March Speech Participant Spotlight!

“Nora loves participating in the GiGi’s Playhouse Amina Grace Speech and Language Program with Taylor! Since beginning the program in Fall 2018, we have seen her speech progress into attempting to make a wide range of sounds, forming new words weekly, labeling with sounds/words, and communicating better with us her wants and needs. We are so grateful to GiGi’s Playhouse for this program and providing us this amazing service, and for Taylor and all her patience and hard work to help Nora grow in her speech and language skills. We cannot wait to see what she will say next!” -Jennifer, Nora’s mom.

From the local radio station to the speech room… this little one knows all about the spotlight. That’s why our March Participant Spotlight for the GiGi’s Playhouse 1-on-1 Amina Grace Speech and Language Program is on Miss Nora! Nora brings her fashion and her outgoing, loving personality to the Playhouse weekly. Nora has been a participant in the GiGi’s Playhouse 1-on-1 Amina Grace Speech and Language Program since Fall 2018. Nora always comes to the speech room ready to play—and in here PLAY IS WORK! She loves to play with the Minnie doll set, dance to “The Greatest Showman” soundtrack, play with flashcards, sing, and any type of ball play! Therapy has been targeting Nora’s sustained attention, understanding and labeling of actions, production of 2-3 phrases using signs/verbal expression, following multi-step directions, and producing consonant-vowel, vowel-consonant, and consonant-vowel-consonant words verbally using early developing sounds such as p, b, m, h, and w with vowels.

Nora has really been taking off in terms of her progress and meeting her benchmarks that are helping her to meet her goals. Nora has over 100 signs in her repertoire and is combining them to produce 2-3 word phrases. She also is beginning to pair signs with verbal approximates more spontaneously! She is a GREAT imitator and is highly receptive to the visual cues provided to achieve sounds and produce words. Nora’s mom and sisters are awesome at encouraging Nora to carry over her skills learned inside the therapy room to her daily life and at home. Nora typically “practices” her skills in the Playhouse with staff and peers right after her session. She has built such amazing relationships with so many adults and peers alike! She’s frequently seen showing off her skills for photos and videos. Here at GiGi’s Playhouse, we are committed to helping Nora continue to meet her goals and be the star she is meant to be!

To find out more about the Amina Grace Speech and Language Program, visit our website here: https://gigisplayhouse.org/hoffmanestates/amina-grace-speech-and-language-program

-Taylor Kent-Kowalski