Latest / Becoming Parents Podcast / Parenting as a Boy Mom, Children’s Speech Therapist in Orange County with Jessie Kensey - S7 E87

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Parenting as a Boy Mom, Children’s Speech Therapist in Orange County with Jessie Kensey - S7 E87 · Becoming Parents Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Becoming Parents podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host Jennifer Campbell, mom of 18 and executive director
• 0:05
  of the Doula Co-op of Nevada. With more than 15 years in birth
• 0:08
  work, I've had the privilege of walking beside families through
• 0:11
  life's transitions. My work centers on connection,
• 0:14
  community, and amplifying voices that too often go unheard.
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  Each of these episodes is an honest conversation about the
• 0:20
  messy, beautiful, and transformative experiences that
• 0:23
  shape us as parents and as people.
• 0:25
  I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the incredible
• 0:28
  guests who show up with and authenticity to share their
• 0:31
  stories with us. Let's dive right in.
• 0:34
  Welcome to becoming parents. Today I have with me Jesse
• 0:37
  Kenzie. How are you today?
• 0:39
  I'm doing well. I'm excited to be here.
• 0:41
  I'm excited to have you here because any, I think we always
• 0:45
  look for like common denominators, right?
• 0:47
  And I have a common denominator with you that I'm really excited
• 0:50
  for you to talk about. But I want you to go ahead and
• 0:53
  jump into your parenting journey.
• 0:55
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I have a one year old and a
• 0:59
  three-year old right now, and we're definitely just in the
• 1:03
  thick of crazy toddler parenting world, which I love, and it's
• 1:08
  great and it's exhausting and it's beautiful all at the same
• 1:12
  time. Yeah.
• 1:15
  To start from the beginning, I guess my husband and I, my
• 1:21
  husband and I actually met in our undergrad in college.
• 1:25
  He proposed on the 10 year anniversary of the day we met.
• 1:29
  We had not been dating that whole time, but we had kind of
• 1:31
  on and off. We've done long distance.
• 1:34
  We've been friends for a while. Anyway, definitely one of those
• 1:39
  situations where we got married and I was like, we're going to
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  have a baby right away. I was so ready.
• 1:44
  I was so excited. I've always worked with kids.
• 1:48
  I was a high school teacher, then I became a speech
• 1:50
  therapist, and I continued to work with children.
• 1:55
  I knew babies were in my future. And it definitely didn't happen
• 1:58
  right away. It took about two years and
• 2:02
  right as we were going to the doctor to be like, hey, what's
• 2:05
  going on? We got pregnant.
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  So I know we were super blessed and super fortunate because I
• 2:10
  know that there are so many different journeys, but there
• 2:12
  was definitely a lot of waiting and a lot of wondering like, OK,
• 2:16
  what's going on here? And then we had my son, my
• 2:21
  oldest, so he just turned 3 and it kind of shifted everything,
• 2:26
  which I know everyone says that all the time, right?
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  I was working in a school district as a speech language
• 2:33
  pathologist. I loved my job.
• 2:35
  I love the team I was working with, but I really quickly
• 2:38
  realized that was not going to be what I was wanting at that
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  moment. And so on my maternity leave, I
• 2:47
  basically started my entire private practice.
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  And now three years later, I absolutely love it.
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  We've grown, I have a team and we do a mix of therapy in Orange
• 3:01
  County, California, where I live.
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  And then I also do some parent coaching and consultations and
• 3:06
  workshops and stuff. So I can kind of get all this
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  information out there that I'm living and breathing because I
• 3:14
  have toddlers at home and babies.
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  And I also, we work primarily with babies and toddlers and
• 3:19
  early intervention services. And it's, it's been a whirlwind
• 3:24
  and it's been crazy, but it's been really exciting.
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  How was your, I mean, first of all, did you question postpartum
• 3:31
  hormones on making this decision?
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  Because that's a, that's a huge decision, a job that you love,
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  where you're working to starting your own business.
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  I mean, I can, I think a lot of people have a baby.
• 3:42
  They're like, we want this, this is going to be great and they
• 3:44
  have it. And you're like, wow, lots of
• 3:47
  lots of stuff is going to be changing now.
