May- A Month for Sharing Awareness.

Turns out May is a big month for us when it comes to sharing awareness.  May is both Celiac Disease Awareness month and Apraxia Awareness month. Both very near and dear to our lives!

Celiac Disease is extremely common in people living with Type 1 Diabetes.  As a matter of fact, studies show that 1 in 10 people with Type 1 have Celiac Disease. 

A few other quick facts about Celiac Disease:



• An estimated 1 in 133 Americans has celiac disease, yet 83% are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

• Celiac disease is a genetically based autoimmune disease that is triggered by the ingestion of gluten – a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

• 5-22% of people with celiac disease have an immediate family member who also has the autoimmune disease.

• When a person with celiac disease eats gluten, it sets off an immune reaction that damages the villi (fingerlike projections) in the intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients.

• 1 in 22 first-degree family members (parent, child, sibling) and 1 in 39 second-degree family members (aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild and half-sibling) are at risk for celiac disease.

• Classic and non-classic symptoms of Celiac Disease are:  Anemia, diarrhea, weight loss or failure to grow, constipation, abdominal pain, skin rash, fatigue, headaches, infertility, and nutritional deficiencies.  It's important to note that some people with Celiac Disease show no symptoms at all!

 

If you suspect you may have celiac, or if you have a close family member with Celiac, it is important to get tested.  Early diagnosis can help reduce your risk for other problems including: osteoporosis, infertility, recurrent miscarriage and thyroid disease. You can help prevent the development of other auto-immune diseases and even certain cancers, like lymphoma! 

 

Ask for the following blood tests:  Total IgA, IgA-tTG, IgA-EMA

 

 

May 14th is Childhood Apraxia of Speech Day. 

 

Most recently my dear #2 Daughter Avery was diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech. 

Apraxia is an uncommon, neurological speech disorder that affects a child’s ability to plan, execute, and sequence the movements of the mouth necessary for intelligible speech.

Avery's case started out pretty severe.  She just turned 3 years old in April and has a very limited vocabulary.  In the last few months she has made leaps and bounds in learning to form new words; we are so excited for what the future holds and hearing her say so many new "first" words. 

Apraxia is different from a Speech Delay.  With a speech delay, although they are not up to age standards in speech, they continue to learn at least one new word each week. 

Characteristics of Apraxia of Speech include:

• Limited babbling is present in infancy. These are quiet babies.
• Few or no words when other babies are talking by age 2
• Poor ability to imitate sounds and words
• Child substitutes and/or omits vowel and consonant sounds in words. Errors with vowel sounds are not common with other speech disorders.
• His word attempts are off-target and may not be understood even by parents.
• He may use a sound such as  da for everything.
• Often his errors are inconsistent, or he may be able to say a word once and then never again. The child understands much more than he can say.

Avery struggles with the formation of words, but knows them and their meaning. She is learning sign language as a way to communicate her needs when words fail her.  She is a bright star in our universe and we pray daily that she will continue to grow in her communication and will over come her speech disorder.

Please consider wearing blue on May 14th to show support for Avery and all of the other children who are unable to share their voice with the world.