This success story was written by our own Fern Andraos (you can see her interview with me HERE). Fern is a mom of three, a wonderful human being, and a gifted clinician. Her work with Ray (not his real name) has been transformative for everyone involved. I hope you’ll enjoy.

xo G

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When Ray first came to me, he was very young …..not talking, not really playing, and struggling to eat solid foods.  He had seen other therapists, but he and his family had had negative experiences with them.  Mom was in full on “search-mode”, trying to find someone to connect with her son.  Mom and Dad were feeling helpless, frustrated and disappointed.  Their days were unstructured and felt endless.

We started therapy with structure and lots of listening on my part. I knew that we had to base our therapy on THE FAMILY’S normal and what felt good to them.  We also started with a connection between Ray and me, since I knew that we wouldn’t get any work done if Ray didn’t feel safe with me first.   

The focus was on Ray. 

What does he love? 

What makes him smile? 

What makes him so excited that he makes sounds? 

What’s so important that he’ll try to get my attention?  

We sat on the floor together and connected over his toys.

From the outside, this looked aimless and random.

From the inside, we were creating a bond that has lasted through all the lessons that Ray has needed to learn.

We started to look at the same toys and books together, and then we started to talk about them.  We practiced moving our mouths in lots of different playful ways.  We also started exploring foods.  We made a mess!!!  We laughed and enjoyed each other's presence.

From this, we moved to back and forth play, cause and effect, and looking at board books.  A few months later, he was asking me to play with him and telling me “no!” when I did something he didn’t want. Ray started to do some simple pretend play.  

A year later, we were pretending with ALL the toys in his house and in my therapy bag, reading all kinds of books (not just simple board books), eating different snacks together and playing age-appropriate board games.

Flash forward to years later…Ray is still in therapy, and he still works hard to be in the world. Our sessions are still based on what makes him smile and what gets him excited.  

Except now those activities are based on inventive spelling, reading chapter books, writing stories of our own, and cooking. That frustrated, hot mess of a toddler is gone; instead, Ray has developed into a capable, smart, inventive, funny, curious elementary schooler who is becoming his best self.

Although this is Ray’s story, I’ve seen so many kids like Ray in my work as a speech therapist. Late talking, delayed play skills and extremely picky eating are not things that go away on their own – especially not when they come as a package like they did with Ray. 

The frustration and feelings of failure that come with delayed language, feeding and play skills can cause behaviors that can take years to unwind. Ray’s parents took the step of getting him therapy early on, and they took the extra step of changing therapists when the fit wasn’t right. It made a big difference in the trajectory of Ray’s life.  It’s never too late to begin, but starting therapy earlier definitely makes things easier on kids and parents.

If you know someone like Ray and his family, I hope you’ll forward this to them.

PS - We have immediate openings for virtual speech therapy at SpeechKids! Email us at info@speechkids.com to find out more about how to work with young children and their families.