By guest blogger Jodie Franklin
Meet Stanley.
Stanley was diagnosed at a young age with dyspraxia, he was a very clumsy toddler who was falling over all the time, had no spatial awareness, the list goes on. At the age of 3 I simply put these things down to his age, but his speech was just not developing.
As time went on and he joined nursery we could see he was miles behind his peers. He didn't have a friendship group because nobody could understand him. I was embarrassed to say I struggled at times and our conversations consisted of me of me randomly pointing at objects until I correctly guessed what he wanted.
Stanley starting speech therapy was the first big step towards a diagnosis of dyspraxia. His speech problems alongside his other problems began to make sense-- it all came together-- it was like one of those lightbulb moments. We could then start the process of a formal diagnosis.
We continued our weekly therapy sessions and slowly but surely he was improving with his speech.
As his mother I was so moved to see his confidence growing. He started to make friends and even bought a couple of friends home for tea.
I can honestly say being able to communicate with Stanley made such a difference to the both of us. It was not just his confidence that was growing.
Stanley is 8 now and his speech is not such a hurdle anymore. Don't get me wrong there are many other challenges, like the time at sports day when he tripped over the hurdles and took out three of his classmates on the way down, but the important thing is he can get up smiling.
He knows he has 'praxia' as he calls it and he sees it as a strength. When told by his consultant that he would find something he is really good at one day, his response was: "I already have I'm really good at falling over!"
Then he laughed.
I can not express how proud I am of his amazing attitude to life.
