{"id":13567,"date":"2025-04-14T13:53:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T17:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/?p=13567"},"modified":"2025-04-14T14:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:03:00","slug":"gus-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/gus-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Gus’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Lova Lantz<\/strong><\/p>

Imagine how you would feel if you had something you wanted to say and were unable to say it. How frustrated you would be. How angry. Also imagine that you are two years old and trying to make sense of the world. That was Gus, before he made a connection with Columbus Speech & Hearing.

Gus\u2019s family knew something was wrong. He struggled to communicate, unable to form the words. As his twin sister began to speak, he remained non-verbal, prone to temper tantrums and outbursts.

After an unsuccessful trial with sign language, Gus\u2019s mom was out of ideas and knew they needed outside help. She took Gus to Columbus Speech & Hearing because she had gone there previously when Gus\u2019s older brother had experienced a speech sound delay<\/a>. She trusted them. Gus\u2019s evaluation revealed that he was on the Autism spectrum… and that he could be helped. Now imagine the relief.<\/p>

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Gus\u2019s speech therapy<\/a> sessions began. The clinician began to \u201cplay\u201d with him, all the while incorporating speech. He improved slowly, but still experienced difficulties. Then, the clinician found the key: Augmentative and Alternative Communication <\/a>(AAC), which is the use of all communication methods other than verbal speech. Gus\u2019s magic door to speech turned out to be a tablet\u2014a speech-generating device on which the user pushes symbols to speak words, phrases, and sentences. He called it his \u201ctalkie.\u201d

Not only did the \u201ctalkie\u201d help Gus to communicate, but it provided a model for language and speech sounds for him to imitate. The speech therapists at CSH had found a way to take Gus\u2019s abilities and make them better. In a further step, a funding report resulted in Gus having a dedicated device at no cost to the family.

Columbus Speech & Hearing was also able to accept the family\u2019s military insurance to cover the therapy sessions. Gus\u2019s language development took off. He carried his \u201ctalkie\u201d with him everywhere, finally able to express his thoughts. The outbursts and temper tantrums ceased. The dark-haired, round-cheeked little boy was smiling.

Gus is now in kindergarten. He only uses his \u201ctalkie\u201d occasionally. He continues to receive speech therapy, but only for sounds. He speaks like other children his age. The therapy services had helped him understand and form words and prepare for kindergarten. Without Columbus Speech and Hearing, Gus would likely still be non-verbal.

The clinicians at Columbus Speech & Hearing are also smiling. They have accomplished their goal.<\/p>

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Lova Lantz Imagine how you would feel if you had something you wanted to say and were unable to say it. How frustrated you would be. How angry. Also imagine that you are two years old and trying to make sense of the world. That was Gus, before he made a connection with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":13582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-client-spotlight","category-speech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13567"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13584,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13567\/revisions\/13584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/columbusspeech.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}