You know that James' condition called Developmental Apraxia of Speech (DAS) means that he is not able to reproduce sounds he hears automatically- it has to be learned bit by bit.
WELL, yesterday he had an appointment with Roxanne, his speech therapist. We were discussing him getting very good at using basic sign language but he was not repeating sounds I had been working on with him- like "b","p","m"etc...
She mentioned that perhaps I should ask him to say the first letter of the word he was signing- like "m" with the sign for "more". So, we did. AND HE DID IT!!! I couldn't believe my son was saying 1. what he HEARD and 2. what I asked him to say!!! We were so surprised yesterday!!! It was marvelous.
THEN, last night I blew my nose and got a bit of mocos on my hand- I guess I blew too hard. Anyways, I said "uh-oh!" and JAMES SAID "UH-OH!" I was so excited I didn't know how to react- except be moved almost to tears!!! So, I took him upstairs to show daddy- which, of course, didn't happen. But we were playing with his train set and he said "uh-oh!" AGAIN when his train derailed and broke!
I know to most Moms, having your kid speak to you is exciting at first but then all they do is talk and all you want is quiet. I am not like most moms- I have not heard my little boy speak any words that I can comprehend since September 17th, 2007- the day of his seizure. This is such an enormous blessing to my family that I can do nothing but thank the Lord for his goodness to our family and helping my little boy talk to me. We are reading the New Testament in our family scripture study and every time Jesus Christ is presented with a child "struck dumb", lame, blind or otherwise afflicted I feel so CLOSE to the parents of these precious children- because I am a parent to one like them. The power to heal those beautiful children lies in the Lord and He makes a statement to his disciples who ask him why can they not heal the dumb, lame, blind and stricken. He says that these things must be accomplished by prayer and fasting, and the faith to believe.
We have prayed and fasted. I think I may be only beginning to understand what faith can really do. It has not moved any mountains, or parted any waters because it doesn't need to do these things for my family, but the Lord has indeed blessed us greatly in the last day or so with something that seems just as miraculous- my child who was "struck dumb" is learning to talk again, something the doctors said wouldn't happen for a few years. I cannot seem to express my gratitude enough, but I feel my Saviors love through this great blessing.
2 comments:
Ashley, that is wonderful wondeful news. I really can only imagine what it was like to hear James say those things, and what a relief for an expecting mommy that all the hard work is and will continue to pay off. I really feel like the time will come when his struggles are past. Keep up the GREAT work!
HOORAY! for James!!
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