Meet Jack! His mom, Erin describes him as a very energetic little boy who is very creative, has a great imagination and loves playing Legos and hanging out with his big sister, Emma. Jack is currently a student at Campbell Children’s School and has been receiving services at Grandview Kids since he was two-years-old.
When Jack was 18 months old, Erin noticed that he wasn’t saying very many words. Jack didn’t seem to be able to say what he wanted and would instead communicate with noises and actions. As time went by, Jack’s speech continued to be disoriented and disorganized. Erin brought Jack to meet with Dr. Knights at Grandview Kids, who agreed with private speech therapists who believed he had a speech and sound disorder called childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).
As a way of achieving Erin and Jack’s goals, Dr. Knights recommended speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, as well as specialized supports for Jack’s anxiety and feeding concerns. With Grandview Kids clinicians at his side, Jack began making important progress toward his goals. With speech and language therapy, he focused on saying the beginning and ends of sounds, as well as pronouncing every syllable of a word, and creating the new pathways he needed to communicate. With the help of Grandview Kids Occupational Therapists, Jack also strengthened his fine and gross skills, including using scissors, holding a pen, feeding himself, and riding a bicycle on his own.
“Jack is thrilled when he’s able to accomplish something new,” says Erin. “He’s very proud of himself and wants to show it off to everyone.”
One of biggest goals Erin had for her son, was to help him feel confident to stay in school a whole day by himself. At preschool, Jack had a very difficult time with separation anxiety and took months to work up to staying in the classroom for just 10 minutes. After starting at Campbell Children’s School, Jack hit his goal of staying at school all day within the first two-weeks. A relieved Erin says, “It just clicked for him right away when he went to Campbell’s. I love them there, they are great!”
The Grandview Kids team is now helping Jack and his mom with the upcoming transition he will make to mainstream school next September. “Without Grandview Kids, Jack wouldn’t have been able to go to school at all,” says Erin. “I will always be eternally grateful for that.”
