Lisa says therapists not responsible for future behavior

Lisa Sloan-Limmer, a speech therapist, reported this update:

"Today I had a phone call from a parent that makes all of the challenges in being a pediatric speech pathologist so WORTH IT! The parent called to tell me how pleased they were with their child's progress in my group and how much more their child is speaking. The family has reached a huge milestone: The child has begun to be able to communicate his/her wants and needs and the stress and frustration of trying to 'figure things out' several times a day has greatly decreased! Of course, as I personally experienced from my 17 year old being in speech therapy when he was 2; when my student reaches the wonderous 'preteen' age, they might not feel quite so grateful to me! I feel I must add this disclaimer: I am not responsible for future 'sassiness or backtalk.' Ha ha!"

Jennifer shares one last story

Jennifer Cortes has worked at BRSHF for many years. As an undergraduate worker, she has worn many hats, from group therapy aide to individual ABA therapist working with children on the autism spectrum, to coordinating our front office, scheduling and billing. Unfortunately for us, Jennifer's last day was yesterday, as she is moving to Valdosta, GA to begin a Masters in Social Work in the Fall! Before she left, she shared this note about her experience here:

"I have been privileged to work with many of the children and families we serve at the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundatio, as both an ABA therapist and administrative assistant, and here is one of my stories:

One little boy whom I have worked with one-on-one for quite some time had been struggling to learn the skill "arms up." I kept trying to come up with ways to get him to learn this skill, such as holding candy above his head to get him to reach for it, or tickling the palms of his hand, which he loves, when he would even slightly lift his arms. One day when his mom came to pick him up, she mentioned that he likes to do twists off of the couch. I had never let him do flips in the room before, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, he would might go for it. Sure enough, it worked! During our ABA session the next day, I stood up, told him "arms up" and he stood up from his chair, took two steps towards me, and with the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face, he lifted his arms as high as he could for me to pick him up! So, what did I do? I picked him up, threw him in the air, tickled him, and let him twist! I think he knew he got it right, and I was so proud of him I had tears in my eyes!"

Sarah's client says thanks

Sarah Brunet is one of our speech therapists who provides group and individual speech therapy at our clinic, and also off-site through the Federal Early Steps program. She had this experience recently:

“I had an Early Steps patient who I’ve worked with since October, and my last session with him was a few days ago. When we started he was only using single words and gesturing a lot – now he asks questions appropriately and uses complete sentences. His mom has been warning him for a few weeks that his time with me was almost over. Well, at the end of the session, unprompted by me or his mom, he looked at me and said, ‘Thank you for playing with me.’ When a student comes up with a spontaneous sentence like that, I really know I’ve had an impact!”

Kristen is motivated by progress daily

Kristen Abbondate is a Ph.D. candidate in psychology who has worked within our autism program (based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA) for 2 years. At the end of the summer, she will conclude her assignment here at BRSHF, but not before she relates some of her favorite stories and memories with us!

"As the ABA supervisor, I have the opportunity to watch the children grow and overcome new obstacles each week. I live the struggle trying to come up with new and imaginative ways to help the students grow in our program. Although miracles happen everyday, some stories leave a little more of an imprint than others…


I was making my usual rounds viewing the children’s programs, giving advice to the therapist, and offering my help where needed. That day, I happened to walk into an ABA session with a particular student. This student had struggled in our program. He would tantrum for most of the session, did not speak any words, nor touch known items. When I walked in that day, I saw a very different scene. He was making eye contact with the therapist, laughing as they sang songs together, identifying objects in his environment, and requesting for wanted items. I had to hold back the tears in my eyes as I almost could not believe what I was seeing. I believe I almost did a back flip when I praised him for his hard work. I will never forget that day.

That child is still doing well and I continue to see miracles like this everyday. I get asked a lot why I do what I do. When I tell stories like the one above, and I have many, it is very easy to understand why I do what I do."

Slimy snails solidify speech

Trenae Webb, one of BRSHF's speech therapists, submitted this blogpost after an exchange with nature this morning:


" 'Look! I got a slimy, sticky snail! You wanna see? Are you scared?' is what I heard echoing through the halls of the clinic this morning, prepping for my 9 o'clock client. Praying that the cute little ones from Ms. Tanya's mornining language group would not navigate to my office with their new "slick" friend, I cheered them on in their precision in articulation show and tell, mastering their "S" sounds with little to no cues from their therapist. Nothing's off limits when it comes to reaching those speech and language targets at our clinic. Nothing! Not even nature's best creatures. I bet Mr. Snail had no idea he would be the hot topic as he traveled to speech therapy this morning. I noticed he was rather non-verbal. He had no complaints! If you haven't become suspicious of it already, it's a fact...we love what we do!"

Tough Bet

Missy Devillier, BRSHF's Occupational Therapist, overheard this quick exchange yesterday during therapy:

"Parts of my therapy involve a big bucket full of beans. At pick-up time, Dad says to one of my little guys, 'If you guess how many beans are in the bucket, you can win a million dollars.' Little guy stops and thinks and says, 'a lot.' Dad and I smile and say, 'that's a good answer!' Little guys says, 'where's my money?!'"