I come from a big family with loving parents, a big brother and sister, and two little sisters. The difference between my family and others is that four of us have childhood apraxia of speech. From my big sister to my youngest sister, we were all born with it, but luckily for me, I had it the worst.

When I was little, I was only able to speak in vowel sounds, and no one was able to understand me besides my brother and sisters. My big brother was our voice. He was able to understand all of us without fail. If it wasn’t for him, our life would have been much more challenging. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him with all the speech therapy we went to and all the time we needed his help translating.

I know it wasn’t easy for my parents either (especially with, at one time, having four of us under the age of five), and I know whatever heartache we had, they felt it ten times worse. My dad is a full-time truck driver, and my mom is a stay-at-home mom, and she homeschooled all of us, drove us anywhere we needed to be, and helped take care of my great-grandfather. I don’t know how she did it, but she is amazing. I don’t know how I could survive if it weren’t for my family. From my grandparents to my siblings, they treated me like nothing was wrong with me.

Growing up, we were bullied, lost job opportunities, and it was hard to make friends. They didn’t know why we had a speech problem, but with how bad my speech was, they wanted to find out. I had been through many tests and had no answers. When I was 13, one of our therapists took a special interest in us and made it her mission to find out what we had. Soon she discovered childhood apraxia of speech and was able to diagnose us.

My mom looked for a way for us to meet people, and we joined 4-H. We were not farmers, but there were many projects we could do. At first, my sisters were very shy because of their speech, but they came out of their shells after meeting some great friends.

I think our disability makes us who we are, and it helps us understand others, and strengthens us. Looking back, it amazes me all we have done in our family. We became 4-H king, USFS National Ice Skating Champion, and outstanding youth and teachers. We have met senators, governors, and other government officials. We started a special needs ice skating group and made commercials with national and local celebrities. We made it to regional and state 4-H speech competitions (with speech topics like dealing with having apraxia, leadership, and overcoming special needs, shared as a video that was shown at a national conference on how 4-H helps with special needs), and so much more.

For all families who are dealing with apraxia, don’t give up, you are stronger than you think.

Here are two quotes I would like to leave you:

“Parenthood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you’d have. It’s about understanding your child is exactly the person they are supposed to be. And, if you’re lucky, they might be the teacher who turns you into the person you’re supposed to be.“  – The Water Giver

“The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph.” – The Butterfly Circus (2009)

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