Our son Noah became an Apraxia star just over a year and a half ago and thus our journey began. As Noah’s mom, I vividly remember our SLP saying the words Childhood Apraxia of Speech and having no idea what that meant. I remember stumbling out of the office, going to the car, and googling “Apraxia”. A quick search left me with such intense panic that I felt completely paralyzed with fear. Noah, then 2 1/2 years old, was in the backseat in his car seat as tears fell on my phone and I found the Apraxia Kids webpage. It was like a beacon of hope in the most challenging time of our lives.

I went back to the site over and over, reading and researching, filling out the application for the parent scholarship to the National Conference in bits and pieces, terrified. On the last day to submit it I hit send and weeks later received the life changing news that my application was chosen. The conference opened up a world of support and education for my husband Mike and I, and our family, and after attending we were able to go home with resources, knowledge, friendships, and most of all HOPE.

Hope that we can help our son shine, and we can make it through this challenge, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Today, Noah is surrounded by support, and HOPE – he attends speech therapy twice a week and has celebrated gains we never imagined possible! His daycare, friends and our extended family understand Noah’s journey and are his biggest partners in his success.

We know our journey has just begun and is constantly evolving with new challenges yet to come, but we are so full of hope for our Apraxia Star Noah – the future is bright!

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