According to his parents, Doni is your typical little boy -full of spirit and eager to please. He has always been a happy, friendly child. But, they also noticed he was having trouble communicating.
Upon evaluation at the Beaumont Children's Hospital's Speech and Language Pathology Department, Center for Childhood Speech and Language Disorders [1], Doni was diagnosed with receptive and expressive language disorder and verbal apraxia, a motor speech disorder that involves difficulty coordinating the muscle movements to say sounds and words.
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| Doni with speech pathologist Meredith Block |
In three years of work with Beaumont, Doni has made excellent progress. “Doni is saying five and six word sentences, asking and answering questions and working on higher level sequencing activities,” says Meredith Block, his speech pathologist. “Doni’s a wonderful child and I enjoy every moment spent working with him.”
Helping children like Doni is also the goal of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals [2] program at Beaumont. Now, they have a fundraiser coming up where everyone can pitch in to help clear out electronic clutter and help Beaumont’s Speech and Language Pathology patients at the same time.
“E-Clutter for Kids” is a recycle-a-thon to benefit pediatric speech and language treatment scholarships at the Beaumont Children’s Hospital. It will take place over the span of several days in April. There will be multiple recycling collection areas for the public to bring donated items on April 21, 22 and 27 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Learn more about the event at: http://www.beaumont.edu/press-release-eclutter-recycling-event-2012 [3]
Who knew that an obsolete computer monitor or the non-working refrigerator taking up space in the garage could one day help a child just like Doni?
Links:
[1] http://www.beaumontchildrenshospital.com/childhood-speech-and-language-disorders
[2] http://foundation.beaumont.edu/childrens-miracle-network
[3] http://www.beaumont.edu/press-release-eclutter-recycling-event-2012