100% Apraxic

We took Nathan to Indy for his evaluation today. We had a Speech Language Pathologist and an Occupational Therapist evaluate him and once it was over, the SLP sat down with me and said "Yeah, he's 100% apraxic." Of course it would have been nice to hear her say that everything was fine and he would start talking at any time, but I was positive he had apraxia, so it definitely wasn't a shock. The good thing is that most kids don't get diagnosed until they are at least three because it's pretty rare and hard to diagnose, but Nathan is pretty much a textbook case. So now that we have an actual diagnosis, we can begin the fight with insurance to cover more than the 20 visits per year we are allowed. But if they deny it, we'll still get him as much therapy as we possibly can because there is nothing more important right now than getting Nathan the help that he needs.

Oh, and he also has Sensory Processing Disorder, which I also knew but now it is diagnosed. The thing I was confused about is that he is such a sensory seeker, but at the same time is very defensive. The OT told me that he is a rare breed, but I guess we knew that too :) The last thing they told me is that he has absolutely no sign of being on the autism spectrum. These therapists actually work almost solely with autistic kids, so they would be able to spot it quickly if he had any markers, but they said he was not on the spectrum at all. The behaviors that we have been concerned with are all part of the Sensory Processing Disorder.

So where does all of this information leave us? Very overwhelmed... so much to learn and so much we need to do to help Nathan at home. We have to decide whether we want to drive to Indy once a week for Speech and Occupational Therapy, or just go once a month for them to track his progress. We also need to decide if we want him to have Occupational Therapy in Terre Haute where he is currently having his speech therapy. The last thing I want to do is overload him, but I also want to get him the help he needs. Oh, and we start Developmental Therapy tomorrow with First Steps. Anyway, it's a lot to think about.

So I'll leave this blog on a sweet note tonight. We were eating lunch at Fazoli's in Indy and two women at the table next to us were praying. He pointed and said "ah" (which means what are they doing?). I told him they were talking to Jesus, so he put his hands together like we always do when we talk to Jesus. Such a sweet kid. So if any of you happen to be talking to Jesus tonight, please ask Him to lead us in the right direction and help us to know what is best for our Nathan.