Katie remembers that she was desperate to help her son but didn’t know where to turn. It had been a couple of really challenging years. She had a difficult pregnancy, her husband was recovering from prescription drug addiction, and although both parents were working and trying to make ends meet, they had lost their home and the family was living in their car. On top of all these worries their two year old son, Johnny, wasn’t talking and was barely eating. They were referred to ChildStrive by Johnny’s pediatrician.

Through a developmental assessment Johnny was found to have speech delays. A plan was quickly put into place by Rita, one of ChildStrive’s Speech and Language Pathologists. At first Katie was embarrassed to utilize ChildStrive’s help because of the family’s homelessness. But as Katie and her husband worked together with Rita they quickly learned that Rita was not judgmental and in fact reinforced all the things they were doing right. The family also worked with a ChildStrive family counselor who helped them recognize that they were good parents and dedicated to gaining self-sufficiency and happiness again, despite all of the recent setbacks.

Johnny graduated from the Early Intervention program having reached all of the family’s goals and today is a happy typically-developing preschooler looking forward to a bright future. Katie has a new job and the family has a stable home. Katie credits ChildStrive with helping them not only with Johnny, but with the whole family. They are stronger than ever!