4 Times the Blessing: One Family's Journey with the Speech Clinic

"The clinic staff has repeatedly demonstrated to me that their focus is much larger than simple speech therapy. Their loftier goal seems to be helping patients and families communicate and thrive."

Looking for Answers

By the time my oldest son, Peter, turned a year old, I just knew something wasn’t quite right.  At the pediatrician’s office, they started asking how many words he was saying, and time and again I nervously reported that he still wasn’t babbling or making consonant sounds or shrieking or waving or making animal noises.  At the age of 18 months, Peter’s expressive language tested at the level of a 6 month old, and he qualified for the state’s Early Intervention program.  He made significant progress over the next year and half; unfortunately, at the age of three, Peter’s case transferred from Early Intervention to the special education department of the local public schools.  Whereas his Early Intervention services had been fun and productive, his new speech therapy sessions at the elementary school left me frustrated and disappointed.  They were short and disorganized and didn’t seem to be accomplishing much.  My fears were realized at the end of the year when Peter was retested by a speech pathologist and found to be further delayed than when he entered the program nine months earlier.

A New Option

As Peter approached his fourth birthday, still struggling with significant articulation delays, my husband and I decided we needed to find a better speech therapy option.  This was especially pressing, because our second son, Elliot, was also experiencing speech delays and we knew that acting quickly to give both boys the communication support they needed had to be our top priority.  I heard about the speech clinic at Calvin from a mom in our homeschooling group.  I was intrigued by the idea of therapy overseen by a speech pathologist, but carried out by graduate students who could bring fresh energy and enthusiasm to the sessions.  Peter began therapy at Calvin’s Speech Clinic in the spring of 2013, and Elliot began that summer at the age of two.  Within the first semester we started to see the boys’ communication skills strengthen and grow, and over the last three and a half years, my children have consistently received effective, energetic, enjoyable speech therapy which has allowed them to develop into confident, skilled communicators.

No Question

We now have four children: Peter is 7, Elliot is 5, Spencer is 3 and Audrey is 1.  Spencer, following in the footsteps of his brothers, started therapy when he turned two, and all signs point to Audrey also having communication delays. There is no question where we will send her for speech therapy.  As frustrating as it is to see each of my children struggle to be heard, I am forever grateful that we found Calvin’s Speech Clinic to help us through the challenges.  The clinic staff has repeatedly demonstrated to me that their focus is much larger than simple speech therapy.  Their loftier goal seems to be helping patients and families communicate and thrive.  The Calvin Speech Clinic has been a blessing to my children and my family…in little ways, like convenient scheduling for all my kids; in big ways, like planning multi-sensory therapy sessions that engage and excite my boys; and in priceless ways, like really getting to know my children as people and offering them personalized support and heartfelt encouragement along their journeys.