Success Stories

Kaylin: Making Magic On Her Own

Kaylin is like many 8 year-olds: Favorite color? Purple. Musical artist? Ed Sheeran. Movie? Beauty and the Beast (the live action, of course – not the cartoon!). But what sets Kaylin apart is that before this year, she wouldn't have been able to tell you any of these things. Kaylin has cerebral palsy, and along with...

How My Daughter Speaks

The Story of How My Nonverbal Child Learned to Communicate By Emily Renee Barton As a mom to a child who is nonverbal, I've felt so heavy for what life was supposed to be like. When I pictured having a baby, I pictured a typical developing child. I anticipated hearing "mama" as her first word and melting at the sound of...

Gus: Learning At Lightning Speed!

It was when Gus was a 1 year-old that we realized he was behind on several milestones, including speech. As I had with my other sons, I started signing with him at around 4 months. He had never signed back at this point, but I did think that he understood a few signs. When he was about 1.5 I tried introducing him to...

Eloise: Growing In Communication

When she first arrived at ACCESS Early Childhood, at almost 2 years of age Eloise wasn't communicating. It didn't take long for her first speech therapist, Kasie Birdwell, to take stock. "When Eloise first came to ACCESS it took a few weeks of getting to know her before it became apparent to me that her speech wasn't just...

Braiden: Full Speed Ahead!

For SLP Sarah Singleton, Braiden's progress with AAC has been nothing short of "Full Speed Ahead!" As she tells it: Braiden came to our school as an incoming kindergartener. When I first met Braiden in October 2019, his parents started our meeting by warning us about all of the behaviors we might see. They described a...

Wesley: Journey To Communication

For 14 year-old Wesley, his journey to communication took a decidedly different route. Born blind and diagnosed with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC), Wesley talked freely until the age of five. Now 14, Wesley uses his Accent 1000 with LAMP Words for Life — VI. Following is his journey to communication, told...