This quote is true for all children. I love this quote. I see it happening in my own house. Alex no longer lets me hug him goodbye at school. He is very independent. He's in 2nd grade now--It just isn't cool to be in 2nd grade and have your mom hug you goodbye before school. And I'm okay with that because he still lets me hug and kiss him when we're at home. He even crawls onto my lap from time to time.
Alex was a very quiet baby. He didn't babble until he was a toddler and he didn't talk until he was nearly 3. We used some sign language to communicate with him. After a few doctor's appointments he started going to the school for speech therapy and we had a therapist come to the house to work with him. Once school started we began to notice other things--little things at first, shaky hand when he was writing, forgetting things and repeating things to the point of driving us crazy, not being able to read or recall the sounds each letter makes. We noticed the way his mouth moved when he spoke and smiled (like Sylvester Stallone). He started occupational therapy to help with all the things he was struggling with. We knew something was going on, but we just didn't know what. Last year when Alex started 1st grade there was a lot of frustration and tears as he struggled with reading, writing, spelling, and math. Once 2nd grade started a couple of weeks ago he seemed even more frustrated and overwhelmed, which wasn't encouraging because the school year had only just started! We had no idea what to do to help him or how he was thinking or what was going on.
Then, last week, I met with one of his therapists who informed me that they had tested Alex and he has Verbal and Limb Apraxia. She told me about how the disability affects Alex's brain and body--how there is (like) a disconnection from his brain to his body. He knows what he is trying to say or trying to do, he just can't seem to do it. How frustrating that would be for me as an adult--I can't imagine having to deal with that as a 7-year-old boy. Yet, he does--every day. A friend said, "Giving it a name doesn't change anything. It's like saying you knew your child had trouble breathing even before they were diagnosed with Asthma." And she is right. There was no choir music echoing from the sky as the name of Alex's disability was given to us. Alex wasn't miraculously "cured" just because we had a name to go with the disability. BUT--on the other hand, having learned about the disability, we now feel like we understand Alex a little better. We know a little more how his brain is working and we are getting new information on how to work with him and the treatments to help him. It has all been very eye opening and just amplifies what we have said about Alex all along . . .
He IS a true super hero. I drop him and Logan off at school and as I watch them walk into the building I am sure I see a tiny glimpse of his invisible cape. J.M. Barrie was right--every morning Alex wakes up older, but I believe he also wakes up stronger.
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