Parent sees progress through birthday party

Colleen Waguespack, BRSHF President, sent the following email over the weekend, telling how she saw her son's and other former BRSHF students' progress at his 6th birthday party.


"Three of Christopher's former BRSHF classmates were at his birthday party this weekend.  It is really neat that we can mix his former BRSHF friends with kids from his other school now. I used to pick: either BRSHF or the other school. If I had told people that 3 of the kids in the room were in the autism program at BRSHF, your average party-goer would not have been able to pick them out of the crowd. It shows how far these kids have all come! (Of course, the biggest hit was a girl who Christopher still calls "his girlfriend" and whose family says she still plans to marry Christopher!)"

Substitute Therapists make an Impact

As you may be aware, children in our program for Autism Spectrum Disorders go through multi-disciplinary therapy - individualized Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, combined with our unique Group Language Therapy preschool classes. We also have a rather small but very passionate, dedicated corps of substitute therapists who step in to cover therapy when a staff member is out. Sarah Brunet, Speech Therapist, had this story to share about the impact one of our substitutes had on a child with ASD in her speech group:

"I was out about 6 weeks ago on vacation and had a substitute therapist cover my groups. She hasn't been around much since, until last week when one therapist was out for jury duty. Well, one day last week, I was out on the playground with my group and she walked outside. The little boy I was playing with looked up and cued himself, saying 'Go say Hey, Ms. Pam!' He ran over to her smiling & gave her a big wave! I was surprised to see not only that he remembered her name, but that he was so excited to see her that he stopped what he was doing to go say hey! It's proof not only that our kids are constantly full of surprises, but also a testament to the spirit and importance of our wonderful subs!"

InRegister's Autism story inspires community, helps spread the word

Welcome to Autism Awareness Month! This month's InRegister features a cover story  on resources for Autism Spectrum Disorders across the capital region (page 20), with a profile on BRSHF's President, Colleen Waguespack, and her son Christopher, who was enrolled in our autism program from 2007-2010. When the issue hit stands last week, Jenna, who works in our front office, got the following emotional phone call:

"I got a call from a lady who had read the InRegister article, and she was just choked up on the phone. She has a daughter with a similar diagnosis and was interested in our services. She was amazed by Colleen and Christopher's story, she read it 3 times in a row. She was impressed at the progress Christopher made here, and was just so glad she read the article, because she didn't know about us before."

As a non-profit clinic, it can be hard for us to get the word out about our services at all, much less to paint an accurate picture of the incredibly rare, comprehensive, effective programs we offer, especially in the area of Autism. Many people don't realize that we accept 5 different types of private insurance, in addition to Medicaid and offering financial assistance, so we exist for people of all incomes, not just the medically under-served. Autism is almost an epidemic and the resources in our community are scarce, but as the article showed, there IS hope for people living "on the Spectrum" in and around Baton Rouge. This April, we hope to reach more people with that message.

If you have a loved one with needs that BRSHF doesn't meet, we encourage you to contact our friends at the Resource Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, at Families Helping Families.

Sounds Like...

Meg Sprunger, one of our Speech Therapists, has this story from recent therapy lessons...

"This winter, the children had lots of fun with our 'bear' theme – we talked about hibernation, made a pretend cave to sleep in, and read books about bears. One of our budding artists began drawing and coloring an endless array of bear caves. Since 'cave' was a bit difficult to say, he would proudly show off his pictures every day, loudly proclaiming 'A bear house! A bear house!'




 Fast forward to March, when bear activities had long been replaced by Mardi Gras preparations, with discussions of parades and beads and king cakes. One day, as we looked at a Mardi Gras book filled with parade pictures, this same boy excitedly called out, 'A bear house! A bear house!' I scanned the pictures quickly, looking for anything that might resemble a cave. I was at a complete loss. Then I noted that he was pointing to a picture of children waiting for a parade to pass, and my mind went back to what I had said about that picture the session before: 'See the children hanging on the barricade, they’re waiting for the parade,' I had explained. Ah yes, I quickly began to put it all together….. Barricade = bear cave = bear house!


And that’s how it goes, never a day without something to smile about!"

Patients use "buddy-system" for hearing health

Dr. Natalee Menge, Audiologist, shared this story about patients with a uniquely proactive approach to hearing healthcare:


"I have an 81-year old patient who always comes to the clinic with her friend, "Ms. Suzie." They attend most of their doctor's appointments together in hopes that if one of them misses what is said, the other one will catch it. They also walk each week and regularly share meals together. As I was making adjustments on her hearing aids, I overheard my patient voice her desires to travel "out west" on a train. "Ms. Suzie" responded simply, "Well, why don't you go." My patient responded that she didn't want to go by herself. "Ms. Suzie" then said, "You just want to drag me along with you." They laughed and made small talk for a few minutes. I returned my patient her hearing aids and checked to make sure they were working well. As they left they were making plans on where they were going to lunch. After they left I found myself hoping that one day I have a girlfriend like "Ms. Suzie" to spend retirement years with."

