The Latest On Prompt

Prompt Therapy has changed Emilia's life.  When she started it in March, she could barely speak two words and that was after six months of traditional speech therapy at our local children's hospital.  Now Emilia uses over 70 words independently and functionally across contexts.  About half of these words should be understandable to anyone and the other half are understood by those who know her well.  She is constantly picking up new vocabulary and imitating to the best of her current ability the sounds and words she hears. Success with communicating verbally has altered Emilia's overall outlook tremendously.  She is now interested in learning new things and compliant when we work on pre-academic and motor skills.  Her feeding/chewing skills have improved as well.  She is so much more confident.

Right now, Emilia and her Prompt therapist are working on speaking short sentences like "me do more" or "me more hop" which we also encourage and practice at home, as you will see in the video.  What's amazing to me is that Emilia has begun using the tactile cues on herself when she struggles to get out the words she wants to say.  She is also using Prompt methods on Craig and me because, you know, we really need help with jaw control and rounding our lips.

Rex started Prompt Therapy just a few weeks after Emilia in early spring.  Unfortunately, for the first five months, he was paired with a therapist that was not a terrific match for him.  She was too lenient in regard to his task avoidance strategies and not able to provide him with enough sensory and gross motor input while working on his speech.  Therefore, we are excited that Emilia's very experienced Prompt therapist was able to fit Rex into her schedule this fall.  Rex adores her and does amazing work with her.  We hope to see some measurable progress in him by year's end.

If you have tried traditional speech therapy with no or low results, I urge you to look into Prompt and try to find a therapist in your area.  Even though it's a fairly new approach and not recognized by everyone in the medical establishment, our insurance covers 70% of the expense of the kids' sessions which, by the way, cost about a third of what our insurance was charged for an hour of speech therapy at our local children's hospital.  Yes, it's cheaper and it works better for our children.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am that we found this method and this particular therapist to work with our special preschoolers.  We already feel blessed by what both have done for them.