Hi Steve,

What a coincidence the buffet I'm talking about is in Virginia Beach. It's the oldest and biggest one down there so I'm sure your son knows it. There's a big antique dive suit and stained glass on the ceiling. My 13 year old nephew thought it was awesome.

You're right that going for speech therapy can give a mental boost, that's exactly what happened with Jack. He didn't need too much but enough to establish a home exercise program and feel like he was taking control of the situation.

Jack said to tell you that speech therapy made him more aware of the functions of the inside of his mouth and how doing certain things changed his ability to speak and eat. Same with the therabyte.

Before the diagnosis and surgery he never thought about how the tongue or soft palate worked, just something he took for granted. This helped him understand what he was dealing with. I think he also needed something to be motivated about once the treatments ended. You go from all this intense activity to waiting around to see if it worked and that made him nuts.

Onward and upward. We ran into someone we haven't seen since June and they commented on how much better his speech sounded. Those are the moments that keep you going.

Regards JoAnne