Cynthia Hanna sought out speech therapy after her son Liam was diagnosed with autism and her daughter Alora showed signs of a speech delay. She knew early intervention could help both kids improve their social and verbal skills, but had some struggles getting them into a location where the waitlist was not that long for a speech therapist.
“A clinician at another facility was not a good fit for my son, so I put Liam back on the waiting list for a different clinician. Unfortunately I was advised the wait time could be up to one year. After a few months, we were then referred to Columbus Speech & Hearing and got in within 3 months, which was significantly shorter than one year. Now, I can’t imagine them going anywhere else. It was worth the wait.”
Before speech therapy, Alora had a limited vocabulary and spoke in short, simple words. Liam was very quiet and didn’t interact much with others. After some time at CSH, however, Cynthia began seeing improvement in her children’s speech and socialization. After several sessions, Alora started using new words like “swing,” “run,” and “all done” – words that reflected the fun activities she did at CSH.
“Alora usually clings to me wherever we go. Recently, however, she’ll run straight to her therapist. You can see the joy on her face as she’s playing and repeating phrases back to us.”
Liam’s experience at Columbus Speech & Hearing has been equally positive. After several sessions, he started opening up to his therapist and interacting with her more. She met him at his comfort level and never pushed for him to do anything he didn’t want to do.”
“It’s clear that Liam feels secure in the safe environment Columbus Speech & Hearing provides. You can really see the difference in him and I couldn’t be prouder. He’s more social, engaging and expressing himself.”
Cynthia attributes her children’s progress to the creativity, expertise, and passion of our speech team. “I love how the therapists incorporate speech with play. It makes it fun for the kids. I try to emulate some of that at home.”
The Hanna family continues to attend speech therapy once a week. “If it weren’t for Columbus Speech & Hearing, we would probably still be stuck waiting around for help. I’ve been really happy with the services. Columbus Speech & Hearing offers the flexibility and transparency we’ve been looking for, great therapists, and impressive, high-quality care.”