A thank you letter from a grateful mother

Dear VCH,

Kerri Amat with Rhoan and Romilly.

All three of my children have received speech therapy services. When my son Rhoan was 3-1/2, there were sounds he could not make, but I thought he would outgrow it. I thought he had a hearing problem, but found instead that he had a speech issue. Once he started speech therapy with Kimberley Eggert, I was amazed that this excellent treatment with this wonderful person who made my son so happy was available to us. And it wasn’t available because I had the money to pay for it. It’s a service offered to any child under 5.

Both my daughters Imogen and Romilly were slow to talk as toddlers and were very difficult to understand. Thankfully, they and Kim worked well together and they are now easily understood at 5-1/2 and 3-1/2. They have more confidence in speaking as well, which is as important as making the specific sounds.

When I listen to my kids speak today, it’s easy to forget how far they have come. I have audio files with the voices of my kids’ before and during their speech therapy. Every now and then I play them and am amazed at how their speech improved.

VCH speech language pathologist Kimberly Eggert working with Imogen at North Shore Community Health Center.

If a family has concerns about their child’s language processing and/or making of certain sounds, I would tell them not to wait to see if the child will outgrow it. Speech

therapy was a happy and integral part to my children’s development of speech and confidence. Thank you.

Kerri Amat