Speech therapist Carey Lamoureaux says that having access to timely speech therapy is "life-changing" for students and she hopes to help make intervention and therapy for people in this part of the province more accessible by opening Treehouse Speech Therapy in Wawota.
"[Speech therapy] is life changing," says Lamoureaux. "It can change the course of someone's academics and of course, their social life. A speech disorder or a language delay can affect someone's whole school experience and outcomes, with reading and writing and sounding out things. It's all language-based."
"Socially, some kids will shut down after a while, if they're not being understood, or if they're continually asked to repeat themselves, because people can't understand what they're saying."
The Wawota native and mom-of-two says, "I know there are so many people on waiting lists. I know of someone whose child was on one waitlist for 16 months and they finally called her. By that time, the child was almost school-age and was going to have to enter another system because of their age. I know of so many stories like that and I know the health districts are doing the best they can. But if a little preschooler has to travel to an appointment in the city, how will they do after that long car ride?"
"What I can offer is service, access, and continuity. I can consistently offer appointments that are closer together, so that the sessions are more effective. I see that the parents can be more involved, because I am able to see them drop off and pick up. They can see real progress because I can offer one-on-one sessions an hour at a time, consistently."
"Early intervention is critical. You can prevent a lot of things or you can manage them more easily the earlier you are able to address them," she adds. "In a school setting, the caseload prevents this type of service, so if a child can be properly assessed and treated before they enter school, that's the ideal."
Among the speech-related conditions Lamoureaux addresses are: issues with feeding and swallowing, fluency issues and speech-sound disorders. She also works with alternative augmentative communication, in which technology is used to generate speech, which helps those who have no other way to communicate.
Although early intervention is ideal, Lamoureax says that speech-related issues can and should be addressed at any age. "I also offer animated literacy, which isn't only for people with speech-related issues." she says. "Put simply, it's a multisensory approach to sound and symbols that aids in reading and writing. It's an awesome program that's getting a great response in some schools and I'm happy I can offer it to anyone who asks, who might need extra help with reading and/or writing."
"I had a student once who was really struggling in school. This child went on to very quickly get perfect marks in spelling. The sooner things are addressed, the better, but it's also not too late if your child is already in school. I can also work with kids in conjunction with the school staff."
"That one-on-one attention can make a world of difference for kids and young adults."
Treehouse Speech Therapy is located in the C & M Homes Building on Hwy 48 in Wawota. For an appointment or further information, call (306)-575-7618.