family stories
create the connection you crave with your child
Finn
How Valued Voices opened the language floodgates for 4-year- old Finn, changing his life forever.
Jonathan & Noah
How Valued Voices changed frustration & hopelessness into a world of stories and songs for two brothers.
Luke
How Valued Voices helped Luke go from being “void” to thriving and getting straight A’s.
Finn
How Valued Voices opened the language floodgates for 4-year-old Finn, chaging his life forever.
“He communicates so clearly, and I will never get tired of hearing him speak!”
Danielle, Finn’s Mom
Finn’s mom, Danielle, describes his early expression as unique.
“One of my earliest observations was that he was able to entertain himself for much longer than other children his age. He was comfortable in his independent play for long periods and seemed to entertain himself so easily.”
But when Finn found something funny or interesting, he didn’t share it with his parents or others. As Finn started to communicate, his mom also noticed that his language was very focused on labeling things. He had an extended list of words that he would say, but they were all nouns.
“While he had a high word count before age 2, his functional language was very low, and he didn’t say hello or good-bye. He also had a very challenging time communicating his needs.”
Finn also loved the alphabet very early on and was able to sing his ABCs and make phonetic letter sounds before 15 months. An exciting development at first, but then his parents quickly noticed that Finn’s love of the alphabet wasn’t translating into proper language.
Danielle knew before Finn turned two that his language development wasn’t on track. She researched online and realized he needed specialized support. Thankfully, she also learned that children have exceptional brain plasticity before age five and that the earlier they receive help, the better outcomes they can achieve.
FINDING Valued Voices
“Finn made incredible progress during his time at Valued Voices. The first thing he learned — just two weeks into his therapy — was the phrase ‘I want.’ This was the most significant breakthrough he made. As soon as he learned that this phrase would help get his needs met, the language flood gates started to open.”
“Additionally, the direction and coaching that my husband and I received from Sholeh on things we could do at home to support Finn were priceless. We were able to make small, easy changes to the way we behaved with Finn at home that supported his progress.”
FINN TODAY
“Today, Finn is an incredibly happy, engaged 4-year-old whose expressive and receptive language is now age-appropriate. He communicates so clearly, and I will never get tired of hearing him speak! He has a rich vocabulary and has started to learn to read.
Do our family stories sound familiar? We understand both the stress of knowing in your heart your child needs additional support and the fear that the choices you make for them won’t yield results. Our holistic approach to Child Communication Development is the difference your family has been looking for. Find the right help here.
Jonathan & Noah
How Valued Voices changed frustration & hopelessness into a world of stories and songs for two brothers.
“I went from hoping they could simply tell me what was wrong or how they were feeling to hoping for a few minutes of silence because they talk nonstop! It is the sweetest transition, and I am so thankful for that.”
Sara, Jonathan & Noah’s Mom
When Jonathan and Noah were about 2-years-old, their mom, Sara, started to notice their expressive language differed from their peers.
When Jonathan and Noah were about 2-years-old, their mom, Sara, started to notice their expressive language differed from their peers.
“They only used a few words, and even those words were only intelligible to close family. I had hopes that their language would expand over the next year, but it did not. They turned 3-years-old and still had only a handful of words as well as sounds that they could say. They understood everything and were so frustrated that they couldn’t express themselves.”
The family’s insurance company conducted a speech evaluation and told Sara her sons were severely delayed. That’s when she started researching different clinics in the Newport Beach area.
FINDING Valued Voices
“After a brief phone consultation with Sholeh, I knew I had found our place. She answered all my questions and validated my fears while giving me hope. She was also very understanding, knowledgeable, and encouraging.” Since working with Valued Voices, both of the boys have made significant progress with their expressive lan- guage. Sara says they went from speaking only a few words with minimal sounds to speaking in sentences with increased intelligibility.
“I went from hoping they could simply tell me what was wrong or how they were feeling to hoping for a few min- utes of silence because they talk nonstop! It is the sweetest transition, and I am so thankful for that.”
JONATHAN AND NOAH TODAY
Sara says Jonathan still has moments where others can’t understand him, but overall, he is intelligible, and his expressive language has improved significantly.
“His vocabulary has also significantly increased, so if there’s a word that he’s unable to say correctly, he knows how to describe it to get this point across. In addition to learning his sounds, he’s also learned coping strategies that help him greatly in preschool and with his peers. Noah has nearly caught up with his peers, with only a few grammatical and speech errors that we’re working on. He shares elaborate stories, asks countless questions, and is always singing songs. It’s a complete change from a year ago!”
Do our family stories sound familiar? We understand both the stress of knowing in your heart your child needs additional support and the fear that the choices you make for them won’t yield results. Our holistic approach to Child Communication Development is the difference your family has been looking for. Find the right help here.
Luke
How Valued Voices helped Luke go from being “void” to thriving and getting straight A’s.
“What Valued Voices gave to Luke extends far beyond filling the speech and language voids that were, sadly, such a large part of his toddler years. They gave him unconditional love, guidance, and confidence, all of which have left indelible marks in his life and ours.” Elana, Luke’s Mom
Luke’s mom, Elana, knew pretty early on that her son had challenges when it came to verbally communicating.
“Sure, he babbled and cooed and was a noisy baby, but something was off – void. He never had those early sound patterns that are reminiscent of proper speech and language development. It was just noisiness, for lack of a better term.”
Elana says Luke was a quiet, independent observer from birth. A toddler who watches everything going on around him, absorbing like a sponge, but lacking the tools to express what he was taking in. It would take some time to figure out that a lot of that quietness was rooted in very real speech and language challenges.
“We were tired of horrible, run-of-the-mill, one size fits all, insurance appointed speech therapists and SLPAs. They would put Luke through the motions while never attempting to engage him. Or they diagnosed him with speech and language disorders that he didn’t have symptoms for. We got no results, no improvements, and a growing frustration that Luke was being ignored.”
FINDING Valued Voices
Elana’s frustration was only exacerbated by a lack of communication from his therapists.
“My questioning was often met with a lot of defensiveness and, ultimately, the eventual severing of ties. After
the seventh or eighth terrible experience and after a great deal of research and conducting interviews, we found Valued Voices. That’s when everything – I mean EVERYTHING – changed for Luke and our family as a whole.”
“We were finally blessed with someone who took the time to get to know our son and provide him with the incredible, essentially tailored to him, skills and tools needed for him to communicate with real words.”
Luke’s mom says his therapists took the time to find out precisely what challenges Luke was facing and broke down for them the difference between speech and language.
“We never knew Luke’s challenges were in both of these areas; that he was basically without either skill set. Once that was determined, they set out to find what worked for him, be it music, play, games, more structured activities, a combination of things, etc.”
“What Valued Voices gave to Luke extends far beyond filling the speech and language voids that were, sadly, such a large part of his toddler years. They gave him unconditional love, guidance, and confidence, all of which have left indelible marks in his life and ours.
LUKE TODAY
“Luke is doing AMAZING. He is thriving in kindergarten, getting straight As, his teachers and peers love him, and adores everything that school has to offer. He loves to talk and share his ideas and opinions with family and friends.”
Although Luke still presents with some articulation errors, his mom says he’s aware of them, and he works hard to fix them, especially as he continues to build his reading skills.
“He has a gift for music and adores it, along with riding his bike, swimming, learning to play piano, boxing, and being everything I hoped he’d be at nearly 6… and so much more.”
