To Be
My sweet little girl was two when we met with our first therapist. I had known something was not right for a long time and my pediatrician insisted we wait until she was two to have her evaluated. So, 5 days after her second birthday, we had our first appointment. Several testing sessions, multiple therapists, and neurological tests later, we had our first diagnosis: Verbal Apraxia. Basically, it is a speech disorder in which a person has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently. It is believed to be a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to send the proper signals to the muscles involved in speech. We were told not to expect her to be understandable to peers until middle school age. Four and a half years of intense speech therapy later, she was "undiagnosed." Whatever that means.
Momma said Knock You Out
Fast forward a few years and we are seeing major comprehension issues in school. Inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, total lack of reading comprehension - auditory and visual. Back to the docs we go for more testing, and more testing. Her neuropsychologist said she was the type of kid who will have eating disorders at 15. Her neurologist told us she has a very low IQ and will not be college material. He said we should lower our expectations for her - some sort of remedial learning program would be best.
There have been a few times in my life when, had I not had Christ in my life, I literally would have taken someone out. As in knock them out. Oh, how I wanted to tell this doc where he could place his stethoscope. But, instead I cried all the way home, pulled it together, then moved on to find some hope. I found it at a wonderful neurodevelopmental place that tailors curriculum for each child. But guess what - it's full time homeschool. Oh, I have plenty of time for that!
Hope
This time, we get another diagnosis: Central Auditory Processing Disorder. A full blown language based learning disability with a whole host of other deficiencies and disorders to boot. So now I am knee-deep in learning about re-wiring the brain, changing brain dominance, rebuilding short term and long term memory capabilities, and interhemispheric communication. And it is fascinating!! It might just be the hardest thing I've ever done. But, seeing the progress is so worth it. My girl is learning! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Where we found hope: Little Giant Steps
Where others find hope: Learning RX
And I'm sure there are other neurodevelopmental programs out there.
