16 Jun Never Give Up: Marlowe’s Story by Crystal Smith
Our son, Marlowe Jr, was diagnosed with apraxia of speech at the age of four. It has been quite the journey. He was a slow starter to speech when he was younger, but we thought nothing of it. We just thought everybody learned on their own time. It was our pediatrician at the time who suggested we see a speech pathologist.
After a few assessments, our speech pathologist told us that our son had severe apraxia. A name we had never heard of before. We had to do research and learn about it ourselves. That’s when the journey started. From speech therapies two to three days a week at different locations, to learning how to use an AAC device because he wasn’t understood much when he was younger. Also, the frustrations and the praying we saw our son go through broke our hearts. No one should have had to go through so much trouble just to speak, just to say a sound, or just to say a sentence. Sometimes Marlowe had to repeat a sentence more than three times, which would bring tears to his eyes and ours, and he would often just give up. We always tell him to never give up, his voice is beautiful to us.
I think apraxia has affected our son’s daily life because he doesn’t like his own voice. He occasionally, even now, says, “I wish my voice were different.” That’s hard to hear. Something I would tell other families is to never give up. Even when it seems like it’s not going to get better, it will. Our son has such a good support team behind him, good family and friends that support him, and teachers and schools that have supported him, and most of all, some really good speech pathologists
Our son is now 11 years old and has fought a good fight. Apraxia Kids is a very important organization to us and has helped so much. It’s nice knowing other children have this, and Marlowe isn’t the only one. The Be the Voice kit has helped us as we spread awareness in Marlowe’s school and his classroom.
Marlowe has graduated from speech therapy through the John McGivney’s Children’s Center, which is huge in Canada. Is his apraxia gone? No, it is not. At home, he still does speech therapy regularly. He will be reassessed again in the near future as he gets older to see how his progress is. Things are done differently in Canada than they are in the United States, but our son has come such a long way and is very much understood now, a lot better, and he seems more confident with his speech.
Every year, we do the Walk for Apraxia in honor of our son and all the children who struggle with their sounds and voice. We will continue to do Marlowe’s Army yearly. We will also share Marlowe’s story forever to bring awareness. We are proud of our son and hope we can help others.
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Our son, Marlowe Jr, was diagnosed with apraxia of speech at the age of four. It has been quite the journey. He was a slow starter to speech when he was younger, but we thought nothing of it. We just thought everybody learned on their own time. It was our pediatrician at the time who suggested we see a speech pathologist.
After a few assessments, our speech pathologist told us that our son had severe apraxia. A name we had never heard of before. We had to do research and learn about it ourselves. That’s when the journey started. From speech therapies two to three days a week at different locations, to learning how to use an AAC device because he wasn’t understood much when he was younger. Also, the frustrations and the praying we saw our son go through broke our hearts. No one should have had to go through so much trouble just to speak, just to say a sound, or just to say a sentence. Sometimes Marlowe had to repeat a sentence more than three times, which would bring tears to his eyes and ours, and he would often just give up. We always tell him to never give up, his voice is beautiful to us.
I think apraxia has affected our son’s daily life because he doesn’t like his own voice. He occasionally, even now, says, “I wish my voice were different.” That’s hard to hear. Something I would tell other families is to never give up. Even when it seems like it’s not going to get better, it will. Our son has such a good support team behind him, good family and friends that support him, and teachers and schools that have supported him, and most of all, some really good speech pathologists
Our son is now 11 years old and has fought a good fight. Apraxia Kids is a very important organization to us and has helped so much. It’s nice knowing other children have this, and Marlowe isn’t the only one. The Be the Voice kit has helped us as we spread awareness in Marlowe’s school and his classroom.
Marlowe has graduated from speech therapy through the John McGivney’s Children’s Center, which is huge in Canada. Is his apraxia gone? No, it is not. At home, he still does speech therapy regularly. He will be reassessed again in the near future as he gets older to see how his progress is. Things are done differently in Canada than they are in the United States, but our son has come such a long way and is very much understood now, a lot better, and he seems more confident with his speech.
Every year, we do the Walk for Apraxia in honor of our son and all the children who struggle with their sounds and voice. We will continue to do Marlowe’s Army yearly. We will also share Marlowe’s story forever to bring awareness. We are proud of our son and hope we can help others.
Be inspired by more stories today and learn about how you can Give Hope!
Visit, FIND HOPE, GIVE HOPE
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