(Photo courtesy of Healthy Beginnings)
Providing parents the tools to raise healthy happy children.
My name is Yolanda. I have two children: Dominic, two years old and Isabelle who is seven months. Every other week, I take them to a play group, and it was there I noticed that the other two year old children were talking more than Dominic.
One of the moms told me about Healthy Beginnings–that they conduct free development screenings for children under six years old. I had no idea what ‘screening’ meant….but, if I could get answers about why my son wasn’t talking, it was worth checking out.
When I got to the screening appointment, so many friendly people assisted me. I went to the dental, nutrition, development and behavior experts talking about my favorite subject, my beautiful children. I then spoke with the speech pathologist for which I expressed my concern about Dominic’s speech delay.
The speech pathologist noticed that Dominic scored well below average on the evaluation questionnaire so we discussed his development at length. I felt so comfortable talking with her and there was no rush. She gave me peace of mind that catching this early was the best thing for Dominic. What came as a big surprise was that it wasn’t just speech that was delaying Dominic’s development. I learned at the Hearing Station, that Dominic had significant hearing loss which ultimately affected his speech.
Healthy Beginnings gave me excellent referrals and followedup with information to help me connect with professional help for Dominic. In addition, Healthy Beginnings even helped me apply for the Oregon Health Plan. My son is now receiving proper treatment for his hearing and is even receiving services from Early Intervention to help get him on track with his speech and language development so that he can enter Preschool and Kindergarten without any difficulties to prevent him from learning.
I can’t thank Healthy Beginnings enough for giving me the resources and knowledge to raise healthy, happy children.
If you or someone you know has a story similar to Yolanda’s, call today to learn more about Healthy Beginnings. 541-383-6357