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  That's normal. But like you, you left your job
• 3:52
  and started your own business in the thick of postpartum.
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  How scary was that? How crazy did you think you were
• 4:01
  like your time? I'm like, great timing.
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  Like let's throw a new business into the mix.
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  And what was that like for your postpartum journey?
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  Yeah, in hindsight, I probably made my postpartum journey a
• 4:13
  little bit more stressful than it could have been.
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  I don't regret it at all. I feel like it was absolutely
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  the right move. And I'm, I'm someone that tends
• 4:26
  to always be doing something anyway.
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  And so it really gave me like this, you know, I had this
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  little newborn baby that is so beautiful and so amazing.
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  And also my business really gave me this extra purpose.
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  So I, yeah, it was a really exciting time.
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  I would, I mean, it was definitely a little exhausting.
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  You know, I'd get the baby to nap and then I'd work it.
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  I had always planned on starting my own company at some point.
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  That was, it wasn't like completely out of the blue.
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  I knew that that was my like, end goal.
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  I don't think I knew that it was going to happen at that time.
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  It was just, as, you know, I was getting ready to have my son.
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  And then when he was born, it was like, OK, you know what?
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  Now's the time. Like let's dive in because I
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  want to create this life that I'm really wanting where I can
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  have, you know, I can really be super present with my, my son
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  and I can also build this company that I'm just super
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  excited about and super passionate about.
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  And it so it, it definitely was a whirlwind.
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  It definitely caused some times when you know, everyone's like
• 5:32
  sleep when the baby sleeps and I'm like, well, OK, cool.
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  But I'm also starting this business, so I'm going to work
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  on that too. So it definitely was a a crazy
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  time to do this, but I also feel like maternity leave gave me a
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  little bit of a backup almost plan.
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  Like I was able to do this on my maternity leave, which again, I
• 5:54
  don't know that I would recommend for everyone, but I
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  was able to kind of do this while I already knew I was going
• 5:59
  to be off work. So I didn't have to like quit a
• 6:02
  job to start a company and just like hope for the best.
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  I did have a couple months of my maternity leave to like start it
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  and, and give myself time to kind of say, hey, like, let's
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  just see if I can make this work.
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  Like, let's just see what happens.
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  And so it, it was a crazy time to do it.
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  And also it was able to take a little bit of that pressure off
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  because I was able to start a little slower and just see where
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  it took me. And then obviously as the
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  company grew, that just validated like, Hey, this is
• 6:33
  this is the right step. You mentioned that you do, I'm,
• 6:38
  I'm calling it infant learning. That's not what you said.
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  But like you do preventive. So I had a son who's 23 now and
• 6:47
  he was born six weeks premature. And so at five months old, that
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  was the earliest you could get them into the infant learning
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  program. Is that kind of what you're
• 6:54
  talking about? So, so yes, we see children in
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  that early intervention setting. There are like early
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  intervention teachers and, and, and basically if through
• 7:06
  evaluations and through like talking to your pediatrician, it
• 7:10
  looks like they have some situation language needs, then
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  yes, we would see them as like the youngest.
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  We tend to see kiddos is about like 1 1/2.
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  If you know they're not quite talking or if they're not really
• 7:22
  understanding what you're saying, then we can kind of come
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  in and start just supporting them, you know, early too.
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  Yeah, but it was crazy because like I didn't understand it.
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  I did it. I got like I got on the list and
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  I got in and they came to the house because anything that can
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  bridge the gap if there's a gap there, cuz at five months on my
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  flight, yes. Is he sitting up on time or
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  rolling over on time or is he starting to crawl or all of
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  those things? But they were specifically doing
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  like a preventative medicine program knowing I guess with
• 7:54
  premature babies that the risk is higher.
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  It was the coolest thing ever. And he did have speech problems
• 8:00
  his entire life and it affected, it's affected his entire life.
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  So that's really, I think that that's really interesting that
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  you the things you don't know until you're exposed to them.
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  I would have never even known to ask.
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  Is there any infant learning programs for my baby in case
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  there's a gap, You know, it was you have to be told, hey,
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  there's this program that you qualify for because of the
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  prematurity. Just interesting stuff.
