Liam Hamm is a delightful and precocious five year old boy. He lives in Tempe, AZ with his parents, Ron and Katherine Hamm, and his two sisters, Mia and Sarah. Liam’s interests include reading, “peer mentoring”, and assuming the role of his alter ego, Superman.
Liam began attending the Infant Child Research Program (ICRP) at the Arizona State University (ASU) in January 2006; he was two years old at initial placement. He had an initial diagnosis of speech-language delay with deficits in auditory processing and pragmatic language skills. He had tubes placed bilaterally due to ear infections; however, hearing testing showed normal hearing bilaterally. His articulation skills are good to excellent. His receptive and expressive language skills are within normal limits according to the CELF-P: 2.
Liam has been at the ASU ICRP for three years and has made
tremendous progress through both the Toddler Playgroup and the
Preschool Program. His current goals include working on
social-emotional and pragmatic skills as well as pre-literacy skills,
such as writing and reading comprehension. Liam has moved “faster than
a speeding bullet” with his communication and pre-literacy skills. He
has become an excellent communicator and is truly a delightful child.
His personality motivates his preschool team to come to work because of
what he may say next. They are confident that in his future academic
endeavors, he will be “more powerful than a locomotive” and “able to
leap tall buildings”.
Liam is a wonderful testimony of the positive changes that can be wrought in the lives of young children due to early intervention services and collaboration between parents and professionals.
Liam was nominated by Cathy Bacon, M.A., CCC-SLP and Jean Brown, Ph.D., CCC-SLP at Arizona State University.
