I am a mother of a child with apraxia of speech. That means my son has difficulty sequencing the sounds he needs in order to speak. He can produce many sounds on their own he can say his ABC's clearly and almost perfectly. However, when asked to say /s/ in "moose" he is unable to get these sounds together, and it comes out something like "mouda". I am also a mother of another son with feeding and sensory challenges, this means my son often acts out and has severe behavioral challenges at home.
Before my children turned three we received services in our home. We as parents were coached and taught how to help our children. This was ideal as my husband and myself learned how to care for our children's needs throughout our daily routines. However, after the age of three we were told there were no more services in the home and we were offered the phone numbers to clinics in the area.
Why I Chose In-Home Therapy
Neither of my children were ready for this transition to the clinic, and truthfully I wasn’t either. In the clinic, I was told to "wait here", and that my children would be back shortly. When my children were brought back to me, I was told the session "went well" and I was not offered any strategies to use for our daily feeding and speech challenges at home. Besides the report I was given I had no idea what my children were working on or what the therapists were doing to improve my children's speech and feeding skills. Months went by, it just wasn't working and I was heartbroken.
In 2015, I decided it was time to fix this for our community and offer in home therapy for all the parents and children who want to stay involved even after their child turns 3.
What To Expect
Mary Poppins! She flys in on an umbrella with her fancy hat and beautiful dress.
haha! Well not exactly, but in home therapists are pretty nice. We have been to many homes and respect the trust you provide us in letting us into your home. We often bring activities that we can model and use throughout the therapy session and then leave with you to practice throughout the week. We are there to answer your questions and can explain what and why we are doing what we are doing.
Sessions may look like play but ask us! We are building pronouns, increasing time at the table for meals, building understanding of prepositions, basic concepts, improving articulation and speech clarity and so much more! The whole time your child feels comfortable in their own home! Best of all when your child learns a skill they don’t have to "re-learn" how to use the skill at home, because they are already at home!
Interested in seeing what in home speech language and feeding therapy can do for you? Call Take Home Speech today!
Interested in attending therapy in the clinic but still want to be involved and present during the sessions. We can do that too! We have a mini clinic location located in the Copper Center in Soldotna, Alaska.