West Haven Students Raise Awareness For Speech Disorder

WEST HAVEN, CT — Two West Haven elementary school students received proclamations from Mayor Nancy R. Rossi Monday, declaring May 14 as Apraxia Awareness Day in West Haven. Pictured above in the first photo is Forest Elementary School kindergartner Nicholas Gorske receiving the proclamation from Rossi as Principal Thomas J. Hunt looks on.

Nicholas has childhood apraxia of speech, or CAS, an uncommon speech disorder in which a child has difficulty making accurate movements when speaking. He was joined at the morning presentation by his mother, Anna Gorske, his brother and cousin, Issac Gorske and Laura Hines, and his paraprofessional, Cynthia Russello.

An hour later, Rossi traveled to Haley Elementary School to present third-grader Ethan Kubicko with a proclamation also recognizing Apraxia Awareness Day. Surrounded by his classmates, Ethan, who also has CAS, was accompanied by his parents, Jason and Maggie Kubicko, and his grandparents, Rich and Kathy Carew. He was also joined by his speech therapist, Denyse Miller, his teacher, Christina Sasso, and his principal, AmyJo Palermo.

To raise awareness of the speech disorder, both students recently contacted Rossi — Nicholas by email, Ethan by letter — about declaring the special day in the city.

“It is imperative that there be greater public awareness about childhood apraxia of speech in our city among community members, physicians, educators, policymakers and elected officials,” Rossi said. “Our deepest respect goes to the thousands of affected children and their families for their determination and resilience in the face of great adversity.”

Pictured (second photo): Mayor Nancy R. Rossi presents Haley Elementary School third-grader Ethan Kubicko with a proclamation recognizing Apraxia Awareness Day in the city on May 14. From left are Ethan’s speech therapist, Denyse Miller, his parents, Maggie and Jason Kubicko, and his grandparents, Kathy and Rich Carew.

(City Photos/Michael P. Walsh)

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