Andrea Singsaas

Why we walk for Apraxia Kids!

Just before her second birthday, my youngest daughter, Madeline, was diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech.

At the time, I knew very little about apraxia. I knew my daughter needed help communicating, and I knew we needed to start early. What followed were years of early intervention, speech therapy multiple times a week, specialists, school meetings, advocacy, and a lot of work on Madeline’s part.

Our goal was always bigger than helping her say words more clearly. We wanted to give her every opportunity to walk into a classroom and communicate with her teachers, make friends, participate alongside her peers, and learn without her speech standing in the way.

This year, Madeline graduated from speech therapy.

She is thriving in a typical classroom, keeping pace academically, making friends, and doing all of the things we hoped she would be able to do when we first received her diagnosis. We know how fortunate we are, and we also know that getting here took early intervention, incredible providers, consistent advocacy, and access to the right resources.

That is why we walk.

When Madeline was diagnosed, I didn't have another parent in my circle who had been through this. I didn't have a local community that could tell me what came next or what questions I should be asking. Outside of her speech therapists, I was trying to learn and navigate much of it on my own.

Apraxia Kids became that resource for our family. It gave me information when I needed to understand what my daughter was facing, tools to help me advocate for her, and a connection to a larger community of families who understood our experience.

And now, it gives Madeline something equally important: the opportunity to see and meet other kids like her.

Every year, our family walks and fundraises for Apraxia Kids because we want other families to have access to those same resources and that same sense of community. We walk for the parents who are hearing the word "apraxia" for the first time. We walk for the kids putting in hours of work just to be heard and understood. And we walk because we have seen firsthand what can happen when a child receives the right support at the right time.

Madeline found her voice.

We walk so more kids have the opportunity to find theirs.