My wife and I have three children: 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old. When our 3-year-old was around 20 months, he could only speak approximately 10 to 15 words and could not link more than one or two words together in a sentence. He was referred to a speech and language pathologist at Wascana Rehab Center. In March of 2024, he started his speech therapy, which he attended bi-weekly until July. During therapy sessions, the therapist would use board games incorporating tactile stimulation, such as smacking and hitting objects like Wack-a-mole and holding different toys and tools and describing how they felt. During their sessions, the therapist noticed that if Graydon drank from his sippy cup, he would be fixated and unable to complete any tasks. So, she made a rule not to drink juice during the session to prevent overstimulation and his oral fixation. During this time, I would also take him swimming almost every Sunday, swinging at the park, wrestling with his siblings, and even at home, enjoying lots of tight hugging cuddles. As my playtime with Graydon and his appointments continued, we noticed that his speech development was doubling and tripling and then rising exponentially as it is now October, and he is now speaking the typical 500 to 900 words a 3-year-old should have in their vocabulary.
Though this was not structured sensory integration therapy, nor was my time spent playing with my son a structured part of a therapy approach, my son has now learned how to use many more words, tell stories, and speak more clearly. However, he still has issues with some of his consonants; he is able to express his needs more clearly and directly than he could before.
Furthermore, he has recently been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and before therapy, he showed no interest in playing with the other kids at daycare, often hanging out by himself. He was not able to sing songs and showed no interest in music. Today, he likes to sing songs and dance with his sister. Graydon now plays with the other kids, can share toys, enjoys spending time with his baby brother and older sister, and his social abilities have blossomed. We have since been granted funding for further developmental education for Graydon which, after doing this project and the positive outcomes from speech therapy as well as our sensory play times, I believe having him referred to a sensory integration therapist would be the most beneficial course of action for Graydon's cognitive, speech and emotional development. I was so worried that he would not be able to speak like the other kids before all of this started. However, even with the short time in therapy and my unstructured sensory playtime. He is making leaps and bounds. I can't wait to see what sensory integration therapy can do for my son's communication and speech and how he will be able to flourish socially.
Graydon Hancock - age 3. Speaks lots of words now.
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