He has his cars lined up in the dirt, filling each one with a dusty load.
Cars are one of his favorite things and one of the few words he can say.
This is "Jun" -- short for Morgan, Jr., April and Morgan Jensen's busy 3 1/2
year old boy.
Jun has been diagnosed with Apraxia of speech. "It's a neurological speech disorder and it's really where the brain doesn't connect to the mouth to get the movements properly," explains April. "And so he knows what he wants to say, it just doesn't come out. One or two words is about all he can put together. Three is much harder."
That makes interactions -- especially with other kids -- a challenge. "It's tough without being able to verbalize," says Morgan. "He tends to use sign language a little bit and he'll go up and point at kids and they don't really know what he's doing."
Morgan and April Jensen watch as Morgan, Jr. -- "Jun" -- plays with cars in the dirt at a local playground.Megan Lynch/KMOX
Jun was born during the pandemic. "He hit every other milestone, you could hit, it was just the speech that was delayed," and that's why April says they thought that delay might simply be due to limited social interaction.
But Morgan and April's pediatrician began to sound alarms and referred the family to a speech therapist. "Originally, I thought, hey, this is something a couple of years in speech therapy and we're good to go," explains Morgan, "and once we did our research, we realized that that's not the case."
The frustration they see in their son is one of the most heartbreaking parts of this diagnosis. "He knows everything we ask of him. It's just the output isn't there. So that causes a lot of meltdowns and a lot of extreme frustration," shares April.
Jun is taking part in an intensive speech therapy program this summer. In the meantime, his parents have become active in the Apraxia community and hope to raise funds for research and awareness at the Apraxia Kids St. Louis Walk for Apraxia later this year.
Learn more and support their efforts here
"We just want to create awareness and say, hey, you know, even though he doesn't talk, he can still play, he can still be on the playground and he can still contribute," says Morgan.
"I always want him to have a voice," adds April, "As hard as that is."
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