Logan Johnson, 4, is a typical 4-year-old. He loves swimming and his favorite character on “Thomas & Friends” is Percy. But Logan also has childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), a rare neurological speech disorder that won’t let his mind tell his mouth what movements to make and what sounds to make.

“More or less the mind can’t tell the mouth what it wants to say,” his dad, Brandon, said. “He knows what he wants to say. The biggest thing is getting the right mouth movements to say the correct words.”

His mom, Jessica, added the sounds come out differently, so a G might sound like D. Before they got the official diagnosis, he didn’t make a lot of sounds.

“He loved Mickey Mouse, one of his first words was Mickey and we were so surprised to hear it. And then we asked him to say it again and he couldn’t, he didn’t know how he did it,” Brandon said.

In March 2015, Jessica and Brandon took Logan to a doctor, but he couldn’t be diagnosed because he couldn’t produce enough sounds, Jessica said. The doctor gave them some tips and together, Jessica and Brandon made a list of 10 words to work with him every day.

They worked on the list for months, mostly at bedtime when Logan could watch his parents’ mouths move to make the sounds.

On Sept. 4, 2015, they brought him back to the doctor and finally, he was diagnosed with severe CAS.

“Huge relief,” Jessica said. “We had always known something was there and you know we had been doing lots and lots of research … and we kept coming back to this childhood apraxia speech disorder.”

A speech pathologist in Austin had also mentioned the disorder to them and that’s when they started researching more.

In addition, Logan also has reflux and sensory processing disorder, which means sensory signals aren’t organized into appropriate responses.

“If there was anything he would touch, he would shake his hands,” Brandon said.

Logan sees a speech therapist who specializes in CAS in Rochester, his parents have already seen much progress.

“Just in the last couple of months, the progress he’s made [is amazing],” Jessica said. “The doctors just have a very positive outlook on his progress. He’s working hard, he’s attempting lots and lots of words.”

Doctors told Jessica and Brandon some kids take weeks to make even a sound. With time and therapy, it can be overcome, but no two cases are the same, Jessica and Brandon said.

“It’s not something that you can just grow out of, per se,” Brandon said.

Brandon is a triplet and has two sisters who talk a lot.

“Everyone said, ‘Oh, they do all the talking for him.’ Well no, that’s not the case. … We knew what we had to do,” Brandon said.

Jessica added the biggest thing is catching the disorder at an early age so the brain can be retrained.

“He’s saying words I wouldn’t expect him to be saying by now,” Jessica said.

Brandon added there are still some sounds they’re working on, but for now, every day is progress.

“That’s the most important thing,” he added.

Logan will complete another year of pre-school, where he also receives speech therapy through the school system and doctors working with the school district.

“It’s all in the best interest of him,” Brandon said.

Jessica said another goal is to bring his frustration levels down when he can’t tell his parents what he wants. To help with this, they taught him about 25 to 30 signs so he could communicate basic needs.

“And now a lot of those he’s able to communicate. He can say the words,” Jessica said.

 Every child deserves a voice

On June 11, Logan, his family and friends gathered in Byron to the Walk for Children with Apraxia of Speech.

“We’ve had outpouring of support,” Jessica said. “I was amazed, overcome with emotion, all the support that we did receive when we started telling people we’re going to do this. We had about 25-30 people just at the walk to support him.”

Jessica added the main focus of the walk was to raise money for the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America. Logan’s team name was Logan’s Rocket Launchers, which raised more than $1,000, for which Logan received a special pin for the Champions Club.

But they haven’t stopped there. They are still raising money for the cause and association, which provides grants for kids to get specific therapy and iPads with special apps geared toward children with apraxia. They also help train speech therapists to provide the proper therapy. And finding someone trained for this therapy was difficult for Jessica and Brandon.

“We found a great doctor, who is amazing,” Jessica said.

The walk was started by a Byron grandmother whose grandson was also diagnosed with CAS and wrote a book about her grandson.

“We saw the story about the lady putting that on and it was nice to know that, ‘Hey, we’re not the only ones,’” Brandon said.

This was the first year for the walk to be held in Bryon. There is one held in the cities, but the grandmother said she wanted one closer to home, Brandon said.

He added not a lot of people know about this disorder and it’s especially hard to explain to kids Logan’s age.

But it’s just one way Brandon and Jessica want to be a voice for Logan until he can fully express himself.

“We just want to get awareness out there about this disorder,” Jessica said. “This year’s been amazing for him, he’s come such a long ways, made great strides.”

“Because every child does deserve a voice and that’s the point of the apraxia walk,” Brandon added.