Peanut's Story

I don't know where to start telling Peanut's story so I will start around his time of diagnosis and go from there. At Peanut's 15 month well-baby visit I shared a concern with our pediatrician that started us down a path that has been filled with tears, frustration, excitement and triumph.

Peanut had lost his voice. He was silent. His ability to say mama, papa, and jaja (his name for his brother), all words he could say at 12 months, had vanished seemingly overnight. What was left was a frustrated little boy who was resorting to laying on the floor and banging his head or pounding his head on the wall in frustration. My pediatrician told me that if I was concerned then she was concerned and referred us to the Early Intervention (EI) program through our county.

Within 2 weeks I had his initial evaluation with EI and two weeks after that we had his extended 4 hour evaluation with 2 speech-language pathologists (SLP's) and and Occupational therapist (OT). They were very thorough an were even treated to a head-banging tantrum. I was told that my now 16 month old had the speech-language abilities of a typical 6 month old and the motor abilities of a 10 month old due to a motor-planning disorder most likely apraxia of speech.

"DISORDER???" Did you just tell me that my son has a disorder? No, can't you see that he is the most perfect, sweet, happy little boy? So right, maybe I had a knee-jerk reaction at first. I cried and felt like the vision I had for his future had just been erased with this diagnosis. That lasted for 2 days. On the third day of my self-induced pity party I was playing with all of my kids on the floor and heard the sound of Peanut's boisterous laughter at something his big brother was doing and I realized that his future is still wide-open. He didn't know he had a "disorder" and I would fight and work as hard as I could to help him find his voice and beat this diagnosis. So off we went to fight.

Peanut has been in weekly speech therapy and monthly occupational therapy for a year and he has come so far. He has over 75 words now and is putting two and sometimes 3 words together. It hasn't been easy and we have had a few set-backs but we are fighting and Peanut has a voice and is using his words to be heard. This blog will chronicle our help Peanut find his voice, serve as a way to document his progress and hopefully serve to help other parents out there helping their own children find their sweet voice tucked deep inside the mind of a child with apraxia of speech.