Patient Spotlight: Hannah Cook

Guest blogger alert! Ashley, speech therapist in our West Monroe clinic, wrote and submitted this special success story.

Meet my friend, Hannah. She just celebrated her 3rd birthday in May! I met Hannah in November of 2012. Her mom came to our speech evaluation with concerns that her daughter was shy and not saying many words. Mrs. C stated that Hannah would point or grunt for things she wanted, but was hard to understand her words. At this time, Hannah was 2 ½ years old and not putting two words together yet. On her standardized tests, she had mild-moderate receptive and expressive language disorders.

Hannah came to Speech therapy once a week, and smiled a lot! She loved to play with baby dolls and pop bubbles. She began to blow bubbles and horns quietly after a few months. Other speech goals we worked toward included making sounds of animals and saying two or three words together. Hannah began to ask questions and said more words with less cuing earlier this year.

When Hannah’s 6 month evaluation came due in May, her mom was eager to see her progress in numbers. At this time, Hannah was ABOVE AVERAGE on her standardized tests! She is able to put sound combinations together and can use up to four words together. Hannah is requesting, naming objects, asking questions, and continues to be happy!

I was so glad to be a part of this little one’s progression from a sweet, shy grunter to a happy, playful communicator! Success stories like this can and do happen with consistent intervention. Hannah has a great family and caretaker support system, who encourages her daily. Thanks to you Cook family! I will miss you and Hannah, but I am so proud of her and all she will do in her future!

Ashley S. Hodge, M.S., CC-SLP