Speech-language intervention makes a world of difference
Julia is a first grade student in a parochial school in a large school district. She is bright and inquisitive and has a terrific sense of humor. She has a wonderful, supportive family and loving home. Julia is the youngest of three children, and as a toddler, her parents had great concerns about her communication. She was not speaking at age two. Her fine motor and speech skills were developing slower than expected. Julia's parents contacted the AEA and found out about early intervention services.
Julia received speech and language assistance as a two-year-old on an Individualized Family Service Plan. Her parents got involved with sessions and programming. When she was three, she still was unable to speak. She used gestures, pointed, and led others to what she needed. She had a great deal of difficulty even imitating simple vowel sounds or environmental sounds.
At age three, Julia transitioned to an integrative district preschool program and had intensive language and speech practice, good role models and structured teaching. She blossomed in this setting! She began to imitate sounds and learned a core group of signs in sign language to reduce her frustration and to give her a means to communicate.
After that, she began to use words, phrases and sentences. She labored to talk, but never gave up or complained about practicing. She received home assignments to practice with her parents and worked in the classroom with the speech-language pathologist from her AEA and received direct assistance in speech. Julia has continued to progress with her skills.
Today, Julia continues to receive speech services, but her instructional IEP has been retired. She has many friends and is making great strides with her language and speech skills. She is able to communicate her wants and needs and socialize with friends. Her parents give credit to the AEA and the local school district’s preschool program for Julia's successes.
The AEA Speech Language Pathologist who worked with Julia says, “Sharing in her success and her family's joy makes our job as educators and support staff very rewarding.”
This is an actual story, but the names and specific identifying information have been changed.
