Earnie Sotirokos serves as Apraxia Kids Vice President of Digital Strategy and has been a part of Apraxia Kids for over 10 years. In this interview, Earnie reflects on his time here and the connections he has made.

How did Apraxia Kids get started?

The organization was established by 3 moms in Pittsburgh, dedicated to improving the lives of their own children struggling with CAS and the lives of others facing similar struggles. What started as an online discussion group quickly evolved into a network of support that extended across the country and across the world. Our Online Support Groups now provide resources to over 60,000 parents and professionals.

What are some of the biggest contributions that Apraxia Kids has made to the community throughout the years?

Research – Apraxia Kids is directly and indirectly responsible for much of the research concerning CAS since 2007.
Connection – Many parents and caregivers meet other families with children with a CAS diagnosis for the first time at the Apraxia Kids National Conference or Walk for Apraxia events.
Hope – Apraxia Kids provides hope through helping to tell the stories of children with CAS in addition to providing educational research articles.

What has been the greatest improvement since you’ve been here?

Apraxia Kids has increased access to information about CAS drastically since I started with the organization in 2014. Traveling workshops that educated maybe a few dozen professionals turned into many different series of free educational content consisting of many hours of evidence-based information. Apraxia Kids also listened to the biggest struggles parents have and developed tools to respond to those specific situations. Examples of these tools include the IEP Roadmap, the Insurance Guide, the Parent Portal, virtual sessions options for those unable to attend the National Conference in person, and a Find Hope, Give Hope platform so parents and children have a special place to tell their stories.

How does Apraxia Kids still hold the same values as to when it was first started? Have any values changed / been updated?

Apraxia Kids has always prioritized supporting every part of a child’s journey with CAS. Children are celebrated for all of their hard work with medals and certificates at the Walk for Apraxia. Parents are supported from the moment they face the challenges of the initial diagnosis, when they need to find appropriate speech therapy, and when their Apraxia Stars runs into challenges at school. 

What was the hardest period of your time here / how did Apraxia Kids react?

Like many other nonprofits, Covid was an extremely challenging time for Apraxia Kids. Systems that were developed to help the organization continue to deliver all of our programs and services like the Virtual Walk for Apraxia, virtual options for the National Conference, and virtual pieces of our Intensive Training for SLPs integrated into how things operated once in-person events were possible again.  

Anything else you want to say about the past 25/10 years?

The best part of working at Apraxia Kids is seeing all of the children smiling and holding their medals on Walk day. Nothing is a better reminder of why we do the work we do than seeing the joy on their faces.

What do you hope the organization can accomplish / what are you looking forward to in the next 25?

I hope that Apraxia Kids continues to evolve to meet the needs of parents and professionals. This organization has always had a dynamic approach to serving our community and we need to continue working hard to ensure that continues to happen for the next 25 years!