Finding his voice: speech therapy support for Henry near Cloncurry

Sam Campbell lives on a cattle station about an hour west of Cloncurry with her husband and three young children.

Sam became concerned about her youngest son Henry when she noticed that his speech had dropped off significantly.

A health check in Mt Isa, when Henry turned one, revealed that he had very waxy ears. But practitioners were wary about flushing them, saying he was too young.

“Henry was almost mute and when he did say something he was quite loud,” says Sam.

“Words that he was saying frequently before, like mum and dad, he wasn’t saying anymore.”

After much lobbying, Sam finally found a doctor who agreed to flush Henry’s ears.

“The day after we had his ears cleaned out, he was a completely different kid. He was already trying to copy the words that we were saying, and we just saw a visible improvement straight away,” beams Sam.

At about the same time, Sam connected with the Outback Futures’ team during a Cloncurry community visit.

A speech pathologist assessed Henry and determined that his speech and language development had been impacted from having clogged ears.

“We started consulting with the speech therapist both in person and via telehealth to try and help Henry catch up and reach his milestones,” says Sam.

Sam and her husband were given a range of simple exercises including flashcards, nursery rhymes and repetitive songs to help Henry make up for lost time.

“Early intervention is key because in just three months of doing therapy exercises, we saw a significant improvement in his speech.”

Prior to connecting with Outback Futures, Sam says she was lost in terms of where to find help.

“I was very frustrated as I didn’t know what services there were for people like us, living on stations,” says Sam.

“It’s really good to be able to have a rural and remote team, like Outback Futures, that come out and service families on stations, so we don’t have to keep driving hundreds of kilometres to town to access these services.”

Thanks to a long-term funding commitment from Morgans’ Big Dry Friday, Outback Futures is helping make a lifetime of difference for families in the Cloncurry Shire.