Amina Grace 1:1 Speech and Language Highlight – Jimmy

Jimmy has been working hard weekly in the Amina Grace 1:1 Speech and Language program at GiGi’s Playhouse Rochester.  This program provides a unique opportunity for adults to be able to work on their important communication skills.  Jimmy’s Mom Laura shares a little bit with us about Jimmy’s journey.

Our 29 year old son, Jimmy, began speech therapy with Kristin Housel at Gigi’s Playhouse in Rochester NY in the fall of 2019.  Jimmy has a diagnosis of both Down syndrome and autism – he has great difficulty with both articulation and with language pragmatics.  He had not participated in any sort of speech therapy after leaving school in 2012 at age 21.  We had noticed that he was becoming less and less willing to engage in conversations over the past several years. He was diagnosed with Down syndrome Regression Syndrome, and had “retreated into his head” to a large extent in summer 2019.  When I saw that speech therapy was available through Gigi’s Playhouse Amina Grace program, we jumped at it!

 It’s now been about a year and a half, and Jimmy has demonstrated gains in both his articulation and in his comfort level with speaking.  His speech therapist, Kristin Housel, engaged him from Day 1.  He genuinely looks forward to his weekly session with Kristin.  She was able to be very effective working face to face with Jimmy, and later, during the pandemic shutdowns, via online video meetings.  I initially worried that their connection wouldn’t be translatable to the online format, but those worries were unfounded.  We hope to continue to work with Kristin so that he can continue to increase his ability to communicate with those he encounters at work, at home, and in the community.  We absolutely feel that his sessions with Kristin have helped him to start to overcome his regression issues, and are very grateful for the opportunity for him to participate in this program.