Seeking assistance

GunnarsMommy said:
Thank you very much! We are pretty wild about him!

He is our miracle baby... We tried for 14 years to have a child. I got pregnant on my final attempt. I was done and then here he came. So very worth the wait.
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wow! my mother must've done the same and here I am! (speaking of that, my older sister is now finally prengant with TWINS!!!!)
 
GunnarsMommy said:
Happy Hands Education Center! That is awesome. I wonder why it didn't come up when I googled local deaf schools? Thank you!

Yes, he is very high functioning. In fact, the only thing he can't do is speak. He says Ma, Da, Do (dog without the G on the end), Ba (which he uses for bad and bath) and hi and bye (sounds more like hai and bu). He has other sounds he uses for words, but the pronunciation frequently changes. Even the fine motor issues are pretty mild, just enough to make some signs difficult. It appears at this point apraxia is his only issue. With the combination of sounds, gestures, signs and facial expressions he actually communicates really well. It can be easy to forget he doesn't really speak. :)
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Well good that you have that resource!!!!!! I have heard that Happy Hands is kind of Pentecostal Christian influenced......but I have heard its a good school....and its an excellent resource for a dhh or apraxia kid.....(and I think if you tried finding apraxia resources, you'd encounter a lot of multiple disability kids stuff, rather then stuff for high functioning kids....
 
deafdyke said:
Well good that you have that resource!!!!!! I have heard that Happy Hands is kind of Pentecostal Christian influenced......but I have heard its a good school....and its an excellent resource for a dhh or apraxia kid.....(and I think if you tried finding apraxia resources, you'd encounter a lot of multiple disability kids stuff, rather then stuff for high functioning kids....
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You are right. As I have searched for resources a lot of the information seems geared toward kids with multiple diagnoses. It makes it hard to know what applies to Gunnar and what doesn't. Some of it obviously doesn't fit, some of it is questionable. It's made me a little paranoid we've missed something or there is another diagnosis coming as he ages. If there is we will just keep doing whatever we can to help him. :)
 
GunnarsMommy said:
You are right. As I have searched for resources a lot of the information seems geared toward kids with multiple diagnoses. It makes it hard to know what applies to Gunnar and what doesn't. Some of it obviously doesn't fit, some of it is questionable. It's made me a little paranoid we've missed something or there is another diagnosis coming as he ages. If there is we will just keep doing whatever we can to help him. :)
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A lot of the multiple dx kids seem to have it as a euphaninism........Like the type who are MR and have it (apraxia) as an additional dx.....But there are kids/adults who are mentally normal but use ASL as a first language due to things like CP or whatever.......Rare but can and does happen....and you're lucky to be able to take advantage of deaf ed, as it's specialized education, but not watered down "special ed"

(ie for kids with mental disabilities)
 
deafdyke said:
A lot of the multiple dx kids seem to have it as a euphaninism........Like the type who are MR and have it (apraxia) as an additional dx.....But there are kids/adults who are mentally normal but use ASL as a first language due to things like CP or whatever.......Rare but can and does happen....and you're lucky to be able to take advantage of deaf ed, as it's specialized education, but not watered down "special ed"

(ie for kids with mental disabilities)
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It's been a crazy week! Sorry for the very slow reply. We have a tour with Happy hands next Tuesday! It's really expensive, but they have scholarships available. I hope he will qualify otherwise we won't be able to afford it.

You are absolutely right. We are lucky to have a deaf ed opportunity. My worst fears with the apraxia have been about how children will treat him if he can't speak and being put into a "special ed" program beacuse he can't speak or speak well, despite everyone who has evaluated him saying he is a very smart child.

What I found interesting and liked about Happy hands is they actually have a variety of students. Some are hearing children of deaf parents with no developmental delays, some are deaf or HOH and some have communication issues like Gunnar. All of their primary instructors are certified deaf educators and some of their assistant instructors are deaf themselves. The curriculum in total communication, so he will see signs and hear words. They said they have had a lot of success with apraxia kids in their program.

I am a little worried about the class size, even though it is a totally appropriate size at 10 children with 2 teachers. Gunnar is very shy and can be slow to warm up. I worry with 9 other children he will feel overwhelmed and be unhappy. Where he is now it is just him and another little girl, at most there will be 3 other children to join his class. He loves it there and runs to his class on the days he attends.

The benefits of being properly taught to sign will be huge, but I don't want to take him somewhere 5 days a week that he isn't happy. I hope I am worrying for nothing and he will love it there, assuming he gets in. Let's face it, his hearing parents aren't the best people to teach him to sign. We are trying to learn as fast as we can, but the people at Happy hands will do a much better job than we can.

Speaking of which, Danny and I are having a hard time with remembering to sign when we speak. We have almost 40 years of not needing to and it is a tough adjustment. Any tips?
 
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