Introduction

Baked goodness with M&Ms sprinkled on top. That is what my 4-year old eyes were focused on the first day of my speech therapy. I had just been diagnosed with a communication disorder after a pesky ear infection during my language development had made me learn distorted versions of common words. My parents quickly enrolled me in a speech class after this diagnosis seeing as anyone over the age of six could barely understand what I was saying which frustrated both parties. My brother usually ended up being my translator, even when I was asking for simple things like juice or food. It was my first day of “class”, and already I knew what my goal was. Our teacher, Mrs. Bernard, had just explained that each of us would have a chart and that every time we learned something correctly, she would give us a sticker for that day. Our reward when the chart was completely full would be the monster cookie of our choice. At the time I didn’t realize that a completed chart signified the end of our time with her, otherwise I might have prolonged it a little bit because I really enjoyed it. However, I was determined that I would be the one who attained that M&M deliciousness. I always like to joke now that that cookie is the reason I was able to correct my speech in 9 months instead of the 2 years that the doctors had predicted.