Kids with CHALLENGES become CHAMPIONS!

We love hearing feedback about your child’s experience at the Kaufman Children’s Center and updates on their progress after they’ve left! Please use the button at right to submit your success stories.

Please note: All success stories are appreciated but given freely by parents without solicitation. Submissions may be edited for length and to remove any personal identifying information.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Click HERE to tell us about your experience at the Kaufman Children's Center.

Maggie, Macie & Nathan’s Story

Alison shares the amazing success stories of her kids Maggie, Macie and Nathan

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Antoine’s Story

The Mallards traveled to the KCC from from Switzerland to work with Nancy

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Jessica’s Story

Now a young adult, Jessica remembers working with Nancy Kaufman as a child

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Elizabeth’s Story

Hear about Elizabeth's many visits to the KCC from her mom, Gretchen

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Rebecca (Georgia)

I don't even have words to describe what you have meant to our family, especially Sanders and me.  You have made me a better person and mom. Because of you and your staff, Sanders is able to communicate with us verbally what he needs, wants, and feels. Ironically, I can't find the words that can express our gratitude to you. It is very scary for me to think about being at home without the support of your staff.  But, you all have prepared me to help Sanders continue to improve.  Your staff has also helped make this journey easy!  Everyone is excellent. You all have become my family up here - I look forward to seeing everyone each day!! The support they have given me from day one is so much appreciated.  You are very fortunate to have such a dedicated, friendly, and professional staff.  At first, I  felt like you all were giving Sanders and me special treatment, but I soon realized you treat everyone equally and make everyone feel the same way as I do.  The Kaufman Center is one of a kind and Michigan is a better place because of it. Your willingness and commitment to see Sanders over the last 100+ days has truly made a difference now and for his future.

Carrie

We had a truly wonderful experience with Nancy the last several days.  Words cannot express how blessed we feel to have had the opportunity to work with her.  We feel a sense of hope now that we didn’t have before.  Nancy is amazing.

Dixie & Mark (New York)

Our daughter was diagnosed by Nancy with severe apraxia the first part of April. Since then our speech-language pathologists have worked with Nancy’s cards and it is just beautiful what Gretchen is saying. There are now sentences, along with phrases. I just wanted to let you know how wonderful you are and we appreciate you.

Rachelle & Michael (Virginia)

We wanted to thank you for spending the time with us last week to help our little girl. We saw her say so many words with you that we have never seen. In this journey of being Maleia's parents, we have hit so many "deadlines" and we appreciate when our providers open our eyes again and can give us hope. Since last week, we have seen Maleia use so many more sounds and even use them spontaneously! We can tell that she genuinely wants to communicate with us (and the world) and is trying to speak more and more. You have reminded us to set the bar high for her and we will work hard to implement your KSLP with our team and at home. We are thankful for your expertise and your heart to care for families like ours and special children like Maleia. Thank you for giving them a voice!

Melanie & John (Michigan)

Thank you so much for helping our son. People can’t believe we drive that far, but our reaction is always, “She’s worth it.” We are so very grateful to Ms. Nancy Kaufman, who showed us the way when others failed.

Amber (California)

Three years ago we flew from San Diego to Michigan for our son Cason to work with you. He was 26 months old at the time. He only had a few words approximations. After seeing you, we took back the info to his SLPs and also worked with him at home. For the next 2.5 years, he had private speech 3 days a week focused on the K-SLP and early intervention/public school speech twice a week. We also moved to Charleston in December of 2014 (military). Our new speech office evaluated him, and we determined his was age appropriate across the board. He graduated from speech! I still think of you often and how our lives were blessed by you and the method you developed for working with children that have apraxia.

Mary (South Carolina)

I can’t thank you enough for spending time with Porter and helping him (and me) with his speech. You really helped us a lot and I have seen many changes in the last few weeks. We have been working very hard on the verb cards and the Kaufman cards and it is amazing how much better (and faster) he is naming the words. His spontaneous speech in general has improved a great deal! It is very exciting! I can’t thank you enough for all of your help and insight.

Jennifer (New York)

We were so excited to get started on the new path that we were to take with Christopher. Just knowing all of the little signs to look for regarding his sensory needs and how to handle them was such a gift. Thank you a hundred times over for your help. He is getting better and better every day. I cannot thank you enough for your knowledge and commitment to your profession. I'm looking forward to a follow-up visit so you can see the strides. Your staff was so kind in what can be a difficult time for any family. I know it was very hard for me to walk in those doors for the first time. It is always nice to see a friendly face when you’re scared.

