Building friendships is an important part of learning in the Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Program.

Paul and Jacob (pictured above) come together for speech and language therapy sessions once a week at the Pasadena, California, Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disorders Center. They have become fast friends and often enter the therapy room hand-in-hand. Their families occasionally meet up for the children to play. They even went "trick-or-treating" together this last Halloween.

The small group therapy sessions give these two boys an opportunity to learn how to take turns, how to initiate conversations with other children, and how to respond to their peers. All of these skills are essential for kindergarten readiness. In fact, Paul's mother said, "Paul's language abilities have developed measurably since coming to the Scottish Rite Language Center. The program has given him the tools to assist him to be understood by those he comes into daily contact with and to participate in a more meaningful manner during group discussions at preschool."

Paul and Jacob have both been coming to therapy for over one a one-half years. Both have made remarkable progress in their ability to make clear speech sounds and to use grammatically correct sentences. They are now learning to understand concepts and complex questions needed for school success. One sign of their progress is their emerging sense of humor. Jokes and laughter are now a regular part of their interactions. Paul and Jacob will be well prepared to enter kindergarten thanks to the help they've received from the Pasadena Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center.