Oh Boy, More Goals!

I used to like goals, now they stress me out. :o) Nolan went for his speech evaluation yesterday and he was diagnosed with severe expressive language disorder and dysarthria. I have much research to do, but here is the basics of it. Expressive language disorder is the ability to understand language better than speaking. It is due to his brain injury. In retrospect, I do find him engaged when I speak; however, he does not participate or imitate. Dysarthria is a disorder caused by paralysis, weakness, or inability to coordinate the muscles of the mouth. This goes hand in hand with eating problems. So his stroke has caused his oral motor muscles to be weak, therefore creating difficulty in eating and speaking. His stroke has also impeded him from being able to formulate words and simple sentences. The therapist needs to see him twice a week along with providing a home program for us to follow. We have been practicing since yesterday and I have realized we have a long way to go. At first thought, this is very overwhelming. However, we are going to work with all of our therapists to find exercises that engage him physically and mentally that make the most effective use of our time. I am a little nervous about the outcome and his prognosis because at this point, there is none. However, in retrospect, I felt the same way when he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. We will just need to work hard, be consistent and pray. It worked for his physical disabilities and I am sure it will work for his communicative disabilities. I just forgot how overwhelming this is in the beginning.