D.A.S.

Caleb had his appointment with the Developmental & Behavior Clinic a few weeks ago. Our main concern for him, of course, is his delayed speech. But since we knew his biological mother got a minor consumption when she was 5 months pregnant with him, there was always a concern of fetal alcohol syndrome. The only "good" thing was that she was in in-patient treatment during the first trimester of this pregnancy, so in theory, she was probably not using, or at least not using as much, during that time.

He saw five professionals at this clinic, including a speech pathologist, an occupational therapist, a pediatrician, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist. (And sadly, I must admit, I still don't really know the difference between a psychologist & a psychiatrist). At the staffing at the end of the day, they gave their diagnosis. Although we knew he had fetal alcohol exposure, they did not feel he had fetal alcohol syndrome.

What they did diagnose him with was Developmental Apraxia of Speech. Basically, for some reason, his brain isn't getting the correct signals to his mouth needed to form the words. They don't know what actually causes this disorder, but the main treatment for it is repetitive speech therapy. Most children with apraxia do eventually learn to speak clearly. And in the last several months that the school has been working with him, we have seen improvement. He has learned to say some very important words, such as mine and spot. (And just so you know, his spot is his spot, even if he wasn't sitting in it.) Hopefully we will be able to find a speech therapist who works after hours…I have a feeling that we'll end up having to contact the county for help with that!