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  What was it like going through the 2nd pregnancy?
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  And if you have a three-year old and one year old, you're like
• 8:29
  due to be pregnant and you have only boys.
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  So I have. Only boys, yes.
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  So, yeah, one year old and three-year old.
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  I will say it's funny, I tend to make big career shifts when I
• 8:44
  have babies because, and my mom pointed that out to me.
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  So when I was pregnant with my second son, I, we started
• 8:51
  leasing our first office space. Before that, we had only done in
• 8:54
  home therapy. Now we have like a brick and
• 8:56
  mortar office. And then we also still do in
• 8:59
  home therapy. So that was my big, my big
• 9:03
  change that came with having my second son.
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  I don't know why I apparently my hormones just tell me like make
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  some big black choice. I don't know.
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  It definitely is crazy, but it's been it's been good I2 boys.
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  I think we're done. I'm not 1000% sure, but I think
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  we're done. I don't have the easiest
• 9:24
  pregnancies. Lots and lots of morning
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  sickness, high blood pressure, all that fun stuff that comes
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  with babies. So I'm kind of honestly at this
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  point, I'm kind of a little excited at this moment to not be
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  pregnant again right away. My last one, I definitely went
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  from baby to nursing and I was nursing when I got pregnant.
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  And, and so now I'm like, oh, OK, I get to like take a little
• 9:46
  breath. So we're gonna, we're gonna give
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  it a few years before we before we decided anything.
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  No rush. I just saw the there's the
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  pattern, you know, the natural child spacing pattern is like 2
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  years and you did that. And so you would be due for that
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  if that's what you're gonna do. But yeah, absolutely.
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  I always think it'd be cool. Like back back in the day before
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  social media, you know, you didn't talk about like a girl
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  mom or a boy mom. And boy moms are definitely, I
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  guess, a bigger deal 'cause it's the opposite gender, but and
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  they're toddlers. So what's it like to have two
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  crazy boy toddlers? Did you think this is what it
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  would be like? No, I have no idea.
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  I grew up. I grew up with sisters.
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  Boys are it's it's fun to watch. It's so fun to watch.
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  They are they're crazy and their their energy just never stops
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  and they're like everything is something for them to jump off
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  of or climb. And so I feel like my whole day
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  is just like keeping them alive. But but it's been really fun and
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  especially as my one year old, you know, has has gotten a
• 10:53
  little bit older and is walking and starting to talk and it's so
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  fun to watch them interact with each other now and they get to
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  like be little buddies. And my, my 3 year old is
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  constantly if he wants to do something and he thinks I'm
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  going to say no, now he goes to the baby and he's like, he's
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  like Langston, Langston. Want to watch a show, want to
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  watch the show, you know, like trying to get him on board.
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  And it's just like little view. I feel like into the future when
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  they are like trying to gang up, you know, like bond with each
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  other and gang up on mom or dad, like they're my 3 year old gets
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  it. And he's already practicing.
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  And so it's been really fun to watch And it's it's definitely
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  been keeping me on my toes. I had never been around girls.
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  I had one sister, but there wasn't like a grandpa or an
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  uncle or brothers or like there weren't a lot of just men in my
• 11:44
  family growing up. And I remember I had girls and
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  then I had my first son. I'm like, they pee on you.
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  Not like who? Why don't people talk about that
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  more? I had no idea.
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  And I thought I am going to raise sensitive men.
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  Maybe I did, I don't know. But, you know, trucks and dolls
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  for boys and girls. And I remember my first son put
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  the doll in the dumps truck, ran the doll into the wall, fell and
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  needed stitches on his head. And I was like, yeah, I'm not.
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  I'm going to do my best here. Like I it isn't the way I
• 12:14
  thought it would be at all, boys.
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  And they were so much more work when they were little than the
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  girls, But I thought they were easier as they got older.
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  So hopefully that's the case for you.
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  So you, you had the job, you started a new business, you
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  change into leasing. How did having kids change you
• 12:35
  as a speech pathologist? Because you were doing this
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  before with kids, but how did that change your practice and
• 12:42
  how you showed up for your own business?
