Delaney's Journey
Have you ever heard of Apraxia or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)? That is the question I was asked in April of 2021. From the moment I learned of Delaney’s diagnosis I have been researching and reading anything I could find on Apraxia.
We knew things were different, since our daughter Delaney was an infant. Things were unlike everything with our older daughter. Delaney did not coo or babble or attempt to talk. She would not eat puréed foods with a spoon, and we struggled to find a bottle top and pacifier type that she would use. Just before turning 3 years old, she still had no words, was considered nonverbal and had constant meltdowns since nobody knew what she needed.
When her SLP explained Apraxia to me, I began the never ending google search as I sat in my car and slowly dialed my husband. As I explained the diagnoses I was first met with silence and then we both sobbed, already worried about what this meant for our baby’s future, our family’s future? Will she struggle forever? When you look up Childhood Apraxia of Speech you learn there is no cure, it is rare (1/1,000 kids), and that the brain cannot link with the mouth for them to say the words they want to say.
Delaney is now in her second year of preschool and thriving, but it has taken a lot of work to get here. In early 2020, during the worst of the pandemic, we completed six months of speech therapy with NO progress or diagnosis. We eventually learned that traditional speech therapy does not work for kids with CAS. These children need motor planning therapy to create new neurological pathways. After her diagnosis we have saw tremendous progress.
Delaney is currently 25% intelligible, attending four speech therapies and one occupational therapy weekly, which she loves and works hard in. She has also completed nine months of food therapy along with her speech therapy which she loved. In 2023, along with her speech apraxia she was diagnosed with Global Apraxia and Anxiety which led us to new therapies that include swimming and horse therapy, and she is thriving in both.
Our lives have all been enriched since Delaney’s Apraxia diagnosis. In the fall of 2023, I co-coordinated the Cleveland, Ohio walk for Apraxia, traveled to Texas with my husband for our first Apraxia National Conference, met with our city leaders to have Apraxia Awareness Day proclaimed in our city and began my Journey with an Apraxia Mom blog.
I am working hard daily advocating for my daughter and for all the other children who struggle with Apraxia by reaching out and connecting with other parents in the Apraxia Community. My goal is to keep sharing our story, and experience while teaching others about Apraxia, and to bring awareness to Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
