One of the common characteristics of someone with Dyspraxia/Apraxia is the continual inconsistencies that exist in many to most parts of their lives. With CB, this is not only apparent with his speech production, but his word retrieval, short & long term memory, processing speed, fine & gross motor skills, tracking speed, ability to sense the need to pee prior to actually peeing, and other areas. When all cylinders are firing and CB is on the top of his game, many people might not even notice CB’s differences, other than his limited speech. When things are off, then everything is just plain hard for CB, all the wrong words come out, getting his body to move in the desired way is quite difficult, CB will get stuck in repetitive patterns (like just saying “No” over and over and over.) and CB will even be very reluctant to do things he has “mostly mastered” in the past. For most days, CB has many struggles and the easiest thing can seem so hard for him. For example, CB has been putting his own underwear on for 7 months and still asks us to help on most days.
I have some tendencies on the dyspraxic side including issues with word retrieval, processing information at a slower pace, walking into things, tripping over nothing, and performing tasks at a slower pace. When I am tired or stressed, it is basically impossible for me to say every word in every sentence correct. I will just skip over the word I can’t think of or get stuck where I just say the wrong word each time even after being corrected a time or two. I feel that it is almost impossible for me to speak 100% correct at those times and just hope for understanding from those around me. Now I am just trying to imagine what it would be like if this feeling of impossibility existed within me for everyday tasks on a consistent basis. What would others feel towards me? How would I feel about myself? How would I feel about trying new things? Would I feel that people feel sorry for me? Would I feel less than others? I think I need to remind myself of this often when I am not being as understanding as I should with CB. I also need to continually ask “What would help me to feel more positive about myself?” and to try to always find ways to help CB in this area.
For CB, one interesting change is that his vowel sounds have been quite consistent for the past 6 months or so. This same issue still exists for some consonant sounds, but it seems like the more he practices the more consistent he is becoming with his consonant sounds, as well. It is interesting b/c I am wondering how does something move from the inconsistent to the consistent and stay consistent for the dyspraxic person? Does enough practice make the neural pathways for certain sounds, movements, words, etc. so defined that they become a consistent part of the dyspraxic’s mastered capabilities? Can I hope that CB will not always struggle with so many parts of his life? I know it is realistic for him to be able to perform many everyday tasks without thought, but will most things actually become “easy” for him? Will he always struggle with certain fine motor tasks like writing or being able to follow the lesson in class or easily communicating to even his closest friends or physically keeping up with his friends?
So I am currently struggling with the knowledge that CB needs PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and with the knowledge that CB also still just needs to be a kid. How do you ensure to get enough of everything in but always still allow for CB to have his childhood? I know I am not doing enough at home right now, especially since it is summer. However, I hope to create more of a balance. I need more strategies for having play actually be PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE but hidden so CB is not aware. My next steps are to get more iPad apps that are targeted towards speech production and concepts that CB needs to work on. So, I know I don’t have the answers, but asking these questions helps put me on the path to getting the info I need to take the next step.
Side Note about Health: CB has what I think is a yeast infection. He got a chigger bite (at least this is what we think) on his penis. About a week later, he developed the ring around his anus. In the past, this ring has indicated a yeast infection. I have been treating the yeast infection for the last 5 days with no progress. I have treated it with coconut oil, some Eden’s salve, and applied some hydrocortisone to help with the itching. Hopefully, we will see some progress or I will have to take him in to the Dr. We are out of state right now, so I have been hesitant.