“I first got a phone when I was eight years old. As you may imagine, my sixteen-year-old sister was so jealous. “Why does he get a phone, but I don’t? I’ve had to wait until I was sixteen!” She didn’t understand that my parents got me a phone as a ... Read the Post...
Blog
Apraxia Makes Our Speech Not Always Accessible
Apraxia is classified as non-consistent speech errors. Essentially, the ability to say one word correctly, and the next day unable to say it at all. However, I’ve found nobody has talked about this and the difference between our verbal speech not ... Read the Post...
My Experience with Reading, Writing, and Spelling
When I was a child growing up with Verbal Apraxia (CAS), I had a great amount of difficulty with reading, writing, and spelling. The reason for this is was because I couldn’t pronounce the words yet. If I was unable to pronounce the words, how was I ... Read the Post...
Every Day is Different for my Speech – Jordan’s Journals.
Dear Journal, Recently I came to some sort of self-realization, some called an awakening on one of my livestreams, that every day is a different day for my speech. Apraxia is truly unpredictable, and maybe that’s where the anxiety correlates ... Read the Post...
My College IEP for My Verbal Apraxia (CAS)
I recently just graduated from college with my Bachelors in Psychology and minor in General Biology. I was so excited to attend college; however, no one told me how to advocate for my college system accommodations. Here's how I fought for my ... Read the Post...
How Apraxia Made School Difficult Growing Up
When I was growing up, attending school was difficult for numerous reasons besides being bullied. Since my speech was so limited, even beyond my childhood years, I could often not expand on speech responses that I would like. However, nobody knew ... Read the Post...
Inside the mind of a person with Apraxia
Have you ever wondered what your children feel like? How the brain to mouth signals feel like when they get lost and fade into dust? How does your body feel after a word you know you wanted to say goes missing? Read more to find out from a ... Read the Post...
Mom, I had the Best days with You – The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, I was five and nonverbal. If I’m honest, I was scared of the world around me, so in my head, I made my own. My happy place. Because others couldn’t understand me, but my mom could. It was this connection that’s indescribable, and ... Read the Post...
I Never Knew if I Would Ever Speak – The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, When I was a child, I didn’t know if one day I would be able to speak. I remember the eagerness to speak and want to sound like the other children in my class; however, reality hit me when I attempted to spoke. I got frustrated, ... Read the Post...
The Day I Read Out Loud in Class: The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, I still remember the first time I read out loud to the class. I couldn’t read well until I was in third grade, but one day in my third-day class, I did. I remember being so excited and over the moon to read what section my ... Read the Post...
Mom, You Were the Parent I Needed: The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, I still remember being a toddler and searching for my mom, even in our house. I remember clinging by her side when others would make ignorant comments about my speaking abilities. I remember crying in the bathroom and hugging her ... Read the Post...
My Disability Isn’t Unfavorable
It’s no secret people with disabilities get treated differently from the public. I mean, unfortunately, that’s the reality we live in. Do you know in some states, social workers can deny people based on their disability status or other forms of ... Read the Post...
Emotional shutdowns in Apraxia: The Apraxia Diaries
When I was a child and was overwhelmed, I would emotionally shut down due to the complex nature of my speech disorder. If I wasn’t able to articulate what I wanted to say, and I kept on trying, this would result in an emotional shutdown. You may be ... Read the Post...
The “Friends” Who Couldn’t Understand Me: The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, As a teenager, I wanted most to clean my past that anything that marked my speech disorder. I lived most of my life in denial, but when others brought it up, I was reminded it's not something I can escape from.I was in the car with ... Read the Post...
The SLP That Didn’t Protect me: The Apraxia Diaries
Dear Diary, I can still remember the SLP that didn’t protect me. I grew up in speech therapy rooms, where they were supposed to be my safe place. My place without danger. It only took one speech-language pathologist, not thinking correctly, to ... Read the Post...
The Boy who Couldn’t Speak: The Apraxia Diaries
Dear diary, I still remember the boy who couldn’t speak. He was blonde and blue eyed, and he loved popping in tapes and watching the tv. He was in his own world, and when he got introduced to the world around him, he wasn’t prepared. In fact, ... Read the Post...
Apraxia has no Shortcuts
People with Apraxia often require what’s described as frequent and intensive speech therapy for many years. Many parents will hope for something quicker or an overnight success to help promote their child’s speech. When the matter of fact is— Apraxia ... Read the Post...
Well Rehearsed Speech is Easier than Expected Speech
When you have Apraxia, you can prepare yourself for upcoming conversations. Many people self rehearse their speech in their brains, hoping it will help them say what they want to say. However, when we are asked something in conversation, we can go ... Read the Post...
Speech Frustrations That Come With Apraxia
People get frustrated with everyday things, but not that many people get frustrated by their speech abilities. However, frustration from not being able to articulate fully what you want to say is real for some people. The sad part is people can ... Read the Post...
