Hooray for Liam!!!!

Today was a big day for Liam...he is finally able to click his tongue!! While this might not seem like a big deal to most people, for Liam it is HUGE! Liam has an Oral Apraxia which basically means his tongue and brain don't always speak the same language. He was never able to click his tongue, blow bubbles, sip through straws or eat or drink without making a major mess. All of this is due to lack of motor control in his tongue which in turn creates an embarrassing drool problem (all because his tongue lacks the muscular control). Luckily it never affected his speech. Most people are able to touch their tongues to the left and right side of their mouthes, puff out their cheeks, etc. Liam has never been able to do any of those things. Now with the help of his wonderful speech therapist he is able to move his tongue to BOTH sides of his mouth, blow bubbles, click his tongue, etc. and slowly we are starting to see a definite improvement in his drooling. He was *SO* proud of himself for being able to click his tongue that he showed the therapist the minute he got into her office. I literally teared up watching how proud and happy he was with his accomplishment. He used to hear Sawyer click his tongue and he would look at me sad and discouraged and say "Why can't I do that Mommy?" If I could pick out one thing that my children would learn from me it would be that they should NEVER give up trying. This is something I try to reinforce with Liam, who tends to get discouraged easily. I am hoping that having gone through this process with his speech therapist, he is seeing JUST how far he has come.

Good job sweet boy--I am so very proud of you!