Jude’s behind the scenes kindergarten/1st grade teacher last year recommended extra handwriting practice to prepare him for 2nd grade this year. He ended up getting accepted into Children’s Hospitals & Clinics of MN occupational therapy program for handwriting, probably because of the brain cancer diagnosis and the possible impact his brain injury has had on fine motor skills. His occupational therapist recommend he receive an evaluation for speech therapy and — surprise, surprise — they determined he needed that as well. He’s been doing both OT and speech therapy for several months now. Still, Jude occasionally mispronounces words. The words he consistently says wrong are “this,” “that” and “these” — he says, “nis, nat and nese.” Drives me nuts!