I have been so preoccupied with Ruby and breastfeeding that I haven’t blogged about Ronan in a while. So here we go!
Ronan is 2 and a half. 30 months old. He is such an amazing, vibrant little person. He has SO much to say.
Only, he can’t say it.
It really has been so long since I wrote about this. I feel like I should mention it again. Ronan “has” Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Has is in quotation marks because this medical diagnosis isn’t given out until a child is 3 years old. However, he has all of the signs and markers of it, we have been doing his therapy as though he does, and he has been responding beautifully.
Ronan LOVES his speech therapist, Miss Emily. He’s excited when she gets here, and he is sad when she leaves. She has been fantastic about knowing what type of activities will get the most ‘work’ out of him, while also letting him have fun. She spoils him a little too, and I can’t say that we mind!
When we started therapy in June, Ronan had very few words. Through therapy, we’ve been teaching him sounds; how to make them, where they’re used, where they come in a word. So instead of just teaching him how to say single words, we have been teaching him the ability to spontaneously say words he couldn’t previously.
This is such a hard subject to write about… I’m having trouble figuring out what I want to say and how to say it. There are so many leaps and strides Ronan has taken that wont seem like anything to someone that isn’t familiar with apraxia.
Ronan previously said “UH!” when he wanted to be picked up, but has recently started putting the “P” sound at the end. He says “Yes” and “No” appropriately. He gets just as excited as we do when he figures out a new word. He says “cookie” and “keys” and “gokeen” means ‘broken’. He says “BABY!” and points at Ruby and gives her a kiss. He says “Nah nah” when we put him in bed now… ‘night night’. He says “more book” when we wants us to read him a story. He says so many new things every day that I can’t remember them all. It is so amazing.
We still have struggles and frustrations. There are times when he tries so desperately and earnestly to tell us what he wants, and we just can’t figure it out. It’s a work in progress. Nothing comes easily or quickly for Ronan, but he keeps trying. And things will just keep getting better and better.
I know it.
