How Far We've Come

**Video has been added at the end of the post! :) Thanks Carla L.!!

Two years ago we received word on the extent of Twinks "disability". It was shocking to say the least. We did not expect to hear cerebral palsy and we did not expect to hear that she would never be able to talk. We we not prepared for the possibility of Autism as well. We simply thought she had a brain cyst.

If you look at the first three pictures below you can see what we dealt with pretty much on a daily basis. A truly frustrated, withdrawn, grief stricken child. There were many happy times but Twink had these tantrums below multiple times a day. Remember this post? I can happily say Twink does not do this anymore. Well maybe on a much lower level. The blank look I was told was Autism. She did display a few signs of it. We did have her tested and she narrowly passed the test from what I was told just a couple of months ago. I was am convinced it was a mixture of her brain injury and post-institutional autism. Her developmental doctor wanted to retest her in the coming months. Which leads me to this post!

We saw Twinks developmental doctor last week and we blew her out of the water with how far she has come. Twinks speech is coming at us faster than we can keep up. Some of it is still unclear and she still babbles from time to time but this child will tell you what is on her mind! She has new phrases that she has picked up, let me share them with you.

- Noooooo
- Go away
- Wanna go in the car/outside/play
- Kids bothering me
- Leave me alone
- We going to church
- I go potty
- It hurts (she says this for EVERYTHING!!)
- She names everyone in the house by name
- Says thank-you until you say your welcome

There are so many more! Some really funny ones too but I just can not think of them off the top of my head. Everyone has noticed how much more she is talking. Her doctor did not even mention testing her again! Twink visits this doctor every three months so you can get a good idea how much she has progressed in three short months. In fact this whole school year has been amazing progress for her.

Our girl has over come so much! Remember back to when the doctor told us she would never talk was gut wrenching. I'd say it was the worst day of our life as parents but many of you know we've had worse days than that! It was a hard day though. To think that you will never hear your sweet childs voice is a hard pill to swallow. That very same night the Lord gave me a glimer of hope to hold onto. Twink said Mama that night! That very same night the doctor told me she would never talk.

After her very first seizure Twink lost every word that she gained as well as every new sound she made. Same thing happened with her second seizure to a little bit less degree. With every seizure I live with a little fear that she will be set back in her speech. I'd like to say that I'd be OK with it if she lost her speech capability but I've had a small glimpse at what she is capably of doing. I don't want to go backwards. She has fought so hard to get to where she is and we will keep fighting this fight with her. She is my inspiration!

Twink is the reason why we were open to a child with a hearing disability. She opened our eyes that communication comes in forms other than verbal. So while we fight to help her become verbal we fight another fight to help our son become fluent in American Sign Language. Who by the way started school yesterday! I'll post tomorrow about his first couple of days.

To those parents who have children with speech delay don't give up hope. It's a long road but as long as your willing to press on then you will see progress. Baby steps all the way! :)

I had a video to put up but I see that blogger no longer has the capability to place video's on your blog. What happened? Anyone know how I can put a video on?

The picture below is Twink dancing with her shadow!