It’s no secret that the Orange Effect Foundation started because of our experience with our oldest who was diagnosed with Autism at age 2.
We were so lucky to have early intervention and to be able to find ways to get the resources needed. We know not every family is that lucky.
But I’m starting to realize that my journey with speech therapy started long before I became a mom.
One of my first jobs in college was working with domestic violence offenders, who were doing group therapy as an alternative to a jail program. While there are numerous power and control issues when someone physically or emotionally hurts someone they love, there are also a lot of communication techniques and strategies that are unknown. So a lot of the sessions revolved around teaching people how to express their feelings in a nonviolent or abusive manner.
For example, you may have heard about starting your sentences with the word “I” instead of the word “you.” We talked a lot about using feeling words and not blaming. They’re all techniques around good communication that anyone should use.
Then my career took a twist, but in my next job running operations for a company my husband and I started, communication was vital to making sure all the pieces parts work together.
Now I do a lot of volunteer work with senior citizens. Often many of them have difficulty forming words or expressing thoughts clearly.
All this just to say that I’ve come to realize how important I think communication is and how I’m so proud the foundation has made its mission to make sure that every child is able to communicate. While we focus on children, speech therapy and good communication are important tools for all of us at any age!
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