Video Transcript:

Kelli Floyd:
Hi, my name is Kelli Floyd, and I am a Speech Language Pathologist at Bright Start. And I am so happy to
join you all today and share a little bit more about Bright Start and answer some questions that we’ve
been getting. Before we start, though, I would love, love, love if you guys would look below and like and
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So I am super excited to join you guys today. And you may have caught me and some of our other Bright
Start employees in some videos prior to this. And if you have, I am so glad that you’re coming back and
joining us again. But we actually have asked some questions of you all to see what it is that you want to
know more about. And some of the things that we have gotten are going to be answered in this series of
videos that we are getting started now. So if you have questions and we don’t answer them in these
series, then I would love for you to comment below and let us know what it is you want to hear more
about. Because ultimately that is our purpose, we want to serve our families and serve them well,
answer their questions and provide valuable content to you all.

So without getting any more into that, we’re going to go ahead and get started with some of the first
questions. So something that I actually hear pretty often when I go into homes, something that parents
ask us pretty often on our social media pages. And I’m not alone in this, we have many other therapists
and early interventionists that probably also get this question and it’s, why does my child have a speech
and language delay? Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong? Is there something that I could have done
differently? And the short answer is, no, it’s not your fault. No, you probably couldn’t have prevented it.
And yes, there is some things that you can do about it. So let’s get into that just a little bit more.

So whenever we go into a home and we do an evaluation and we find that the speech and language
seems to be a little delayed. It is, first of all, I want to tell you guys, not a huge deal. Many children have
delays, there is a wide range of what is average and what is normal, especially in the first few years of
life. But the good news about all of that is, that when we can get in there and get in there early, the
window of opportunity and the window for learning is really, really wide. And that just means that kids
make really quick progress whenever we are able to intervene early. And usually we’re able to get
children caught up pretty quickly and get them right on track and developing with their peers. So that’s
the first thing that I want to impart to you. It’s not your fault, it’s not something that you did.

There are plenty of studies and research that’s been done on lots and lots and lots of different cases
where a child had every advantage that they needed, they’ve been talked to since they were little,
they’ve been exposed to lots of different environments, they’ve been exposed to different opportunities
to play and engage and to learn. And for whatever reason, they’re just a little behind in development.
We’ve also done studies with children who haven’t had access to as many opportunities and as many
advantages such as, having parents in the home that are able to talk a lot or that have a higher degree of education. And those children have developed right on time. And so often it’s not anything you did or
didn’t do. It’s just that some kids need a little bit extra. They need a little bit more repetition and they
need a little bit more time. And that’s okay. And that’s why people like me and other early intervention
professionals, that’s why we do what we do. Is so we can come in and really help you with those things.

The second thing that we get a lot is that there’s been a rise in the need for early intervention during
COVID. And while that is true, the second part of that question is, is it because of masking? And so I just
want to debunk that little myth really quickly for you guys. And say that it is not because of masking.
First of all, most of our children who are in childcare and their teacher happens to be masked, are only
in childcare for a part of their day. And the rest of the time, they’re with adults and others who aren’t
masked. And so they get plenty of opportunities to see a person’s mouth, all of their wide range of facial
expressions. And so we don’t believe that being in a classroom with a teacher that is masked is causing
the delay.

They also have peers, typically, in the younger classrooms, the peers are not masked. And so they also
have the opportunity to engage with peers that aren’t masked. And so again, lots and lots of
opportunities. There’s also children who come from a background with a visual impairment, who aren’t
able to see facial expressions, to watch someone’s mouth, who have learned to talk and to develop
language just fine. And so we don’t believe that that’s a huge factor in why children are having more
language delays.

A more likely reason is that they’re just not having as much exposure as maybe they would have pre-
pandemic. They maybe have been home more, they maybe haven’t gotten to have those community experiences that most children get, like going to the parks and going to the grocery store. At least not to
the same level as they would have without the pandemic. And so really, it’s probably a lack of exposure
and not necessarily as a result of having a teacher or a caregiver in their life that is having to be masked.

So I just wanted to hop on here and really briefly just address those first two questions, because those
are the questions that we get the most right now. I hope that you’ll come back and join us for future
videos. We are going to be doing a series on how our therapy is different coming up. And we’re going to
be getting into some various tips. I’m going to be sharing lots of different tips and things you can do in
your home with your child or outside of your home with your child, to help with language development.
Whether your child is delayed or not.

We’re going to be interviewing parents and talking to them about our services and how they work and
how we do goal setting. So lots of really exciting things are coming up. So come back and join us, make
sure you like and subscribe so that you get notifications whenever we put out new content. And be sure
to drop in our comments, anything that you want to know, any questions that you have, anything that
you want to know more about. And we will be sure to put that to our social media team. And hopefully
we’ll be able to bring that content back to you and share it with you. So thank you, I hope you guys have
a fabulous day!