Apraxia Speech Cards

OK, so we are back to the business of speech therapy with the oh so talented SLP Megan. We are paying out of pocket until we convince the insurance company that Joshua's speech therapy IS medically necessary (I mean, really...they have never heard the child speak. Who are they to decide it is not medically necessary?). It is pricey, but how can we not? This is his future ability to speak that is at stake! Anyhow, Megan asked us to take some pictures of things around that house that Joshua uses or plays with on a daily basis. We came up with about 30 pictures so far. She is going to take them and make flash cards (much like the Kaufman Cards, for those of you who are familiar) and break the words down into manageable chunks, eventually working up to the complete word. I am really excited to see how they turn out. She will write the word sequencing on the back of the picture and we will take them to get laminated. I'll let you know how if it works! Here are a few of the pictures we used:

"Shoes"



"Pretzels" (GFCF, of course)



"Movies"



"Monster Trucks"



"Teddy"

Getting Back to Business

So much has happened in the past few months! For those of you who are disappointed in my lack of posting (which, I am not exactly sure that anyone follows this blog), go read my apology at my 3 Angels Blog. Joshua is now 3 1/2 and I guess the most significant thing over the past few months has been the confirmation of his Apraxia diagnosis. When he was first diagnosed, I admit I was skeptical. I thought that maybe it was a hip new diagnosis that was being handed out frivolously. However, after seeing an audiologist, 2 additional speech therapists and a video evaluation from Nancy Kaufman herself...I guess it is true. His evaluation at Children's Hospital was sad but revealing. He tested out at the higher end of 4 years old for congnitive understanding. Actually, she had to "make" him fail the test there because she knew he was getting worn out. His expressive language (what he can say), however, was still equivalent to less than a 2 year old. So basically, he gets it...more than we give him credit for...he just cannot communicate back to us. How frustrating!!! (for him and us)

Over Christmas I was able to read Jenny McCarthy's book, "Mother Warriors" and it was very enlightening. I began to grasp that perhaps Joshua's "issues" are bigger than just the Apraxia. He has always had texture issues and has recently started covering his ears and yelling "Too Loud" when I turn on music. While I am quite certain that he is not autistic, (many doctors have assured us that he is not because of the relationship he has with Nicole...and autistic child could have the personal relationship he has with her) I do realize that he may fall somewhere on the outskirts of the spectrum. We saw a DAN provider (Defeat Autism Now) at the beginning of the year and he confirmed that Joshua shows "soft signs" of being on the spectrum, especially when he eats gluten. He recommended we keep Josh off of gluten (not that putting him back on was an option) and that we eliminate dairy from his diet as well...too promote healing of the gut. He also recommended a host of supplements and physical exercises to do at home to promote brain development and help repair his neurological functioning.

So, Joshua is now GFCF. And oh, it is fun. I realize now just how much dairy he was eating. Yogurt smoothies and cheese were daily favorites. And the hot chocolate...but we won't go there. So now we live on Chocolate Almond Milk, Enjoy Life Cereal Bars (which someone pointed out to me on a GFCF discussion site...have no nutritional value what-so-ever), and Ian's GFCF French Bread Pizza and French Toast Stixs. I am finally getting motivated to cook GFCF, so I will share recipes with you as a find them!