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“You are in great hands with Colleen Shanahan Wehrli. She started seeing our son in January of 2015, and today, seven months later, he is not only speaking in sentences but doing so with well articulated sounds. I had the pleasure of staying during each weekly session with Colleen, really for the fun of spending time watching the two of them interact, and celebrating with them as his progress unfolded. We sat on the floor together as she expertly balanced his attention between play and work, using each moment as an opportunity to coach and correct. Many of her techniques seem simple on the surface, although when attempting to practice or recreate them at home her skillfulness becomes that much more apparent. Large for his age at two and a half, our son was rarely putting two words together, and had a very limited vocabulary. A very social child, he had always enthusiastically voiced long chains of undecipherable words, but his temperament had become often frustrated for a lack of being able to communicate. Colleen assessed him as behind, but also immediately saw his innate intelligence and potential. In fact, she advocated on his behalf when our daycare provider underestimated him and repeatedly tried to hold him back with the younger children due to his lack of speech. After a few weeks, each morning he would wake up asking if it was “Colleen day?”. He squeals when he sees her, and happily works through her myriad of games and puzzles throughout the hour-long sessions. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch. Colleen brings a warmth and an unwavering joy to her work, along with a stunning creativity and poise – all required to work with young children through what must be a very difficult transition for them. I recommend her without hesitation.”
“Colleen is so friendly and upbeat, and our 10 yr old daughter really loved interacting with her. Our daughter’s clinical progress was immediately noticeable, and it rapidly improved with each session. I attribute much of this to Colleen’s therapy style and her ability to identify the best technique for the child.”
“Our son has worked with Colleen for a year and a half now. When she began, his speech development was delayed. Colleen encouraged him to speak. She made the classes fun and boosted his confidence. He would wait by the door and couldn’t wait for her to come play with him. She was persistent in encouraging him to use his words and established the norm that he would try to speak rather than just motioning. As his speech developed, she was careful to continue to adjust the lessons. She also worked with us to guide us on how we could reinforce what he was learning with her. She is an exceptional speech therapist.”
“Our daughter started speech therapy just after she turned two and we started with Early Intervention for about a year and we worked with two therapists in that time frame that were fair. When she “aged out” of EI, we decided to go with private therapy. I was nervous about introducing my daughter to yet another speech therapist, but from our first visit, absolutely fell in love with Colleen. She had such a warm, sincere and fun approach with my daughter and for the first time, my daughter was excited about speech therapy and talked about Colleen all the time – this never happened with her other therapists! Colleen made speech therapy so fun for my daughter and even integrated her older sister into our weekly visits. She has such a special touch with kids and her energy is amazing. I was continually impressed as we were at the very end of the day on Fridays and she was always on her “A” game. You can tell that Colleen loves her work and we feel lucky to have had her as part of our lives. My daughter made amazing progress with Colleen – all of our friends and my daughter’s teachers at preschool noted the difference. I loved that Colleen gave us just one or two things to work on each week and very simple, practical ways to practice things. It kept us all focused and it really made a difference. In prior experiences, we’d get a laundry list to cover and just never got around it it all. At the end of the day, my daughter’s speech – and her overall confidence – really grew while we were working with Colleen. My daughter recently “graduated” from speech therapy and while we’re thrilled, we’re also a little sad to not see Colleen on a regular basis.”
“Our 4-year-old son had a moderate language disorder (his speech was marked by fronting, consonant cluster reduction and was difficult for strangers to understand) and our doctor recommended us to Chicago Speech Therapy. If we had it all to do over again, we’d choose the same route and ask for Colleen Shanahan by name. She worked with us over the course of 7 months and was a priceless help. Colleen did an evaluation and then developed an action plan for him with different milestones along the way. Within a few visits we could already hear a difference in him. Colleen’s warm, welcoming, fun-loving nature instantly won our son over and led him to looked forward to her visits each week. She made learning, and working, fun with different games and activities; our son rarely ever complained or asked to stop. From a parent standpoint, Colleen kept us informed of his progress and explained the different sounds they were focussing on each week. She also provided us with a list of words and sounds to practice with Riley. In short, Colleen was a wonderful partner in helping our son speak well. When our time was finished we were sad to see her go, but are happy to recommend her to anyone else.”
“Our daughter began working with Colleen Shanahan just after she turned 4 years old. Colleen quickly identified that she needed help with articulation, particularly with “s” sounds. Each week Colleen would come to our home with new ways to practice her speech, which kept her engaged and motivated. Colleen also worked with me on a plan of action, including homework that I could work with Ella on throughout the week. I felt that Colleen was as invested in her progress as I was. This meant the world to me and my husband. She always looked forward to Colleen’s visits. In fact, Ella was sad to have recently “graduated” from speech as she knew this meant Colleen wouldn’t be coming to work with her anymore. Ella is now a confident kindergartner who isn’t afraid to use her voice. She recently had to speak into a microphone at a dance performance, and her words were clear and articulate — it was a very proud moment for us, and we couldn’t have done it without the expertise and care of Colleen. We are very grateful for her dedication to our daughter!”