Speech update

Colt's speech therapist came today and she spent a good amount of time educating me on speech apraxia and how I can help colt. Nancy Kaufman is the apraxia guru and is known world wide for her methods. Part of her "program" starts with teaching word approximations. So for kids with speech apraxia, breaking down the words to the simplest form is where to start. Colts therapist gave me some nancy Kaufman cards that we will practice with him several times a day. The cards are pictures of everyday things/people. For example: one card has a cow and I say "moo moo" to colt and try to get him to say the same thing. The goal is to eventually have him see the cards and automatically know what to say without being cued. We have to start small and work our way up to the proper pronunciation of the word. But for now we will work on word approximations with colt. I tried the flash cards this afternoon with colt and he got easily frustrated, which is to be expected. He gets a reward if he says the word approximation for the card and I think once he figures out he gets rewarded, he will be more willing to cooperate. I was reading on another speech apraxia moms blog and she explained it very well- we teach our kids sign language and we don't expect a 2 year old to sign the sign perfectly. We learn what the sign means for them and its good enough. So, how can we expect a 2 year old with speech apraxia to say a word correctly right away? We can't, we have to start small ( word approximations). I know colt has an extremely challenging road ahead, but we will not give up and will do whatever it takes to get colt to be able to communicate. It is very hard to watch your child struggle with something that is supposed to come so natural. I question why colt, considering he has struggled enough in his life with having had 3 bone marrow transplants, but questioning why gets us no where. God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers, right!!! Colt has shown me that happiness does not come from how smart you are or if you can talk or not. Anyone that has ever come in contact with colt will tell you he is the happiest kid they have ever been around. So instead of complaining about yet another struggle colt is facing, I will be thankful he is alive and healthy! I'm thankful he can give the best bear hugs ever !!! I will try and upload a video of colt practicing his flash cards to help document his progress. Thank you for all your prayers for my sweet angel :) Natalie