Annabelle’s Expressive Language Disorder Improving With Telehealth Therapy

From the moment of birth, children begin to learn and express themselves through language. As they grow, their capacity to communicate their ideas and needs through words and understanding the spoken message of others also begins to improve.

Developmental milestones vary for each child. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be screened for general development using standardized, validated tools at 9, 18, and 24 or 30 months during scheduled well visits with a pediatrician.

“Annabelle didn’t talk until she was almost four-years-old. It was scary for us in the beginning because I wasn’t sure if she was going to talk. Then when she did start talking it was very difficult to understand her. She would get frustrated when she was misunderstood,” adds Katherine, Annabelle’s mother.

After a comprehensive evaluation from a speech-language pathologist at Solace Pediatric Healthcare, Annabelle received a diagnosis of expressive language disorder. She has been receiving speech-language and occupational therapy services through Solace Pediatric Healthcare since March 2021.  

Individuals can be diagnosed with expressive language disorder at any age, but since expressive language disorder is developmental, the signs can appear at a very young age. The earlier it’s diagnosed, the sooner children can receive the help they need to improve their language skills.

Plan of Care

“Annabelle’s plan of care focused on overall speech intelligibility and articulation. She presents with multiple phonological processes making it very difficult to understand her, especially as her expressive language has grown and she is communicating at an age appropriate level. Annabelle is currently working on final consonant deletion, /sh/ in initial and final positions, /f/ in the initial position, and /s/ in initial and final positions,” adds Anna R., speech-language pathologist at Solace Pediatric Healthcare.

“We often play games online targeting words that Annabelle can practice with a model. Annabelle loves unicorns and dress up so typically games involve some type of version of her interests. She also enjoys reading virtual books online and practicing words/sounds throughout,” adds Anna.

Benefits of Telehealth Therapy

Annabelle had been attending virtual school for a while so she was used to working with teachers and therapists on the computer and the family preferred it for the benefits of flexibility during their day-to- day. 

“Some sessions I am more involved than others, I often help to motivate her or get involved with modeling but typically I sit next to her during her sessions and listen while she practices her sounds so I know what to work on during the week,” adds Katherine.

“It’s been great working with Anna. She has brought Bella out of her comfort zone. She’s not so grumpy while working, which she typically is during her school classes. We really like telehealth therapy because scheduling is easier and more convenient, and we can do therapy while traveling around,” adds Katherine.

Annabelle’s Progress

“I think she has been talking a lot better and a lot more. Her grandma told us the other day it was easier to understand what she was saying and she hadn’t seen her in over a year. She also seems a lot more confident. She used to not be able to say her nephew’s name and now she is able to. She also sounds much clearer when saying her dog’s name ‘Luna,’ adds Katherine. 

“Our experience with Solace has been great so far. Bella enjoys both OT and speech. We would recommend telehealth therapy too. Choose Solace, you wont regret it. It’s not worth waiting and your kid will benefit no matter what. Bella is seven and she didn’t start talking until she was 4-5-years-old,” adds Katherine.

How to Refer Your Child

Solace Pediatric Healthcare is the leading provider of pediatric nursing, family caregiver, occupational, physical, speech and feeding therapy services. Since 2005, our clinicians have provided pediatric care to children from birth to 21 years of age. We offer comprehensive pediatric therapy services in Colorado and Arizona.

At Solace, we’ve instilled a culture built on trust, communication, teamwork and accountability. Our mission is to provide pediatric clinical services to help children and families live their best lives.

• I want to refer my child for an Evaluation/Therapy. If you know you would like to speak to our patient advocate to discuss scheduling an initial evaluation with a licensed pediatric therapist, simply complete and submit the Referral Form so we may contact you. Please provide as much information on the secure/encrypted form as possible as it is required to begin the process. We do accept Medicaid and most insurances.

• I Want to Be Contacted. If you would like to speak with our patient advocate for more information prior to submitting a Referral Form, simply complete the Contact Me Form and submit.

• If you prefer to contact us to discuss your child, please call our team. You can reach us by phone at: (Denver) 303.432.8487; (Colorado Springs) 719.623.5463; (Northern Colorado) 970.775.8476; and (Pueblo) 719.695.4535.