Finding Encouragement When Faced With a Global Apraxia Diagnosis

I know all too well how gut wrenching a Global Apraxia diagnosis can be. But I hope you find encouragement through my story.

There was no way to know how our lives were about to change when our son was born in January of 2018. We had no idea how strong we could be or how much fight we had inside of us but we quickly found out.

I won’t go into all the details leading up to the Global Apraxia diagnosis in this post but want to share some hope from our journey thus far. We are with our son everyday so it can be difficult to see his progress and celebrate his victories. It wasn’t until I took a trip down memory lane and began looking at videos from each of his birthdays that I realized he’s accomplished so much. Through tear filled eyes I was witnessing his progress as if for the first time. Sometimes we have to stop ourselves in our tracks and take a moment to reflect and celebrate what has been.

Part Of The Painful Journey

For us, when our son was just three years old we were told it was highly possible he may never speak. I remember sitting in the therapy room at Children’s Hospital, watching my son play, hearing those words and sobbing. I felt utterly defeated and the ache in my heart for our son was beyond words.

In that same meeting the therapist spoke to us about an Augmentative Communication device and how it could help our son. If you’re not familiar, this device is basically a tablet with an app programmed on it for speaking. We had an app called LAMP and it was filled with words that our son could tap on and put together to make sentences. It would essentially speak for him since he was unable to talk.

Those Small Amazing Moments

This is just a tiny snippet of our journey with Global Apraxia but it is a significant one. I learned very quickly not to write his story. At every turn he is surprising us and we have learned to celebrate every single thing. From his first sign language of, “please” to his first spoken, “hello” to a friend.

Don’t miss the small amazing moments because you’re waiting for that huge breakthrough. Those small moments all stacked together ARE the huge breakthrough. Encourage your special one. Celebrate them. Push them to new heights. Fight for them. Never underestimate how far they can go.