Our star of the month is Aubrey. I could go on and on about this beautiful little girl. I could tell you about how hard she works and how far she has come, but I’m not going to. I’m going to let her mom tell you.
Aubrey is our beautiful blonde hair, hazel eyed 7 year old daughter. Still undiagnosed, Aubrey is non-verbal and cognitively impaired. She also has PDD-NOS as well as seizure disorder. Doctors spent many years telling us all of the things she’d never do. They told us that she would have a short life expectancy and a low IQ. They also said she would never walk or communicate. However with four younger siblings to impress and relentless motivation our little girl not only walks but runs. She recognizes her letters and numbers and now, with the help of Kidmunicate, is starting to tell us her wants and needs through sign and sound!
Kidmunicate is not the first speech clinic that Aubrey has attended, but it is the first place where someone listened to what we want for our daughter. In the past, we would explain how important verbalization was to us over other adaptive communications. The therapists at the other clinics we worked with would listen and agree, but than ultimately work on sign because it was easiest. Sign language is great, but we really needed our child to pair that with sounds and words. We wanted her to be able to let us know what she needed if she were hurt in another room. Kidmunicate thought that that goal was possible. Pam Drennen MS CCC-SLP at Kidmunicate was the one who listened to us and she worked tirelessly to make it happen.
Aubrey is now remembering to make clear sounds with each sign she gives us. She is saying “I”, “want”, “go”, “mama” and “up” and making word approximations for “cookie”, “out”, “jump”, “hug”, “thirsty”, “candy” and “all done”. We really couldn’t be happier.
Additionally, I cannot say more about the way the staff goes out of their way to make us feel welcome and how they entertain our other children while we are waiting during sessions. They also smoothly handle any insurance issues related to services. That means so much to us. Pam has even reached out to our child’s speech teacher at school to make sure everyone was on the same page with Aubrey’s communicative needs.
We are forever grateful for all that Kidmunicate has done for our daughter and our family as a whole. The greatest gift we could ever receive this holiday season is hearing our little girls voice. Kidmunicate has given it to us!
Kidmunication Point
