Clarke works closely with families of infants and toddlers to create a language-rich environment at home—where so much early learning takes place. This is the story of one New York family observing their infant daughter’s speech development, while growing their confidence and ability to support her along the way. Thanks to the support of donors like Bluma Cohen, Clarke is able to reach more families like Leah’s to provide them with the early support they need.
Leah was diagnosed with bilateral severe sensorineural hearing loss and was just under 10 months old when her family began the tVISIT Program with Clarke in March 2020. A Clarke speech-language pathologist, Molly Schoenfeld, MS, CCC-SLP, TSSLD, led the virtual sessions and welcomed Leah and her mother, Kim, who joined from Watertown, New York.
“The area we live in has very limited resources when it comes to hearing loss in children,” explained Kim. “We would’ve had to drive our daughter an hour and 20 minutes to receive specialized services related to her hearing loss. Our Clarke speech-language pathologist is absolutely wonderful and has been nothing short of a blessing to our family. Working with Clarke has drastically improved my confidence in understanding hearing loss as well as how to help Leah.”
From left, Molly Schoenfeld, MS, CCC-SLP, TSSLD, Clarke speech-language pathologist, in tVISIT sessions with Leah and her mother, Kim.
Kim reports that Leah has progressed from barely tolerating her hearing aids and not responding to sounds much at all, to wearing her hearing aids almost all day without issue. “Leah now attempts to imitate speech patterns and pitch during vocalizations, converses back and forth with us and vocalizes to make requests or protests. We are so very proud of her.”
The family has come a long way since enrolling in Clarke’s tVISIT Program. Kim adds, “I truly feel it is helping Leah’s language and development so much and will only continue to do so!”
To learn more about Clarke’s teleservices, visit clarkeschools.org/teleservices.
View Clarke Speaks 2020-2021 as a PDF.
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