Gabe is WORKING his butt off. I know it sounds strange to say BUT for the past 2.5 yrs. of therapy every time he goes in we tell him to work hard. Because that is exactly what he has to do to get those words out. He has to work hard!
His last session Maria tested him again . What it basically says is Gabe sounds like a typical 2.5 year old but comprehends and acts like a 4.5 yrs. old. I know its frustrating for him to feel like a 4.5 year old but not be able to express himself clearly. Its hard to understand him and people always do a double-take when hearing him for the first time. Its gut wrenching when people ask "What's your name?" and he pulls my arm, bows his head and whispers to me "Help me"... I say "No tell them your name" and it takes a few minutes to get Gabe out and it doesn't even sound like his name. It's going to get better and Maria is the key to unlock Gabe's voice. This test gives Maria a roadmap of where to go from here. She has seen Gabe for 7 months and I have seen outstanding results and know there is more to come.
Well, in return Jordan and I are working hard and doing everything possible so that Gabe can get all the help he needs. I came up with the idea of the garage sale from a friend's recent adoption garage sale. I worked last year at a preschool and the money I made helped pay for Gabe's speech. Well, with the new addition to our family (Campbell) I'm no longer able to teach with a baby in the classroom. So in the fall I got the idea Why don't we throw an annual garage sale with donated items and use that money to pay for speech. Then the wheels started turning and Jordan decided to do a race as well. I never thought we would have so many people donate and sometimes simply write us a check to put towards Gabe's fund.
Words cannot even express how truly grateful we are. My Grandma Jo passed on our blog to an old friend of hers for prayers and in return this kind lady sent on a check . I have never even met this woman but I know she will forever be in my heart. God is truly amazing and I know he is looking out for us. We did not go into this looking for a free handout . We will work our butts off trying to do everything we can to help our son. The donations are amazing and we are so grateful for all the help we have received thus far. Thank You!! It will never be forgotten. I'm in the process of creating a list of the names of all those who have donated so Gabe can see all the people cheering him on to find his voice. My goal is to write every week on his progress and video his sweet voice for all of you to hear. To be continued...
1 comment:
Hi, Briggett Schroeder gave me your blog name because I have a daughter who is almost 4 years old and didn't crawl till 12 months and didn't walk till 19 months and was very happy but didn't talk when supposed to. She is still struggling to talk and goes to speech once a week and is in preschool with a mix of special need kids and not special need kids. She is making progress but VERY slowly. She was classified as Hypotonic when she was 8 months old and she started physical therapy at about a year. We don't do physical therapy now because it really adds up, but we do what we can and she can now finally jump! We do our own things here at the house and that seems to help her. I just appreciate that there are other moms out there that have kids like my Aleah. If you'd like, you and I can keep in touch with the progress our kids are making. My email address is cooleyclan@gmail.com. We live in Farmington just down the street from Briggett's dads home. Our family blog is www.rccooleyclan.blogspot.com if you care to see our family...Aleah is my 4th child. I hope to hear from you if you have some time. Thanks for sharing your story!
Charise Cooley
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