Angela (Michigan)

Less than six months ago, my husband and I came to see you for an evaluation on our 2½ -year-old daughter, Julia. She was only able to say single words and only a few two-words phrases. Not only did you recommend to us that we start speech services with KCC but you also recommended that we have Julia evaluated for OT. We began speech and OT services through Albiona and Jeanette. The progress that she has made is unbelievable. Within 3-4 months of speech, Julia was stringing 4-5 words together and communicating all her basic needs with us. As you know, there were many other benefits to her finding her voice and being able to communicate with us at home. She has also made tremendous progress through her OT services. I am so thankful that you brought something to our attention that previously went unnoticed. I also can't say enough about both Jeanette and Albiona. The care and patience they have exhibited while working with Julia is heartwarming. Their expertise in their fields is extremely apparent in each session.

Becky (Alaska)

We have experienced ongoing excellent service from KCC over the past year. My son has severe CAS and made very little progress with speech before we visited Nancy and her amazing staff last summer. We attended a one-week intensive session, including speech and occupational therapy. Nancy and Amy did thorough evaluations and sent us home with detailed recommendations for how to continue his therapies. I was able to consult with Nancy as we updated his IEP for kindergarten. About six months later, we returned to KCC for a two-week session. My son's progress using Nancy's methods has been nothing short of astounding. Building on the skills he gained during the fall, she taught us how to script his sentences to help him communicate clearly and effectively. As a parent, I loved being actively included in his therapy and getting practical suggestions for supporting his communication in everyday settings. My son can now say his name clearly and can use simple sentences to communicate his needs and thoughts. He is able to tell me about his school day for the first time in 2½ years of school. For the first time, I feel as though he will be able to develop normal speech. Nancy taught us how to push him to the best of his ability so that he can reach his goals and live a more typical kid life. Nancy and her staff were caring, smart, and flexible. I should mention that we traveled over 4 time zones to attend KCC…TWICE! Both trips were absolutely worth the expense and hassle. I will always be grateful to Nancy and KCC for helping my little guy unlock his voice.

Luise (Canada)

The program was everything I was hoping for. You are truly incredible at what you do. I watched Josie’s speech grow every day and her self-confidence soar. She would wake up every morning in West Bloomfield and ask if she could go to her class. She is still talking about the class and singing the songs every day. The skills that I learned in that one month are invaluable. These skills will enable me to support Josie's new speech goals on a daily basis, which is going to be the key for her to succeed. Thanks for supporting our journey and motivating us to dream bigger.

Jill (Wisconsin)

Our time with Nancy was so beneficial. I left feeling like we had hope for our son's progress. I felt empowered and recharged to help him at home. He began progressing immediately, and I know he felt more confidant after working with her. She pushed him to grow more in that week than he had in many many months prior. He has even asked to come back to see her. Our school SLP felt that the video-taped lessons were extremely helpful as well. I want Nancy to know how much our conversations meant, and how inspiring she is.

Justin (Ohio)

Had an evaluation for CAS with Nancy today. She is an angel sent from heaven. Nothing better than seeing someone who has given their life's work to something do what they do best and help your kid. Before today I was afraid to hope. Today, hope returned.

Scott & Tessa

I have a 3.5-year-old boy named Reid that was just evaluated for speech therapy by Albiona yesterday. This was our first time to your facility and I just wanted to tell you how impressed we were. Albiona could not have been more lovely to speak with and watch interact with Reid. She pulled things out of him that we didn't know were there. It was simply magically watching her work with him, and it was just an evaluation! We absolutely know this is the right place for Reid and couldn't be more thankful for the service you and your team provide. Speech is something we have always taken for granted. Our other three children had no issues speaking. The struggle with Reid's speech has been something so new and foreign to us. We've felt lost and hopeless at times. We knew he needed more help than we could provide and we're so thankful to have been pointed in your direction. Again, it was just so incredible watching Albiona work with him. I just wanted to thank you for your service and let you know how excited we were to get Reid going in therapy.

Michelle

I hope you know how many lives you have touched. Thank you for all you have done for Jake, our family and the lives of so many others.

