God's Grace

My oldest daughter, Grace, receives speech therapy at the University Medical Center in Omaha every other Thursday. They've been awesome.

Help for Kids Speech Homepage
Scottish Rite Masons Clinic for Children with Language Disorders
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450
Telephone: (402) 559-6460

When she was 18 months, she'd jabber away (saying nothing we could understand) and we couldn't wait until she could speak for real. When she was two, we still couldn't wait, and when she was three…and four. After countless trips to doctors and therapists and specialists and consults and exams and tests it was determined that Grace suffered from a developmental disorder called dysarthria. It didn't effect her brain or cognitive abilities at all, but her nerves and muscles were effected in that she'd less coordinated and lacks much of the fine motor control that other people take for granted. It hasn't slowed her down intellectually or academically, but obviously it's been a barrier socially because of the delay in her speech and bathroom controls (feel bad for her homeroom teachers).

We don't know why she has this. Ordinarily Apraxia and Dysarthria are things that happen to people who suffer strokes or Cerebral palsy. Our best guess is birth trauma. Grace was caught in the birth canal with her embilical chord wrapped around her neck. That's one reason we named her Grace- because it was a gift from God that she was even born.

She's taking dance & gymnastics again this Fall and that seems to help some. She also sees a special chiropractor in Spirit Lake usually once a month on Saturdays. We've been to Children's in Omaha and the Shriner's in Minneapolis. Someone suggested Mayo in Rochester, so that may be an avenue we pursue as well.

Today my wife called me to tell me that the muscular-neural specialist Doctor for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital of Iowa & the Iowa Children's Miricle Network. I'm not sure what all it is, but I understand that he's pretty important and that it's a pretty big deal to get him to take on her case.

Just thought I'd share this with you as an update for family and friends. Thank you for your prayers- keep them coming. And for anyone else on the web- maybe you stumbled on this page or were searching for something about dysarthria- I hope that the links on this posting can help you and your family.