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  Yeah, I feel like it's so helpful for me to be in the
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  exact same stage of life right now as so many of the families
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  that I work with because we do so much early intervention.
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  We're going into families homes all the time.
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  I'm getting right in the middle of their toddler chaos and
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  they're kind of in that really same position.
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  They have two girls, they have 3 year olds and they have maybe a
• 13:07
  new sibling or they have older siblings.
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  And so you're coming into this environment and I think
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  sometimes families are really nervous like, oh, they're,
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  they're going to, they're going to judge me.
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  Like I, what if I didn't do my speech homework?
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  Or you know what, if I they come in and the house is messy and
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  it's really nice for me to me to be able to come in and just be
• 13:26
  like, goodness gracious, I get it.
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  Like there is no, there's no judgement here.
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  I left like a tantruming toddler to come here and your toddler
• 13:36
  tantruming like we are like right on the same page.
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  So that's been really helpful. And I think seeing my own kiddos
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  and even like, I, I'll say this, even with like having my second,
• 13:48
  watching their language grow and change and, and how they learn
• 13:53
  language differently. And you know, with me, I have,
• 13:57
  you know, they both have a speech pathologist as a mom, I'm
• 14:00
  doing pretty much the same things, but they're both really
• 14:03
  picked up language differently and like pulled out different.
• 14:07
  Like I always use baby signs. I've always kind of talk really
• 14:12
  similarly to them, but they've all kind of picked up different
• 14:15
  things in different ways. So it's fun to see that and I
• 14:18
  feel like that's really helpful when I engage with families
• 14:20
  because I can stay like, hey, look, maybe your kiddos not
• 14:23
  learning this way, but like I can see them learning this other
• 14:25
  way. And so we get to pull on those
• 14:29
  strings that I think before I became a mom, it might have just
• 14:32
  been harder for me to catch. And I'm not going to lie, it's
• 14:36
  way easier for me to give like examples as I'm giving a test or
• 14:40
  give realistic strategies to parents because I'm just living
• 14:45
  it every day and it's a lot easier for me to come up with
• 14:47
  them. Yeah, I was going to ask you
• 14:50
  about sign. I used sign with all of my kids.
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  They signed before they spoke and I did it one to communicate
• 14:57
  earlier with them. But also I felt like when I was
• 14:59
  in public, if I needed to and I only knew like 50 signs, but I
• 15:05
  felt like in public if I needed to share something with them, I
• 15:09
  could do it in sign and almost no one else is gonna know what
• 15:12
  I'm saying or even notice that you do it.
• 15:15
  But I remember being like sit, you know, like sitting down and
• 15:21
  whatever and telling them please be quiet or thank you or
• 15:25
  whatever. Just basically one or two word
• 15:28
  commands because they pick it up super fast.
• 15:30
  How helpful is that with speech? Yeah, so I, I really encourage
• 15:36
  those, those, you know, baby signs and it's definitely not
• 15:39
  ASL. This is like that condensed kind
• 15:42
  of baby version. ASL is such a beautiful language
• 15:45
  in its own way and, and way more complex than what I'm saying
• 15:49
  here. But I think like 5 to 10 signs
• 15:53
  even can really, really be helpful.
• 15:56
  So, you know, functional language more all done eat milk.
• 16:01
  Having those words and having those signs really gives your
• 16:07
  baby an ability to communicate with you before they're ready to
• 16:11
  talk. And so I always like to say it's
• 16:13
  kind of like bridging that gap, right?
• 16:14
  Like they're not ready to talk yet, but their motor skills are
• 16:19
  developed and are are able to kind of do those signs earlier
• 16:22
  than they're able to start saying words.
• 16:24
  And so you're just kind of you're able to tap into that
• 16:29
  communication earlier than you would be able to if you're
• 16:33
  waiting for them to talk. And that can reduce that
• 16:35
  frustration. It can reduce some of those
• 16:37
  tantrums and it also shows them, hey, I can communicate.
• 16:43
  This is really meaningful to me and and it can help kind of
• 16:47
  bridge that gap to starting to talk.
• 16:50
  More. You're going to get more all the
• 16:51
  time. That one.
