A Little Rejoicing

This morning Luke woke up babbling b's and m's! It is amazing how such a simple sound can bring two parents so much joy! Dave and I have been praying that our baby boy would follow a typical path of development. We were watching and waiting for Luke's coos to turn into babbles with consonant sounds! We have loved the sweet coos, the "eh" response when we say "hey", the razzes, and even the shouts to get our attention. True music to our ears was this morning when we heard "mamamamama" coming from his crib and later "bababababa". Even more special was that within the last few days we were talking about the fact that L needed to start making some consonant sounds even though the pediatrician assured us that the fact that he is making sounds at all is great. With that being said, if we have another child with apraxia, we won't be devastated but what parent doesn't want all of their children to develop typically??? There are many families who only have one child with the disorder, but there are plenty of families who have more than one. The cause is somewhat unknown, but there is a genetic component in some kids. On this day, we are rejoicing in the simple sounds Luke gave us!



Both of these boys are accomplishing so much! Yesterday, J and I were up in the bonus room which I have somewhat converted into a little OT room/gym for Jackson. Basically, it has an easel, tunnel, table & chairs, rice bin, trampoline, etc. The root of apraxia is motor planning--motor planning speech movements, motor planning ideas, motor planning whole body movements, and so on. One way you address it is through obstacle courses. You set it up, and the child has to motor plan as he navigates through it. I have done these with Jackson at home using the tunnel, rings, bean bags, pillows, whatever I can find. Yesterday, while I was folding clothes, I watched him out the corner of my eye set up a very simple obstacle course that we have done together. This is HUGE for him, because he had to remember the sequence, a difficulty for many kids with a motor planning problem! After he set it up, I gave him one prompt to navigate through it. He carried it out! Whoa! So proud of him! The OT told me this would happen for him after a few times of me directing it, and I saw the beginning of it today.