I’m no Longer Sorry for My Apraxia.
From a young age, we’re all told we all have our strengths and weaknesses. At that age, that gave me the impression my speech disorder was a weakness. I would grow up to reach the self-realization that this wasn’t true. However, we live in a society ... Read the Post...
Speaking Takes Concentration for Apraxia
Most people don’t have to use that much concentration when they speak. Speaking comes effortlessly and naturally, something that’s easy to do without question. However, this is the opposite of people with Apraxia. Talking can take an incredible ... Read the Post...
Speech Regression During COVID
When we first went under lockdown, we lost a lot of things. We lost in human interaction, our favorite restaurants, stores, and things we all took for granted. However, something I didn’t know I would lose in return is some of the progress I’ve made ... Read the Post...
You Don’t Outgrow Apraxia
There's been a big misconception that Apraxia is only in childhood; however, this isn't the case. I would feel wrong if I contributed to this misconception and didn't tell the truth; this is not saying you can't make significant progress while having ... Read the Post...
Apraxia Builds Character
When we think about apraxia today, we can think about what apraxia doesn’t give us. However, in reality, Apraxia gives us so much and helps these children and adults build character they wouldn’t have before not having Apraxia. I Apraxia gives us ... Read the Post...
Letter to Teachers for Students with Apraxia.
Dear teachers,I wanted to make a letter for those of you who may have a student with Apraxia in your classroom this semester. To introduce myself, my name is Jordan Christian, and I’m a young adult who grew up with and has Verbal Apraxia. I advocate ... Read the Post...
Apraxia is not a Myth.
I heard from a friend the other day that a child’s Speech-Language Pathologist said, “She didn’t believe in Apraxia.” While this is not only scary and invalidating, what’s worse is people’s ignorance about Apraxia being real can prevent required ... Read the Post...
Apraxia IEP Considerations for the School Year.
Verbal Apraxia (CAS) can be a difficult diagnosis for a variety of reasons. In particular, we can struggle to get our accommodations met adequately. Teachers and staff may say this only affects speech, which isn’t entirely true. At the same time, we ... Read the Post...
I Grew up Too Fast.
I Grew up Too Fast. “Maybe I had to grow up too fast, from the speech troubles in my past. While other kids were playing and joyful, I could be found in the corner labeled as antisocial. My speech therapists would say I was bright as a daisy, ... Read the Post...
Experiencing Mental Exhaustion in Apraxia
Something that is not quite often talked about within the apraxia community is that people with apraxia can experience mental exhaustion. Mental exhaustion can sometimes be described as a person's brain on low fuel like somebody has squeezed the ... Read the Post...
A letter to the Kids with Apraxia, who Thinks They’re not Enough.
A letter: Some would say it’s cruel always to understand, but not always to be understood. Being not always understood is frustrating, makes us question our abilities, and of course, can hurt our feelings. It’s natural and its humans. If you’re a ... Read the Post...
Guided Practices: How I Exercise my Speech from Home.
Being at home for any amount of time can cause a person to regress in any place in their life naturally; we can think about the gym as an example. However, we may not think about a person speaking as one of those things that can regress. However, ... Read the Post...
The Inconsistent Nature of my Apraxia Confuses People.
One moment a word I say might come out fine, another, it may come out distorted; that’s life with Verbal Apraxia. The misconceptions about the inconsistency. In my life, I’ve found that the inconsistency of my speech is what confuses people. ... Read the Post...
Five Things Speech-Language Pathologists don’t know about Verbal Apraxia (CAS).
1.) It’s more than a childhood disorder; it’s a lifelong disorder that represents itself differently case by case and differently throughout the individual's lifetime. A prevalent misconception people have is that the term “Childhood” in Childhood ... Read the Post...
Apraxia and Parenting: Letting Go of Guilt and Embracing Patience
Understanding Parental Guilt in Supporting a Child with Apraxia Of Speech As someone with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), I want to address something that weighs heavily on many parents’ hearts: the guilt you feel when you can’t understand your ... Read the Post...
From ‘Just Try Harder’ to Understanding Dysgraphia
“You don’t want to label them,” they said. But the adults around me labeled me inaccurately instead: “Lazy.” “Defiant.” “Refusing.” With each attempt to hold my pencil, these thoughts would run through my mind: “Why is my hand cramping?” “You ... Read the Post...
I’m a human being, not just an apraxia diagnosis.
"I’m a human being, not just an apraxia diagnosis." My name is Jordan. I can’t just focus on apraxia. With overlapping conditions, the likelihood of effective treatment decreases if we don’t target those earlier. This is why it’s so important ... Read the Post...
I never refused to do my school work; I couldn’t access my school work.
“Why does my child with apraxia of speech shut down during class and ‘refuse’ to do their work?” I often get asked this as an apraxia & individualized education plan (IEP) advocate. From my personal experience, I never refused to do work; my work ... Read the Post...