Parents in Wood County have banded together to raise thousands of dollars and
increase awareness for children with Apraxia of speech. They have also formed a
non-profit organization to provide support, resources and financial assistance
to local families with children who have been diagnosed.
"Just to share resources with each other and just to know you are not by
yourself is a huge help," said Beth McIntosh, president of the recently
founded NWO Apraxia Support group. McIntosh has a 5-year-old son with apraxia.

To raise money and create more awareness for apraxia, a community walk is planned for
11 a.m. on Oct. 6 at City Park. This is the second year for the event.
During its first year, the event had 220 participants and raised $17,000 for the
national organization that supports apraxia. There were also 12 "apraxia
stars," or children with the diagnosis, who participated.
This year, the walk will feature 32 apraxia stars and already has 375 people
pre-registered to participate. To date, over $12,000 has been raised.
"Last year so far exceeded our expectations that I don’t think we have any idea
on how this one is going to turn out," McIntosh said.
It was after last year’s event organizers saw the need for a local apraxia support
chapter to be formed.
"As we got to know more families, we saw there was this community out there, we
just didn’t know we were out there," she said.
"We also saw that there were a lot of kids not receiving the proper therapy
because of insurance so we wanted to be able to help those families," she
said.
In addition to organizing the second awareness/fundraising walk, the organization has
coordinated play groups for children with apraxia; raised money to bring a
well-known apraxia specialist to town to train parents and speech therapists;
and provided scholarships for parents to go through this training. They have
also given away two iPads, which are used as a therapy tool for children with
apraxia and as an alternative communication method. A zumbathon fund raiser is
also being organized.
Childhood apraxia of speech, according to the local organization, is a motor speech
disorder. Children with apraxia have "great difficulty planning and
producing the precise, highly refined and specific series of movements of the
tongue, lips, jaw and palate that are necessary for intelligible speech."

Registration for this year’s walk will begin at 10 a.m. Adult registration is $20 and
kids are $10. Registration can be completed at www.apraxia-kids.org/bgwalk.
Those wanting to join need not be registered to participate, however, McIntosh
said.
Money raised at this year’s event will again go toward the national foundation as
well as the local chapter.
Activities for kids, like carnival games, face painting and pumpkin painting will
also begin at 10 a.m. Lunch will be offered for $2.50 and there will also be
raffles.
A live auction will take place and will include a one-year lease on a 2013 Ford Focus
donated by Thayer.
Children participating in the walk will receive an event T-shirt, as well as a
T-shirt for tie dying, carnival game tickets and raffle tickets.
For more information, visit: www.nwoapraxiasupport.org.