speech therapy, autism, non-verbal, communication, special needsEvery so often a success story comes from one of our therapists when working with her kids. We want to share these stories with everyone because they so beautifully illustrate what can be done when parents, advocates, therapists, and families work together to help make things possible. Please leave a comment below and share the story so more people can read about Joseph’s amazing success story with speech therapy!

Joseph is a 6 year old with autism who has received speech therapy from Sage Care since February, 2012. Although he has also received special education and speech therapy at his school, his Mom had trouble helping him carryover skills between school and home since the family only had one car and she didn’t often have the chance to talk with his school personnel.

In April, 2013, at age 5 1/2, Joseph was not potty trained and had completed no ADL’s independently except eating. Since then, although he was out of town for 6 weeks over the summer, he now is fully potty trained, washes and dries his hands, puts on his own shoes and socks, takes off and puts away his shoes, brushes his teeth, unpacks & puts away his backpack after school each day, undresses, and now dresses with little help (for buttons and zippers).

To accomplish this, one of the first things that was necessary was to teach him the difference between simple words like, off, on, wet, dry, in, etc. so that he could follow directions related to activities of daily living in his home. Then, his speech therapist used visual schedules and clear, repetitive directions to help him become increasingly independent. Some of the above skills were practiced during speech therapy sessions with his Mom observing. Then, his Mom followed through each day using the same simple language and visual schedules to help him gain independence. He now only needs occasional reminders to complete any of the above tasks. As the oldest of 3 children, his Mom says she is thrilled with how much more he is doing on his own each day. He once resisted taking on these tasks with less help. Now, he completes these tasks without protest and smiles when he is praised for his success!

Sage Care Therapy Services provides highly skilled pediatric speech, occupational and physical therapy in the DFW area. We treat patients in their homes and accept most Medicaid insurances.
Contact us at 214-295-5374 or request services