Student Aide touched by working with BRSHF kids

As you may know, BRSHF relies on a cadre of students from local universities who, overseen by licensed professional staff, assist with and facilitate autism and speech therapy and audiology services here in the clinic. Often, these students go on to pursue post-graduate studies in Speech Pathology, Audiology, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, and Special Education. BRSHF is proud to be one of few clinics in town where these students can get hands-on experience working with children to add to their resumes. One such student, Gina, cited an experience she had working in our program in the personal statement for a grad school application, and she allowed us to share part of it with you:

"I have a unique passion for the field of Speech Pathology. This was made clear to me during my clinical practicum, as I worked with a particular 4-year-old girl. This child, having severe Apraxia, had a very limited vocabulary and repetitive phrases were common. (*Ed. note: Apraxia is a motor planning disorder, which makes it difficult to sequence how to make a sound, or to decide what to say and then say it. Once these children know how to say a word or phrase, they often repeat it because they know they can say it correctly.) One day she replaced a name in one of her regular utterances ("Where Shaun?" - a boy in her class) with my name ("Where Gina?"). The day that she first spoke my name was the day that I became absolutely certain that I wanted to be a part of this field. I look forward to being able to make a difference in people's lives by helping them to conquer their communications deficits and to grow as more social and competent human beings."

This story is an example of common, every-day progress that goes on here at BRSHF. But it is an honor to provide these pivotal learning moments, not just to the children enrolled in our programs, but also to the many student workers who dedicate countless hours to our clinic.

Tricia shares story of hope

Tricia Henderson, supervisor for speech services, shared this story of inspiration from a recent speech evaluation:

"I met an extremely brave person while doing an evaluation a few weeks ago. A beautiful mother of two came in to have her youngest son evaluated for language delay. Her older son was already in our program, diagnosed with autism, and making good progress... saying words he never attempted prior to joining us. The sweet mother smiled as she told me she feared her second son was also autistic; she recently had seen the neurologist who hesitated to diagnose the second boy at 18 months since he had some very appropriate social skills.The mom wanted to get some idea about his language delay and to hear what a speech pathologist thought.

As we did the interview, I was encouraged to see that the baby had many good and promising social behaviors... he laughed, sought the source of voices, played speech-gesture games like "pat a cake", and sought interaction with his brother by crawling up to him to look at his toy. This young one was definitely delayed but did not seem autistic; he was interested in others and responded to language. Only time will tell.

Our plan is to place him in an appropriate language group just as soon as possible since early intervention is the KEY for both autism and for language delay. As the mother left she said, 'I'm pregnant and the neurologist said if it is a girl, the odds go down for autism. We're hoping for the best!' I could not help but offer a silent prayer for the baby to be born....knowing that no matter what, that baby would be loved and cared for by a very brave mother and father."

For Lisa, 50th Anniversary provided inspiration, affirmation

Lisa Sloan-Limmer, speech pathologist, shares a story of affirmation from the 50th Anniversary party:

"As a somewhat new staff member, I found our 50th celebration both educational, heart-felt and a bit of a reaffirmation in my job of choice. Life is a journey, not a destination. We have too few chances to see the end results in the children's lives that we touch. It was so wonderful to see the return of children from past journeys at BRSHF, who are now adults leading lives of their choice and opportunities.

For me, the most heart-felt experience was not the squeals of joy and delight from the children that were enjoying the activities and playground, but the squeals of joy and delight of adults as they reconnected with others who have shared their past. It was so exciting seeing such a powerful connection between former classmates and families, as well as the reconnection between the women who recognized the potential of a special population that was significantly underserved, had a vision, made a plan and jumped into founding this wonderful organization. The bonds that are made through trials and successes such as those that created BRSHF started a great journey. Learning the history behind where I work and meeting those who lived it gives me a better perspective of the journey that we are on now, and that will make a difference for the next 50 years in the lives of the wild and wonderful children that we "chase and pull, coddle and coax" on a journey through the 'Loud and Clear!'"

Current and former staff reflect on BRSHF's history                 Former BRSHF students recreate their groundbreaking photo from 1967

Audiology Mobile Testing Unit impresses at 50th Anniversary

Dr. Natalee Menge, BRSHF's Audiologist, shared this interaction she had with a gentleman at the 50th Anniversary celebration on Sunday, September 12:

"My department has a Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) that we bring to health fairs and group homes around the 10-parish Capital Area United Way service area. We're pretty proud to be the only ones in the Baton Rouge area that provide free hearing screenings as outreach to this area, so we wanted to make sure the MTU was on hand for the 50th Anniversary celebration!

I knew that the MTU was provided by members of the Sertoma Club of Baton Rouge, who found an abandoned hearing booth in a field and converted it into the mobile unit that I use today, thanks to funds from the local chapters of Quota Club and Delta Zeta. Well, while I was explaining the uses of the MTU during the celebration, a man walked up and introduced himself as the Sertoma member who built the trailer! It was so great to get to meet him and hear about the process of finding and building the unit. He was very excited to see it and to know that it was still in use, providing services to community members who might not know about or have access to hearing healthcare otherwise."

Sertoma and Quota Club members furnishing and presenting MTU, 2003

Tricia sees former client's success at 50th Anniversary

Tricia Henderson, Supervisor for Speech Services, has worked at BRSHF for many years. She shared this experience that touched her at our 50th Anniversary celebration earlier this fall:

"A young man in his 20s walked into the clinic carrying a ziploc bag and asked if a former therapist still worked here. I said 'no,' but told him she still lived in Baton Rouge, happened to be a neighbor of mine, but was now working in another field. He held up the ziploc and within were lots of memorabilia from his days at BRSHF some 20+ years ago! His mother had saved them all and, in one picture, there he was on top of the slide smiling ... an adorable 3 year old. That young man is now a manager of a car repair shop. As he spoke I could not help but be amazed at how mature and well spoken he is as an adult....another ordinary miracle at BRSHF!

(And by the way, I dropped a copy of the photo off at his former therapist's house. She was thrilled to hear of his success! That's the deal here....we carry our clients in our hearts long after they leave BRSHF!)"

                              






Former clients, parents, and staff reflect and catch up at the 50th Anniversary Party