Apraxia of Speech . Week 40

This week, for the first time, I reached the point where I told Ryder to STOP TALKING.  Without trying to sound too dramatic, I wondered if this day would come.  I've always believed Ryder would be able to speak, but it has been, and continues to be a long, hard road.

Ryder is expressing himself more and more verbally.  He still struggles with saying the correct sounds within words, and struggles with many words completely.

But, his increased verbal expression is really a great improvement.

His Speech Therapy this week went well.  He gets fixated on the trains, and sometimes struggles with cooperating with his SLP.  As I've said many times previously, we are so incredibly thankful for his SLP - she doesn't give up, or get frustrated, she just moves with Ryder at his pace (which, is a very fast pace!).  Ryder's worst session with his SLP is better than any session he had at PCMC - our 4 month "review" of Ryder's situation is an easy one.  We will continue with his SLP, and not pursue therapy through PCMC.

I forget what this activity is called, but Ryder is working on saying the words on each "flashcard", then upon saying it correctly puts it in the correct place (they have velcro).  The sounds in the second words builds upon the first word...bee, beat; A, ape; etc.