Zac Speaks!

A month ago I shared the scary proposition that Zac may have CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech).

Shortly after that post, our beloved speech therapist was in a session with Zac and, hitting another brick wall of progress, called her boss in to observe. 

Our therapist, Miss K, is amazing! The good news is that her boss, Miss L, is amazing, too…and has a few more years of experience under her belt. So Miss K thought maybe Miss L might have some suggestions she hadn’t thought of yet.

(For the record, the two amazing ladies had been conferring and brainstorming about Zac prior to this, but Miss L hadn’t observed a session in a while.)

After watching for a bit, Miss L conceded that Zac was a tough case. However, she mentioned that she had ONE patient a few years ago that was very similar to Zac. It’s the only other patient she’s ever had that is like this, and in the end it turned out this other little boy did not  have CAS.

Nope. In the end, it turned out this other little boy was just incredibly stubborn.

Since Zac isn’t speaking enough to get a CAS diagnosis yet, they decided there was no harm in trying a new therapy method for a while. In fact, they decided it would be a good thing to do, because if it didn’t work it would eliminate “stubbornness” as an explanation for his speech delays, thereby increasing the likelihood that he would receive a CAS diagnosis.

Miss K described the new therapy approach to me, calling it “tough love”.

I call it “out-stubborning the mule”.

Basically, they put Zac in a high chair, strapped in so he couldn’t run around and play. Then Miss K held two toys that she KNOWS he has a sound or a word for in front of him and asked which toy he wanted.

Of course Zac simply grinned and pointed.

No dice. Miss K refused to give him a toy until he made his sound or word for it. (She chose a ball and a train. He was saying “ba” and “o-hoo” for those at the time.)

He screamed. He cried. He pitched a fit. He wailed. He put on an Oscar winning performance.

And the first time she did it with him, he refused to say a single sound. Not even the ones he always  says at therapy!

When my Mom picked him up from therapy that day, though, he DID wave good-bye to Miss K and say – clear as a bell, and for the first time ever – “Bye-bye!”

Hmm.

The second time she did her “tough love” therapy with him, I was waiting to pick him up at the end of the session. When Miss K came out to meet me, her face was ecstatic!

In that session, Zac had fought speaking for the first half hour just as he had before. But after 30 minutes, he suddenly decided he wanted the stinking toy and was willing to do whatever he had to do to get it.

He asked for the toy by name!

He then spent the last 15 minutes of the session making lots of noises…some she had never heard him say before.

Since then, every session comes complete with a wrap-up report of all the new sounds Zac has made. He has now, finally, made all his vowel sounds. He will even repeat words she asks him to say.

We are seeing a difference at home, too.

Zac now clearly says “go” all the time. In fact, I am getting worn out from the piggy back rides I’ve been giving him the last four days. Every time I get him on my back, I won’t go anywhere until he tells me what he wants me to do. So I get to hear him say “GO!” every time I give him a piggy back ride…which is worth the exhaustion, in my book.

Two days ago he attempted to say “egg”. I’ve heard him attempt “car” and “book” as well.

Miss K says he has attempted “rabbit”, “puppy”, and quite a few other words or animal sounds with her.

So maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t have CAS.

Maybe he’s just a mule-headed, stubborn kid.

Sigh.

That’s the good news. (The exceptionally good news, in my opinion!)

The bad news came yesterday when I dropped him off for his session.

Zac receives speech therapy through Early Intervention, a government program set up to offer therapy to children under 3 years of age (though they will continue providing it after 3 if still necessary).

As with many government programs, it isn’t run well at times. This is one of those times.

EI receives its funding every three years. They are due to receive new funding in July of this year, which means we are in the final 6 months of their previous 3 year funding allotment.

And they didn’t budget well. At all.

If Zac continues to receive the two sessions per week he needs, he will be out of funding for his therapy at the end of January.

If she reduces his schedule to once per week, he can continue to receive therapy through the end of February.

ALL the children in EI in our area are currently being either discharged or drastically reduced in scheduling due to this horrible budgeting mess. Many of these children will not be able to receive therapy after January (or February) until July, when the new funding kicks in.

So I spent yesterday trying to get our application for TEFRA together. Miss L assures me that as soon as I send her verification that we are being considered for TEFRA, she will continue his therapy at 2-3 sessions per week.

Between when EI funding runs out and TEFRA kicks in (which could be months, for all I know), our only other option to keep him in therapy is to pay out of pocket.

Today Miss L showed me how much that will cost. It’s really not bad.

Just a tad under $500 per month for two sessions per week.

So we have no choice but to cut back on the whole, and for me to work more.

I was going to get a crash pad in Chicago so I had a cheap place to stay at work. Now, though, we can’t spare the $150 a month for that. I’ll just have to sleep in the airport.

I’d planned to hire a maid service to come in and spruce the place up as an Anniversary present to myself later this month. Nix that!

We were also planning to start Jed in martial arts classes this month, which are $100 a month. Now I have to weigh whether his need for socialization and experience with the outside world is worth it.

There’s no way we can swing this without me working many extra hours per month. If Jed doesn’t do martial arts, that’s 2 hours less I need to work to make up the difference.

Ah…who am I kidding? It’s 2 hours of flight time. I’ll do it for him.

After all, I’m the Mama. I’ll sleep in the airport instead of in a comfortable bed 5 or 6 times per month, but I’ll make sure my kids get the therapy and experiences they need.

Sigh.

Well, at least we seem to be turning a corner with Zac. He really is using his voice a lot more, and for that I’m grateful. I’m just heartbroken at the thought that he might lose therapy now, when it’s finally starting to all come together for him.

So look for me in the skies more often. Someone’s gotta pay for this.

I’m just going to record Zac saying “go” and listen to it over and over again when I’m at work, so I remember exactly what I’m doing it for.

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Anyone else have an incredibly stubborn kiddo? How do you get through to them?