Meet Nikki. She’s all grown up now, but when she was a child, she visited a speech therapist. This is her story.

Although I was only four years old I have clear, vivid memory of the moment I realized I was going to be in more trouble than normal. It’s an image of me standing at the bottom of the stairs, cupping my mouth with my hand as the blood trickled down my arm and onto the white, pristine floor.A few minutes earlier my mother had yelled down the stairs, “If one of you gets hurt do not come crying to me”, and so there I was, not crying, bloody and surprisingly not in that much pain.

The silence had gotten my mother’s attention and so she came and opened the door to the basement and saw me standing there. Now that I’m a mother, I can completely relate to the chaotic and jumbled thoughts that must have quickly been running through her mind. A short version of the story with the attached moral: don’t jump on the bed, you can loose your teeth. The end result of the story: 6 stitches and no more front teeth.

Whenever I was asked about what had happened to my teeth my answer was “I was wumpin’ in the basement”.

Typically children don’t loose their front teeth till they’re about six years old, so for two years I was a toothless wonder and in that time my tongue became very accustomed to pushing into the missing space. When my teeth finally came in my tongue just couldn’t get enough of them, always pushing itself against them and thus leaving me with a lisp.

My parents put me into speech and language classes and I can’t thank them enough for that. I clearly remember practicing “s” words over and over again and never feeling like it was homework. I’m ever grateful for my speech therapy as without those classes I would still be saying “the thlippery thnake thlid through the grath”.

Plus, I’ve learned never to let my own children do any wumping on the bed.

Nikki Goldman Stroh is the owner of Seasons Family Centre in Toronto and is a registered art therapist. She completed a degree in psychology and a post grad in Art Therapy. She has taken a variety of classes in counselling as well as baking classes. She is the mother to one very busy toddler and spends her days hanging out with other little ones and teaching art/baking classes.

We’d love to hear YOUR speech therapy stories. If you have one to share, please email us at info@speechtherapycentres.com. Visit our website for more information about Speech Therapy Centres of Canada. To book an assessment or for more information, call 905-886-5941.