Deanna (Kentucky)

You gave us the most wonderful gift this summer and we are still relishing in our new vocal Jamesy Boy! A whole new world has been opened up for him. James shares with us his desires, his thoughts, his frustrations and we are so so pleased. His confidence is so high, too! Being with the other boys at SPEAK opened up a whole new social world for James and he is playing with friends in a new, more appropriate and social way, too! Our HeadStart speech therapist has watched every minute of your DVD with James. She is Kaufman obsessed! In fact, she has asked that she be able to travel with me when I bring James back to you for a 4-day intensive, just so she can watch you with him. You have given James the gift of gab, but also have given him some credibility! Based on the fact that we came to see you (before we even received your report), his school immediately agreed to DOUBLE his speech and OT. Wow!!

Margo

Words cannot express how much we appreciate all that you did for Rebekah. You have given her a new hope and confidence. You have a very special gift and have blessed our family. We are forever grateful.

Rhonda

When Brian was 2 and not talking, I began to get a little concerned. When he was 2½ and still not talking, our pediatrician suggested having an evaluation done, after which we were told to wait 6 more months because of his age. We had another evaluation done elsewhere and were referred to the Kaufman Children's Center. After being evaluated and diagnosed with ``verbal apraxia`` he began therapy. It has been less than a year and Brian has gone from being totally non-verbal to speaking in sentences. I cannot thank Nancy Kaufman and the Kaufman Children's Center enough...they have given my son the gift of speech.

Lindsey (Illinois)

I was not sure what to expect when I walked into the Kaufman Center this August for SPEAK camp with my son but all I knew is that we would at least be pointed in the right direction. The staff was friendly, welcoming and the building was warm and inviting. We left that week with a new understanding of speech therapy and hope to continue Nancy's practice at home and in our area. Thank you all for your help and understanding.

Fred's Mom

Our son was diagnosed with apraxia (motor speech problems) at three years old. We tried local speech therapists for a year with minimal success. Fred turned 4 and still communicated by pointing and making noises. We heard about the Kaufman Children's Center and started making the drive (1½ hours each way) once a week. Within five months, Fred started speaking spontaneously and by nine months Nancy determined that he no longer had a motor speech problem and could work on his grammar problems locally. All speech therapists are not the same. Most don't seem to know how to handle apraxia in kids because it is relatively rare. This is definitely the place to come to get your child talking! We think the progress we have made here is miraculous.

Juliette (New York)

Nancy Kaufman WOW…she was great! She is a very talented person who really knows how to connect and tap in to a child. I was amazed and just wanted to pass this along to the group, if you are in need of help with apraxia, I view her as the “Apraxia Queen.” We traveled from New York and it was very worthwhile. She gave Logan a book of songs, and on the way home he opened it up and turned to three different pages with three different songs then read and sang them, it was a “Wow!”

Debi

Thank you so much for teaching us how to give Andrew a voice. I learned so much during his intensive therapy. You truly have a gift for working with children. It was amazing even during Andrew’s evaluation, it was the first time we heard his voice. I could only imagine how well he would progress if he was a full-time patient. I hope your local parents know how fortunate they are to have such an amazing children’s group locally. Thank you again for all the knowledge!

Jody (Michigan)

Our experience with the Kaufman Children’s Center has been tremendous!! We would not be where we are today, without all of your hard work, dedication, and compassion for all these incredible children. Thank you all for making such a positive difference in our lives!

Devon (Illinois)

Nancy, they might call you a CAS expert, and that is absolutely accurate, but you are also a fairy godmother disguised as an SLP. Thank you for the attention, patience, and love you showed Jake during our time with you. Our week at the Kaufman Center was life changing. We will forever be indebted to you and your knowledge. And we will be back soon!

Cynthia (Michigan)

Ruth and Jeanette have made a very deep connection with our son, Christian and deserve the highest praise & gratitude. No surprise to you, but they are incredible people who LOVE what they do or my son would see right through them. It isn't just that Christian is speaking more and more clearly or that his confidence level has sky rocketed since working with them; it's that he talks about them every day and doesn't realize that what he's learning with them is hard work - that takes a unique individual with innate skill sets; skills simply that can't be taught. We thank you for your leadership as obviously you have a keen sense of who these educators must be in order to effectively partner with our children. We know we have a long way to go yet, but it's apparent that Christian will meet and exceed his milestones because we have the right team in Ruth & Jeanette.