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<\/p>\nENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 Garett and Natalie Bolles were frantically searching for answers as winter turned to spring in 2021. Their 3-year-old son Kingston, at an age when his peers were forming sentences, could only communicate a syllable or two at a time. The family, living at their offseason home in California at the time, traveled to Utah to meet with a speech pathologist who was recommended by Bolles\u2019 sister, a special education teacher in the state.<\/p>\n
A 45-minute session with the pathologist revealed that Kingston had childhood apraxia of speech, a motor speech disorder that creates difficulty in planning and coordinating the muscle movements required to speak. It\u2019s a disorder that impacts roughly one in 1,000 children, but Garett and Natalie quickly realized they were in a perfect position to help their son.<\/p>\n
The pathologist told the couple that the world\u2019s most renowned expert in childhood apraxia of speech had recently moved to Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like, \u2018Where in Colorado?’\u201d Garett Bolles, the longtime left tackle for the Denver Broncos, said. \u201cShe\u2019s like, \u2018Castle Rock.\u2019 I said, \u2018Castle Rock?! That\u2019s like 15 or 20 minutes from my house!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Garett, Natalie and Garett\u2019s mother immediately began inundating Jennifer Bjorem with emails and text messages. The reply took time. Bjorem\u2019s schedule was packed with intensive therapy appointments, speaking engagements and worldwide travel. Finally, though, a meeting with the family was scheduled. Garett Bolles was thrilled \u2014 until he pulled into Bjorem\u2019s driveway.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, the very first time he ever came to my house, I had a Chiefs flag flying,\u201d Bjorem (pronounced BEE-your-UM) said with a laugh. \u201cHe was like, \u2018We\u2019ve got to fix something about this here.’\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Garett Bolles and Jennifer Bjorem talk to a visitor at the opening of the Bjorem & Bolles Apraxia Training Center. (Courtesy of Excel Sports Management)<\/p>\n
More than four years later, as the Broncos and Chiefs prepare to meet in a pivotal AFC West matchup in Denver on Sunday, the partnership between the Chiefs fan and the Broncos star has turned into a unique \u201cpowerhouse,\u201d as Bjorem calls it. In late August, she and the Broncos veteran celebrated the opening of the Bjorem & Bolles Apraxia Training Center in Parker, Colo., just outside Denver. The center will train speech pathologists how to diagnose and treat the often misunderstood disorder, which requires specialized intervention. The training curriculum is called \u201cI Am King.\u201d It\u2019s a nod to Kingston, who has made massive strides through his weekly work with Bjorem \u2014 therapy that Bolles wants more families to have access to.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s probably one of the \u2014 it makes me emotional \u2014 the hardest-working people I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Bolles said of his son, who is now 8. \u201cThe stuff he does in school and just trying to be able to speak and seeing him transform from where he was to where he is now, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bjorem ran a private practice in Kansas City that specialized in childhood apraxia of speech for 21 years before moving to Colorado in 2020. She describes the disorder by conjuring the image of a plug that has come unplugged from its socket. Plugging it back in requires an individualized education plan (IEP) between the child, his family and the speech expert.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe brain is communicating with all the parts we need in order to speak,\u201d Bjorem said. \u201cSo we use our diaphragm for breath. We use our vocal cords, which lengthen and shorten for our pitch. We also use them to voice or devoice sounds. We use our soft palate, which is the back of our mouth, to open that passage to do nasal sounds like, \u2018mmmm\u2019 and \u2018nnnn.\u2019 So all these are motor plans. When you\u2019re trying to do all these things at once, children with childhood apraxia can\u2019t motor plan them together. So it makes their speech so inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Restoring the plug requires endless repetition, Bjorem said, repeating words and sounds thousands of times to create the motor pathways necessary to speak. She often uses sports to explain the process of addressing the disorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a football player, you go to practice and you practice the same skill over and over and over again to get really good at it,\u201d Bjorem said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same way with childhood apraxia of speech. It was so funny because we were at Kingston\u2019s IEP meeting (recently) and every time Garett says, \u2018Do you see me? Every time I get up to the line (of scrimmage), I do this shuffle and then I go like this and go like this,\u2019 and I\u2019m like, \u2018I know, Garett. I watch you, and your son does that in therapy.\u2019 It\u2019s a motor plan for you. You go and you just do it. Those are the ways I can talk to Garett so he understands what Kingston is going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
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