Meet Jordyn: Patient Success Story

When Jordyn was two years old, he was referred to speech therapy due to a significant delay in his communication skills. He was not able to say or imitate any words or use gestures to communicate, and he was not able to understand basic instructions which posed a major safety concern. Jordyn’s parents were saddened when they couldn’t understand their son’s basic needs, such as why he was upset, if he was in pain, what he wanted to eat or drink, or how he was feeling, and his mother longed to hear the precious word, “mama.”

Melissa, Jordyn’s speech-language pathologist, quickly got to work on helping him develop language while building on the few sounds he could make (vowels and a few consonants), but his progress was slower than she anticipated. Jordyn’s limited progress and the nature of his communication challenges led Melissa to suspect childhood apraxia of speech as the root cause for Jordyn’s delayed communication skills. Childhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder where children struggle with the planning and coordination of movements needed for speech production. Essentially, they know what they want to say, but their brain has difficulty sending the correct signals to their mouth muscles to produce sounds accurately. Once Melissa adjusted her plan of care to address the newly identified concerns, Jordyn began consistently progressing with his communication skills. Melissa provided invaluable education to Jordyn’s parents to help them understand what childhood apraxia is and how it’s treated, and they participated in every session so they could carry over strategies between sessions.

Jordyn and his family, under Melissa’s guidance, have put in the hard work over the years to be successful, as therapy for apraxia requires extensive, individualized treatment in order to develop the motor planning, sequencing, and execution needed to produce speech. As a result, Jordyn is a thriving seven year old who is now able to verbally communicate and attend school with his peers! He can now speak in short sentences to express which outer space puzzle he wants to put together, whether he wants pasta or chicken nuggets, and if he’s ready to go play outside. Jordyn’s family is thrilled that they can ask him basic questions and receive a verbal response, no longer have to guess what Jordyn is wanting/needing, and are able to avoid a lot of frustration.

Melissa’s ability to identify the appropriate diagnosis and create a treatment plan specific to Jordyn, combined with beginning therapy services at an early age, has led to Jordyn’s

improved verbal communication skills and eliminated the need for a costly communication device or other therapies. Jordyn’s family understands how to support him, and he continues to gain independence as he perseveres to produce speech that is clear and intelligible within all of his daily routines.