Hi. I'm a 56-year-old male who was recently diagnosed with PPAOS. My original diagnosis was FrontoTemporal Dementia (FTD), which was terrifying. My new neurologist assures me that I am by no means at the "dementia" stage of FTD; he was the one who, in conjunction with my Speech Language Pathologist, diagnosed the PPAOS. I wish the previous neurologist had told me that I had "FrontoTemporal Degeneration": "degeneration" is a much less frightening word (to me) than "dementia."

For many years I had a flourishing and lucrative public speaking career--which makes the speech apraxia all the more frustrating. I've lectured at over 300 universities around the world, and my YouTube channel has nearly 3 million views. For nearly three decades I've been a professor at a large public urban Midwestern university; I was also a dean for seven years, but I stepped down from my deanship and returned to faculty shortly after my FTD diagnosis. I plan to teach asynchronous online courses using voice banking technology (asynchronous courses do not meet at set times; students complete modules at their own pace and participate in discussion boards). Fortunately, my university has been very accommodating.

I am on paid leave until January, and then I will return to teaching. I am currently enjoying the beautiful Midwestern summer while I work on a book on free speech and civility. I've also begun a memoir to discuss my FTD/PPAOS journey. I never thought my life was interesting enough for a memoir, but for someone with a thriving public speaking career to develop speech apraxia--let's just say I've found my "hook."