I am Stacy, Mom of Graham. He is my 4.6 year old son who was finally diagnosed as Nuerologically Dysmature, with oral apraxia, hypotonia, sensory integration dysfunction and fine motor delays, on august 21, 2001. We have known Graham has had speech problems since he was 2 and only said mama and dada. We finally got him in to speech therapy by the time he was 2.6. He wasn't diagnosed with anything other than a severe speech delay. He was already a year and a half behind.
Over the next year and a half his baby sister, Cailynn, who is 26 months younger started doing the things Graham should be doing. His speech would improve and then regress. We knew then that there was something more than a speech delay. A friend of mine that is a special ed. teacher suggested autism. I knew he wasn't so I went for answers on the internet. Then we found the apraxia website, and many others. It all sounded just like Graham. So I talked to our therapist and she got us a referal to a Dev. Pediatrian. He met with us and Graham seperately. In just two hours he confirmed what we already knew. What a relief! I know alot of moms and dads are upset when they found out, we weren't.
The Dev. Ped. referred us to OT. He has been seen regularly since Sept. His speech has dramatically improved since starting OT!

Picture coming soon.....

Graham can say almost anything when prompted. He has severe articulation problems now, but everyone who is close to him can finally understand him. (Well, most of the time.) There is still alot of work ahead but he is a trooper.
Now, about Graham. He is a very determined boy. He has the best attitude. As we go to therapy he tells his sisters,"I have to go to work". He works hard at home and at "work" too. We are a home school family and he is learning to read. His favorite things are his sisters, Thomas the tank engine, and hot wheels cars. He has a best little friend and they are so cute. His best friend is extremely advanced in every area, but defends Graham if someone is ugly to him. Graham is the most affectionate guy I know. And he is an animal lover. He is in the AWANA Cubbies program at our church. He has to memorize scriptures and say them to his leader with no more than two helps. He keeps up with his class. Which is wonderful because it is main streamed. His leader is aware of his disablities and has learned to understand his language patterns.
We will be starting on EFAs this week.(week of December 6, 2001)