My daughter, Evie, was born at the beginning of 2020. We soon learned that though the pandemic impacted her ability to communicate, it was only a small piece in her puzzle compared to a neurological disorder she was born with called childhood apraxia of speech, which affects the brain’s ability to plan movements of the mouth needed for clear speech.
My husband would tell her ‘no,’ and she would get so angry in her inability to communicate her desires that she would spend the next 40 minutes on the floor screaming.
I decided it was time to invest in toys that would help Evie develop. Lovevery enters the room. Boy did everything change! She started doing things she couldn't before.
As Evie reached her third birthday, she was quickly approaching the benchmark her pediatrician wanted for vocabulary. However, we were still running into a brick wall when she was overcome with emotions. Then, in the mail, The Observer Play Kit arrived.
And we experienced, for the first time, something completely life-changing in Evie’s communication. Inside were the 3 books about big emotions and the crown jewels: the Wooden Emotion Dolls. When we are having a particularly emotionally-charged moment, I encourage her to go to her dolls and pick the doll she is feeling.
With speech therapy, exposure to other children in preschool, and you—we are now able to express our feelings clearly.
—Katelyn S.
