I’m going to shamelessly brag about Joshua.  For those who have known us since Joshua was a baby and have walked with us, know that at one time he could only be understood by a few people (me, David, Noah, Nelson, Jonah and Aunt Denise).

At age three he was diagnosed and started therapy for apraxia of speech.  He had much speech therapy and we also worked with him at home on his speech.  Even in France he continued his speech therapy.  He’s came a long way!  However, he also gets nervous when he’s in front of people because he knows that when his emotions are high (happy, angry, sad or nervous) his speech is hard to understand.  When he shared with me that he needed to prepare for an oral presentation in class, I could see the concern on his face.  I tried hard not to reflect that concern in my expression, but went into pep talk mode.

His class has been studying the History of Medicine and he was assigned to present what Pierre and Marie Curie did to impact medicine.  He researched to find more details about the Curie’s (including the way Pierre died, which he included in his presentation).  He wanted to type his presentation by himself and find a visual aid for the presentation.  I was proud and in awe of how he took responsibility for it all.  Once his presentation was printed, I urged him to practice it several times so when his nerves are high, he will be comfortable with his material.  He practiced several times and even looked up from his paper.

The day of the presentation, parents were invited to attend class when their child presented.  David, Sophie, Jonah and myself all went to listen to Joshua’s presentation.  He was nervous, but did very well.