All posts tagged: building self-confidence in kids with CAS

Musings & Meanderings: A Curious month, January. Derek T. Freeman on BUILDING UNSTOPPABLE SELF-CONFIDENCE IN TEENS, purging, writer self-care, hybrid writing contests, workshops, retreats, more

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By Leslie Lindsay A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book ~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~ Hello 2023, Friends! January is a curious month. Is it a coming or a going? New and fresh or letting go of the old? I struggle with this every year. In the Midwest, it’s cold. I don’t feel like opening doors and windows to ‘let in the new year,’ likewise for ‘spring cleaning.’ It’s not really spring, either–anywhere. Maybe we ought to rename it ‘New Year Cleaning?’ This year is off to a rough start. When I put it in perspective, it’s not so bad…but let’s just say it’s not flowing like usual, mostly in a personal sense, but a few professional hiccups, too. I’ll get through it! Here’s a little secret: raising kind humans is hard work. Being a kind human is hard work. We’ve got lots of ‘firsts’ happening–all in one week! Sweet Sixteen, college acceptances (and indecision), first jobs, a trip to the …

Apraxia Monday: “Because I have apraxia!!”

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By Leslie Lindsay Lately, my sassafrass of a daughter has been giving me this excuse when she can’t say or read something just so:  “It’s p-cuz I have apraxia, mmoooommm!!”  Whoa!  Enter the Sassy-Speech-Sqaud (We’ll call it the Triple-S).  I am hear to tell you that having apraxia, thought not necessarily a “good thing,” is not an excuse for trying–trying to read, trying to write, trying to speak intelligently (and intelligibly). Sure, it may be trickier to speak as a younger child with CAS.  No doubt about it.  Having childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), is a challenging motor-speech disorder in which kids know what they want to say, yet they just can’t coordinate their thoughts with with the intricate movementes of the muscles needed to articulate clearly–or at all.  When a child is young, explaining that she has apraxia to others is apporpropriate (given it’s the right situation and the right person, a teacher for example needs to know).  But by the time a child can say, “It’s because I have apraxia [that I can’t …