Singing Silent Night in June
Andrew and Michael faced each other on the carpet, lost in the soft coos and chirps of one another’s baby babbling.
Her concern was evident but so was the sense of guilt she created.
The Sound of Music
As a music teacher for 14 years, Lorraine guided a wide age range of classrooms through vocal warm-ups focusing on rhythm and note execution. Nurturing voices of hundreds of children to peak performance is one of her mastered talents. Despite positive experiences helping numerous people feel confident in their words, her sons’ voices were not as easily discernable. It was something she struggled with.
“I felt the reason they weren’t talking was on me. What had I done wrong?”
She was told not to worry. They’re boys. They’re twins. They’ll grow out of it.
Their pediatrician even echoed the same sentiments.
But her mother’s intuition guided the family to collect a second opinion from another doctor’s office.
Here, an early intervention evaluation was suggested.
Here, Lorraine made a choice.
“I had to put my own feelings aside. Once I got past myself and my own guilt, my husband and I decided to get an evaluation. It could only help, only benefit them. How could this hurt? It would only be a plus for them. So we decided to do the evaluation, which is where we found out Andrew and Michael were recommended for speech therapy.”
A Matter of Focus
A toy drum set from Christmas
A fluffy stuffed dolphin from Florida
Even the loveable household pup, Minnie Mouse
Significant progress was made in the past 24 months through Julia’s guidance.
With an impressive vocabulary, Michael jokes around at the dinner table and talks about his day at preschool. He’s still finessing pronoun recognition but the chatter and energy to learn are there. Enough so, that Michael recently completed his final day of therapy.
Therapist, Student Bond
Time spent with Julia is eagerly anticipated. Upon hearing they’ll be seeing her that day, the twins rush to the door and wait just to wave to her.
“Oh goodness. It’s Julia. That’s what changed our lives. I have all positive things to say. As high as I can possibly rate this experience, I would. When we end speech, the entire family is going to be affected by it. Twins are a whole different dynamic and she adapted to their needs. She is amazing.”
A Song for You
A family heirloom has now been passed from mother to sons in part to speech therapy; a love for song, for music.
So as a family, they gather around to sing together before sweetly slipping away into sleep for the evening.
And although it’s not Christmas anymore, all is calm and all is bright.