My son was a beautiful child, always happy and loving, but by the time he was two it was apparent that there was a problem. He had a vocabulary of only about 10 words and of those most were difficult to understand.
Brandon had had a history of severe ear infections that would last for long periods. The worst had occurred between six months and one year and had caused him not to hear the ending sounds of words, therefore that was the way he would say them. It was also apparent that he had a processing problem with language. We had taken Brandon to Children's hospital and had a speech therapist coming to the house one time a week for a half hour. This was expensive but at the time it was the only available option we knew of, though the doctors at Children's Hospital did not believe it was intensive enough to do the job.
My sister-in-law was a teacher at Head Start and thought that would be the best placement for him, and although we were over income she felt he would qualify because of his disability. Brandon received speech therapy through Head Start and staff assisted us in understanding his needs and the services available to him. When he entered Elementary School he was in a Speech and Language class rich in spoken and written words that helped in his development and progress.
Brandon is almost 20 years old now and attends college. He has always been a hard worker and he does well in his classes, which he enjoys very much. His father and I are very proud of him and his accomplishments. He has taught us much about understanding and perseverance.
Susan Bailey