A child that began at The Warren Center communicating with two to three word phrases has progressed to three to five word sentences within two years of therapy services.
Ryan began his journey with The Warren Center at 2 years old. The main concern with Ryan was around his lack of vocabulary and communication skills for his age. His therapy visits with Rebecca (A speech-language pathologist at The Warren Center) were centered around expanding his verbal abilities, along with his social skills.
After two years of therapy, Ryan has made major gains. He has progressed from two to three word phrases to three to five word sentences and requests verbally for food or toys he wants. Additionally, Ryan has started greeting others by saying “hi” or “bye bye” and remembers his teacher’s and therapists’ names when greeting them.
Regarding Ryan’s social skills, he can hold eye contact during conversations and has grown his attention skills during playtime. Ryan can engage in playtime for over five minutes now and his less-preferred activities for three to four minutes, according to his therapist.
Ryan has also started using an AAC device during his therapy sessions. An AAC device is an iPad that shows pictures of items or commands. When Ryan presses the photo a voice says whatever the item or command was that he selected. This helps him better communicate and learn new words.
A favorite at-home activity during play is showing his parents toys and asking what the toy is, which is a new skill he did not have two years ago. During play with others, Ryan accepts toys when handed to him (he previously would just ignore the toy) and occasionally shares his toys with his peers when asked. Although he enjoys playing alone most of the time, Ryan doesn’t mind playing around other kids.
Ryan has made great bounds since beginning his speech therapy with Rebecca. He starts kindergarten this fall, and although his communication has greatly improved, there is still some worry. Ryan is still working on speaking out when he is not prompted to, and his parents are afraid that something may happen at school that he is unable to communicate. Hopefully, with the continual help from Rebecca and The Warren Center, along with the support of his parents, Ryan will thrive in school. He has already made such tremendous improvements verbally and socially, so there is no doubt that Ryan is up to the challenge.
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