Friday, May 09, 2003

Childhood Apraxia   My grandson who is the impetus for Blog Baby may have childhood apraxia.  At two he understands us but can not speak.  It is tearing my heart right out of my chest.   He went in for a hearing test this morning and I am waiting for his parents to bring him home.  We all doubt that he has any significant hearing problem.   This condition seems to be on the rise with an increase of over 10% in the past decade or so.  Kids just don’t seem to be able to connect words correctly with their objects.  They have problems forming consonants.    This leads to frustration.   My grandson is a wholly remarkable child.  He never has had much illness at all.  He has the sweetest personality.  He weaned himself with no trouble.  He goes to sleep at night like an angel.  He walked at 8 months and has excellent large muscle coordination.  He took up art holding his crayon correctly with a pinched grip from the start and makes find motor movements.  He is starting to play the piano.  He is very neat for a child and will clean up after himself.  He is easy to discipline.  While he does not like to hear no and will often react normally when disciplined (he throws himself dramatically on the floor with arms and legs spread and howls).  He will get over it in a few seconds when he is ignored.   All these things yet he has perhaps a vocal vocabulary of 8-10 words.  He does not really babble though he makes cooing noises all the time.   So far his frustration over not being able to communicate has not become a problem.  But I fear it could become one if we do not find help for him soon.   After contacting some of the people I know who have authority for coordinating services for developmentally delayed kids we are jumping through the hoops.  He saw his primary physician yesterday.  He is getting a hearing test this morning.  He has already been diagnosed as having a significant loss in verbal speaking skills so he qualifies for assistance.  However, the waiting lists are horrible at the treatment programs.   So, now we wait I guess.  9:37:34 AM    Talk back! []

Please help with this effort! Please call your Representative at 1-800-839-5276 and tell them to vote NO on HR 1904, the "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003." The "Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HR 1904) will: 1. Cut the Heart out of NEPA. The McInnis bill allows the Forest Service to conduct large-scale, environmentally damaging logging projects without considering any alternatives, including the "no action" alternative or their relative environmental impacts. 2. Remove the Public from the Process. The McInnis bill eliminates the statutory right of citizens to appeal Forest Service logging projects. 3. Log the Backcountry rather than Protecting Communities. The McInnis bill promotes logging in threatened and endangered species habitat, allows logging and temporary road building in roadless areas, and gives the Secretary "sole discretion" to log in old growth areas and old growth fire resistant trees -- all under the guise of protection of communities from fire. 4. Interfere with the Independent Judiciary. The McInnis bill seeks to restrict a core principle of our democracy -- the right of Americans to seek redress in the court for grievances involving the federal government. The bill limits preliminary injunctive relief to 45 days, and forces any U.S court to render a final decision on the merits of a case within 100 days. Finally, the bill seeks an astounding change in American legal standards by requiring courts to give deference to agency findings regarding the balance of harms in deciding whether to enter a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or a permanent injunction in ANY court challenge where the agency claims the action is necessary to "restore fire-adapted forest or rangelands ecosystems." 5. Create New Insect Categorical Exclusion. The McInnis bill creates a new Categorical Exclusion from the National Environmental Policy Act on all Department of Interior and Forest Service lands by authorizing an unlimited number of projects (up to 1,000 acres each) for all lands that the agencies claim are at risk of infestation by certain insects. 6. Provide New Logging Subsidies. The McInnis bill would authorize $125 million in subsidies to the biomass industry to log our National Forests. 9:16:18 AM    Talk back! []

© Copyright 2003 Marie Foster.