Therapist Engages the Entire Family in Services

Let’s Talk About Cars

When William Thomas received speech therapy from his Rainbows’ therapist Rebecca Paden, his big sister Lillian was included. “Rebecca was always so kind to Lillian during William’s visits,” said Margaret, William and Lillian’s mother. “She could not have been easier for my children to connect with.”

The family’s pediatrician recommended the family get in touch with Rainbows for a developmental evaluation. The evaluation was done in the family home as well as a hearing test both at home then at Rainbows. Once completed, William qualified for services which began shortly afterwards. “All of the staff members we worked with were wonderful,” said Margaret. “I never felt silly asking questions about what I didn’t understand. They always listened and made suggestions or answers that I could relate to.”

A lover of all kinds of vehicles with wheels, William has a great imagination and loves to make car noises. Once Rebecca engaged him with his cars he learned to do so much more. “Now he can talk about the cars going up, down, getting stuck and differentiate from a truck, train, or car,” said Margaret. “His speech really took off with just a few months of speech therapy.” William can now express himself more clearly and was ready to enter preschool.

“The family always greeted me into their home kindly. Margaret was appreciative of the coaching ideas given and did a great job implementing them into her family’s daily routine in order to help with William’s speech and language development,” said Rebecca. “He quickly progressed from only using a few words to being able to string 3 – 4 word sentences together while playing with cars, reading books, or when requesting what he wanted to eat.” William made quick gains and was able to graduate from Rainbows services before he turned 3.

The family loves to play outside, read books and do puzzles together.