Avery and Riley began services with Shine when they were about 21 months old…they had 1 or 2 words and mostly grunted and pointed to get what they wanted. Within just a couple months of services Rachel quickly realized the girls likely had Childhood Apraxia of Speech and switched therapy approaches to focus on motor planning. Since getting the apraxia diagnosis I have read so many stories of other families, and it seems pretty rare to get a diagnosis so early and receive appropriate therapy. Rachel has been a huge advocate for our girls, helping us get into group therapy with Brittany at Communication Junction along with helping us pursue AAC devices.
Brittany has also been an amazing resource helping us grow our sign language vocabulary. With minimal verbal words, sign language became our primary communication. Being able to go to a class and have new vocabulary every week to focus on as a family has been wonderful! Additionally, she has a lot of experience with AAC devices, which has been so helpful to us as we figure them out and she also utilizes them in the classroom.
The girls are now about to turn 3 and while I am so sad to be leaving Rachel and Brittany, I am confident they are going to thrive at school. Thanks to their help, they now have a large variety of verbal words, signs and access to an AAC device. We couldn’t have asked for a better Shine experience!