• 16:52
  Oh yeah. All the time More.
• 16:54
  The sign for Cookie? It's the universe.
• 16:56
  Cookie. With sugar.
• 16:58
  Yep, absolutely. I love that and I get it.
• 17:01
  I think when you, you can be great at your job no matter what
• 17:05
  it is. But once you have the lived
• 17:07
  experience, I think it, I don't think it's possible to not
• 17:10
  change it and make you better or more compassionate or more
• 17:13
  empathetic. Can you only serve people in
• 17:17
  California in Orange County? So, so yes, when it comes to
• 17:22
  speech therapy, we, we are only licensed to work in California.
• 17:26
  Technically we can see clients virtually, but our caseload's
• 17:29
  pretty full with in person. And I really love like if I'm
• 17:32
  going to work with your toddler, I want to like sit on the floor
• 17:34
  with them and play with them. So we, we don't do a lot of
• 17:37
  virtual, it's very rare. That's why though, especially as
• 17:42
  I've continued working, that's why I've started doing parent
• 17:45
  consultations and doing some, you know, free and some paid
• 17:48
  workshops, things where I can share a lot of these strategies
• 17:51
  with parents that I know work so well.
• 17:54
  And I can share those strategies and consult with you anywhere in
• 17:57
  the US, which is which is nice. Is that the parent coaching?
• 18:01
  I'm looking at the website. I'm scientist talking to you.
• 18:04
  Well, like in real. Time, yes, so you can therapies
• 18:08
  just in California, specifically Orange County where we're
• 18:11
  located and then parent coaching, parent consultations
• 18:15
  that can be anywhere. That's awesome.
• 18:18
  I want to talk about how much speech effects kids long term
• 18:21
  because this is something that I've noticed and how like I
• 18:25
  wouldn't have thought early on that speech links to so many
• 18:31
  other things. And I think just like with
• 18:32
  toddler talk, you know, like I've had a parent with a toddler
• 18:38
  come, the toddler says something and they're like, I'm sorry, I'm
• 18:41
  like, no, I speak toddler 'cause you it's like a own language,
• 18:45
  right? I don't, I think I'm semi
• 18:47
  proficient at this point. But you become proficient in
• 18:50
  toddlers speak and in what they want and in their inflection.
• 18:54
  Like I remember my daughter used to say Chichos and it was she
• 18:57
  wanted a bowl of Cheerios. That was not even that far.
• 19:02
  There have been so many times I can think of where the child is
• 19:05
  saying something, really trying to get the point across.
• 19:09
  One of my kids used to say unkada and like I would, I
• 19:13
  remember being at the dishwasher and like I've I've got to figure
• 19:17
  out what he's trying to say. It was Uncle Joel.
• 19:20
  I mean, like, though toddlers have their own way of speaking,
• 19:25
  any way that you kind of you get proficient in how your child
• 19:28
  communicates 'cause you're with them so much and some things
• 19:33
  they should grow out of. And if they don't, like, I
• 19:36
  didn't think about how much speech would affect reading, for
• 19:39
  example. But if you can't phonetically
• 19:42
  sound things out in speech, it makes reading.
• 19:44
  So can you go through and talk about when speech is a little
• 19:48
  off? How many more things because my
• 19:52
  son that was born premature had an IEP until he graduated high
• 19:55
  school. He's 23 now and I just had no
• 19:59
  idea. Even with being proactive
• 20:01
  advocate for my son and having him in programs, I had no idea
• 20:05
  how much it would impact his wife that he just couldn't say
• 20:08
  words perfectly like other people.
• 20:11
  Yeah, and that's it's why, I mean, I feel like that's my
• 20:15
  soapbox moment, but it's why I'm such a big proponent of early
• 20:19
  intervention services of starting speech early.
• 20:23
  If you're, if you have a concern, if you have that gut
• 20:25
  feeling like, you know, maybe I'm missing something or like,
• 20:27
  you know what, I just have these little concerns and definitely
• 20:31
  act on them and get some support.
