The Easter Seal's Summer Speech program for youth may be cut due to lack of funding.
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UPPER PENINSULA -- Last summer, Laine Knueppel noticed her three-year-old son, Hunter, was having trouble speaking.
"He couldn't put together a sentence, he couldn't put together words," explained Knueppel. "He couldn't communicate his needs to me or his dad."
So she enrolled Hunter in the Summer Speech program. After six weeks of therapy, she said he was like a whole new kid.
"To see my child go from not really being able to speak much to being able to tell me things and tell me what he did during the day or tell me what it is he likes or wants," Knueppel said, "it was just amazing to me."
Over the last 15 years, the Easter Seals Summer Speech Program has helped more than 800 U.P. children suffering from speech disorders by providing up to six weeks of therapy sessions. However, that could soon end.
David Aro with Superior Therapy Services in Ishpeming says they've just received word from the Easter Seals' office downstate that funding for the program is being drastically reduced.
"Easter Seals usually gives us $35,000 to run the program," explained Aro, "but due to funding problems, they're only giving us $11,600, which is roughly one-third of our budget."
Aro said they now need to raise close to $16,000 before next month or else instead of offering Summer Speech in seven locations across the U.P., families will have to travel to Marquette for therapy.
"We've already had kids that have signed up for the program," Aro said. "We'll have to contact those parents and let them know that depending on where they're at, there may not be a program."
That means kids like little Hunter will have to look elsewhere for help.
If you'd like to donate to the Summer Speech Program, call Superior Therapy Services at (906) 485-2775.
