Meet David: Patient Success Story

Help us celebrate David’s 6^th birthday with him at his first ever birthday party! His mom never imagined she would be able to celebrate her son at a party, and that he would actually enjoy it, due to limited communication skills, difficulty following simple instructions, inability to participate in structured activities, and aggressive behaviors. David’s mom sought speech therapy services to help her son learn to express himself using words and phrases rather than single words and nonspeech sounds, so that he could play games with his family, communicate his wants/needs, and complete simple chores. David’s newfound communication skills also led to decreased frustration and aggressive behaviors.

When David began speech therapy, he had not received a medical or educational diagnosis, but he is now being evaluated by his school district and his medical care providers in order to determine appropriate supports needed for David to be successful. His mom was hesitant to enroll him in kindergarten due to his delayed communication skills, but due to his significant progress in speech therapy, she feels confident in David attending school and he is enrolled for the upcoming year!

David’s mom and his speech therapist worked together to create meaningful goals and develop a plan to achieve those goals, including establishing routines with visual supports to increase his ability to pay attention to tasks and then transitioning to structured play activities to improve practical applications. David has been successful with visual supports for schedule and behavior management and loves the activities utilized during therapy sessions, making visits productive and fun! His mom is always involved in therapy sessions and fosters progress between visits with a home exercise program designed specifically for their family. This collaboration in his home environment is what allows David to progress towards his goals.

David was able to interact with the guests at his birthday party, blow out his candles, open presents, play with his new toys with other children, and enjoy cake, and his mom was finally able to celebrate her son how he deserves to be celebrated! Next up: community outings!