Apraxia Kids is proud to offer over 60 Facebook Support Groups for parents, Apraxia Stars and professionals can meet, ask questions and share stories. These groups were the foundation of Apraxia Kids and have continued to grow internationally and have now developed into weekly zoom meetings for tweens/teens with apraxia as well as monthly meeting for adult community members, parents and SLPs. 

Amber Vecchio is a parent of an Apraxia Star and serves as an Apraxia Kids Board Member. Amber’s eight-year-old daughter Delaney was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech four years ago and continues to receive speech therapy services in second grade and through outpatient support. Her journey to an Apraxia diagnosis was difficult through COVID-19, but once Apraxia Kids’ resources were identified, Delaney’s speech significantly improved.

• How did you first find our Facebook support group? 
  • I don’t really remember…..I may have first found out about the support groups just googling for answers to help my daughter and our family
• What made you want to join the group?
  • I joined because I didn’t know of any other kiddos that had CAS and felt really isolated and alone. Our experiences are unique, and I didn’t have anyone that could relate.
• What has helped you the most?
  •  One thing I love and think our community needs are the messages of hope. I love when I see a post about something a kiddo accomplished and share that celebration. 
  • I recommend everyone join, and share with extended family, educators, and SLPs. Because this journey can be really hard to explain to someone not living with our kiddos, it can be helpful to see other perspectives and different stages of a CAS journey.
• What connections have you made through the support group?
  • I’ve made a lot of friends and didn’t have anyone that understood before. It’s been nice to meet other families that have the same co-existing conditions like my kiddo that I can really relate to.
• What made you choose to take a more active role with Apraxia Kids?
  • Volunteerism is important to me and I need to set an example for my kids. Having an opportunity to help families like mine has been incredibly rewarding. There are so many ways to contribute and everyone can get involved. I hope my daughter knows when she is older that I did everything I could to support her and kids like her.
• Apraxia Kids has recently started a NEW LIVE video support group! What made you want to join this group as well? 
  • Chelsea’s drive to make us a strong community is inspiring. I knew that if she was involved, she’d make it a great experience.
• What has being a part of the LIVE support group helped you with / what do you like most about it?
  •  It’s a nice mix of families in all stages of their apraxia journey. I like to provide tips for kiddos that will experience things we’ve already been through and learned from things we tried and failed or were successful at accomplishing. Families who have already been through my stage give me hope that we will get through some rough times. It’s great that a lot of Dads are involved because they need and want support too. Our kiddos have made us great listeners. There is no pressure to talk or stick to an agenda, but if you just want to say whatever you’re feeling or going through, we listen to each other.
• What connections have you made in the LIVE support group? 
  • I’ve made some out of state friends that I’ll definitely try to visit over the summer and their Walk for Apraxia events in the fall.  Traveling to other walks outside mine and seeing other kiddos and their supporters brings me joy.

Learn more about our Facebook Support Groups: https://www.apraxia-kids.org/how-to-help/support-groups-2/

Learn more about our LIVE meetings: https://www.apraxia-kids.org/how-to-help/live-support-groups/