Success Stories

The wonderful families we serve are the reason we are in business. Here are some responses from the families we help.

My name is Amy Cotton and I am the proud mother of Madison Cotton. When Madison was about 1.5 years old, my husband and I noticed that our daughter was using more grunts, squeals and a few simple words like Mama and Dada. We were concerned because she was not reaching the normal speech goals for her age. We had her evaluated and found out that she was behind in many areas and potentially had Apraxia of Speech, which can affect many areas beyond speech including motor and long term learning disabilities. Of course we were scared for our child and knew we needed help ASAP. We went through Early Steps Program in Florida who sent us to Aleisha Van Amburg, speech language pathologist. I cannot begin to tell you want a blessing having a great speech therapist was for Madison and to start speech therapy early a great speech therapist was imperative. Aleisha is kind, compassionate and understanding. For a child who is frustrated and for a mom who was really freaked out, these were essential. She walked us through every step of the process and activities for home to work on between appointments. She worked diligently with Madison, always creating new activities that were geared towards Madison’s interests and short attention span. She always had a plan, but was flexible and creative. So when the 1.5 to 3 year old toddler was not interested in the activity, she was resourceful and switched to something else. Madison is stubborn enough that she would avoid activities and Aleisha was smart, persistent, and problem solved her way into getting Madison involved. Aleisha was also a great guide for us when behavioral issues arose and gave us guidelines to help with behavior issues. As you can imagine a 2 year old who cannot tell you what they want can get very upset and frustrated, which creates a lot of epic tantrums. So, having guidance and instructions on how to help before, during and after those tantrums were extremely valuable and helped decrease the tantrums significantly. She was flexible on location and times of appointments at office, school or home depending on schedules.

My husband and I, as parents and physicians, would strongly recommend Aleisha VanAmburg to any family who needs a speech pathologist. Her proactive, compassionate, and persistent approach helped my daughter Madison through a tough transition. Madison is now released from speech therapy without delay in speech and no other diagnoses at 3 years old. “The poster child for early intervention,” as Aleisha calls her. We are so grateful for all Aleisha’s hard work and guidance.
-A. Cotton

Family First Therapy, Inc. has been wonderful in helping our family to better understand our son's autism, and helping him to better communicate with us and his siblings. Thank you!
- A. Peterson, Tampa, FL

We found Family First Therapy about 2 years into our Apraxia journey. Going in to our initial consultation I knew from the first few minutes of speaking with Aleisha and her interaction with our son Onyx that we had found the right therapist. He had 3 previous therapist, all who were not a good fit. Her knowledge of Apraxia and experience was immediately evident. Onyx made progress in the first day or should I say minutes of working with her. Her clinic is so inviting, it is a great environment for learning and you can see she understands that is crucial for great therapy. Onyx used to ask if he could please go to Mrs. Aleisha's House! She is a child whisperer and her staff is fantastic! We got to work with Ms. Katie as well and she was equally excellent. The only downfall to Family First Therapy is that we didn't find it sooner! Absolutely love them!
-Kelly S.