NSLH Month
To honor National Speech-Language-Hearing Month I’m excited to share some of my favorite client success stories.
Intelligible Speech and Age-Appropriate Speech Sounds
E was preschool age, with a history of delayed expressive language skills. When I started working with her she was explaining ideas, but hard to understand. Her language skills were developing quickly, but her articulation skills were having trouble keeping up. After consistent weekly sessions via Zoom and family’s strong carry-over she graduated from speech therapy accurately producing age-appropriate speech sounds in her fast, bubbly conversation.
Pretend Play for Improved Speech-Language Skills
M was also preschool age when we started working together. She was a reserved “late talker”, so over three years we promoted her language and then, eventually, her articulation. Across pretend play (the kitchen set was her favorite), games, books, crafts, and gross motor tasks I targeted stimulable skills and probed others. With mom’s input and classroom teachers’ support M graduated from therapy when she was in first grade.
Overcoming Stuttering with Therapy
D had stuttered since she began combining words. She was smart, creative, and expressed her thoughts well, but parents wanted help to remediate her dysfluencies since she had never “grown out of it” like others said she would. With one year of speech therapy she was speaking fluently everywhere, with everyone. Our last session was filled with so much mutual appreciation and excitement for the future.
Remediation of /l/ and /r/ Sounds
S was a smart and kind boy in elementary school who couldn’t properly produce /l/ and /r/ sounds. We talked, drilled, read aloud, self-corrected, and self-corrected some more. He was a strong reader and very self-aware student, which immensely helped his progress with me. Mom observed results quickly, followed my suggestions, and was grateful he graduated from speech therapy sounding like his peers.
A was also a boy in elementary school who had difficulty making a mature /r/ sound. He loved heavy work and enjoyed being a popular leader at school. Since tabletop tasks where not his thing we practiced sounds across conversation, games, and projects (e.g., building, maneuvering, and destroying obstacle courses). Eventually, he was motivated to consistently self-correct and graduate with graphs that illustrated his progress.
Reading and Writing for Academic Success
K was a middle school boy who was respectful and funny. He had received speech therapy his entire academic career. When I started working with him we made a plan to strengthen his expressive and written communication. We spent our time reading ‘5-Minute Star Wars Stories’ (two different volumes with rich text and immersive illustrations), discussing vocabulary and ideas, answering comprehension questions, and writing summaries. He worked diligently, used his humor to explain ideas in interesting ways, and eventually the entire team knew he was ready to succeed without my support.
Facilitating Growth in Therapy is Endlessly Rewarding!
The power of consistent speech-language treatment is life-changing, and I love helping children learn to be engaging communicators. If you’re interested in helping your child’s communication skills shine, all you have to do is message me!
