historically speaking

when sam was two years old, my pediatrician referred us to my county's early childhood intervention program because she was not saying as many words as she should. sam was evaluated by ECI specialist and they determined she did indeed have a speech delay.

previous to this, she hit all of her developmental milestones within normal ranges - but at the late end of those ranges.

at ten months of age, she had a closed skull injury. a hair line fracture.

after the diagnosis at two years, the early childhood intervention program in our county came to our home and worked with her twice a week.

at that time, i sincerely believed we would have her up to speed and ready for first grade on time.

after a year of ECI, she went to a PPCD program in a public school. for a year and a half. She had a very good teacher there and a new but enthusiastic speech therapist. her speech made no measurable improvement in that year.

it was then i realized i would have to take her education and speech therapy into my own hands. started doing research. talking to people. asking more questions.

insisted that the public school purchase the Kaufmann Praxis test to determine if Sam was apraxic. They finally did buy the test kit and administered it to her. The results showed a very high likelihood of apraxia of speech. She was still just a bit too young for an official diagnosis.

my research led me to the conclusion that she would require an education driven by her speech requirements. There was no such education to be found in the Dallas area. The nearest program that offered a communication immersed education was in Mississippi at The Dubard School. (see links) she was too young for Dubard still. but i was told to check out their Children's Center for Communication & Development. both on the campus of the university of southern mississippi. my Alma Mater.

we made the snap decision to drive over for the weekend and interview there. sam was accepted to the program that day. a week later, my two daughters and i moved to mississippi for the school year. i was pregnant with my son. we lived with my parents for the year while my husband stayed here in texas to work and hold down the fort.

we had finally made the decision to move to mississippi so we could keep Sam at the Children's Center another year and then hopefully to have her accepted into Dubard (they have a two year waiting list). She was making noticeable progress for the first time ever.

while house shopping in Mississippi, i was on the phone with one of my speech resources in dallas. she told me about a new pilot program for speech delayed kids at the Shelton School. i hung up with her, and called Shelton only to be told that yes, they did have a new program but that the class for Sam's age group was already filled.

i begged. and pleaded. and told them what we were willing to do for our daughter. PLEASE would they consider making a spot for her. They agreed to consider it if i would send them all of her educational and medical records asap. i copied them that day and overnighted the 10 lb. package to them.

a week later they called to let us know they had reviewed her file and were going to make a place for her.

my family could return to texas.

that summer, she attended a fantastic program at the Callier Center in Richardson.

and in the fall, she started at shelton. her class has a speech therapist and a teacher. both trained in the Association Method.

fall 2008 will be the start of her fourth year there.

along the way, we have also added the diagnosis of ADHD, Dyslexia and Bipolar Disorder. in addition, her teachers tell me she exhibits the characteristics of a child with a brain injury.