Brian Ray, a senior clinical educator at the Speech-Language-Hearing clinic at Wichita State University, had trouble with speech well into college.

“Other parents would stop us at the grocery store because they thought I was having a seizure when I was trying to talk,” Ray said at the beginning of his speech at the WSU Child Development Center (CDC). “My face would turn red and my fists would be clenched as I tried to say something as simple as ‘Mommy’.”

He initially started college with a chemistry major wanting to become an optometrist. On realizing he was not interested in optometry, he decided to pursue speech development and turn his weakness into his strength.

The WSU CDC hosted an in-service for its staff and local parents to attend.

Jillian Hoefer, director of the CDC, said that the in services are done to make sure that the staff are fully trained to help children.

“That way kids are not falling through the cracks and we are helping them sooner,” Hoefer said. “They have to have 10 hours a year, and we go above and beyond for that.”

There has been a lot of interest in the parents and staff regarding speech development in children. Hoefer said it was fantastic, therefore, that the CDC was able to have Ray speak at the in-service.

Ray’s presentation addressed the various stages of hearing and speech development in children up to five years. It also addressed red flags that parents should watch out for in children and when it was necessary for them to meet with a speech pathologist.

“This is the second one [in-service] I’ve been to. I try to come to them when they have them,” said Sonia Slaba, a parent of a one-year old and a three-year-old. “I think they are informational.”