• 20:33
  Because yes, language delays early on it, it really, it's, so
• 20:42
  it really depends on the child, but it, it can, language delays
• 20:45
  can cause issues with literacy. It can definitely 'cause you
• 20:49
  know, social challenges if you're struggling to talk and
• 20:54
  communicate. And yes, if your little 1 is
• 21:00
  like struggling to say words, you can kind of like see that
• 21:04
  progression. So if they aren't quite talking
• 21:06
  yet and they're a little late to start talking, sometimes what
• 21:09
  I'll notice will come next is they do start talking, but it's
• 21:12
  still pretty tough to understand them.
• 21:14
  They haven't quite been able to say those like kind of what we
• 21:16
  would assume are age appropriate sounds at the time.
• 21:20
  And then that can trickle into, okay, now we need to start, you
• 21:23
  know, we're playing with our peers because we're getting
• 21:25
  older and our friends can't understand us very well.
• 21:29
  And then, okay, now I need to start reading.
• 21:31
  But my words in my head sound different than what the teacher
• 21:34
  saying the words are. And so it definitely can kind of
• 21:37
  keep trickling, which is was just challenging.
• 21:41
  So I always recommend early intervention as much as
• 21:44
  possible. Learn the strategies like it
• 21:46
  sounds like you did as a parent to help support.
• 21:48
  And then obviously there's, there's really are great
• 21:51
  resources like Ieps and things like that to kind of step in and
• 21:54
  help as your child gets older if they, you know, if they need
• 21:57
  them. Yeah, it was crazy because you
• 22:00
  think about like first reading and then everything reading
• 22:03
  touches, which can be math because they have math problems.
• 22:06
  I mean it was crazy to me the domino effect that speech had on
• 22:12
  so much in life and and how important that is.
• 22:14
  I just saw on your website that you have a sign language course
• 22:17
  people can get and you have the Young Talker Academy which is an
• 22:22
  8 week program. Is that also virtual?
• 22:25
  Yes, they're both virtual. So the baby science course is
• 22:28
  really just something that if you're interested in sign, you
• 22:31
  want a little more support, that's just like you can buy it.
• 22:33
  You can go through all the videos I walk you through like
• 22:36
  my nine favorite signs that you can start using right away.
• 22:40
  So that course is just kind of out there floating.
• 22:42
  The Young Talker Academy is an 8 week course for parents and that
• 22:46
  one is really geared toward if you have a toddler who is a late
• 22:51
  talker, you know who you definitely have some concerns.
• 22:54
  Maybe they're 18 months and they don't have any words or they're
• 22:57
  getting close to 2 and they, they don't have, you know, they
• 23:00
  only have a few words. That course is really for you.
• 23:02
  If you want those strategies, you want to be able to know
• 23:05
  exactly what to do at home and then that's that's a great
• 23:08
  course for you. You also have the free guide,
• 23:10
  the Toddler Speech and Language Milestone.
• 23:12
  So a lot of the times you know, you're not sure what your kids
• 23:17
  are supposed to be doing when exactly, or the fact that if you
• 23:20
  can understand what they're communicating, there's not an
• 23:23
  issue with their communication. And that's the toddler speak,
• 23:26
  right. If you you learn your child well
• 23:28
  enough, you can figure out what unkada means and.
• 23:32
  Yes. I'm crazy for weeks, but you
• 23:35
  have the language milestones. You also have a blog like your,
• 23:38
  your website's very comprehensive and you have a
• 23:41
  blog. And I know I asked you earlier
• 23:44
  about can you only see people in California?
• 23:47
  But you actually have a lot of support for people who you can't
• 23:50
  be in their home. Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:53
  Yeah. So I have a blog.
• 23:54
  I tend to, I try to write blog posts for questions that people
• 23:59
  are asking me all the time. So if I'm hearing it all the
• 24:01
  time in therapy or families are asking me at the park, you know,
• 24:04
  I'm like, oh, that's probably a good blog post.
• 24:05
  And I'm pretty active on my social media too.
• 24:08
  I post like lots of tips and strategies.
• 24:10
  So yes, there's lots of ways to get free support so you can help
• 24:16
  starting help kind of kick start your little one's language if
• 24:22
  you feel like maybe you want some support or even if you're
• 24:25
  just like, hey, I have a new baby.
• 24:27
  I'm not quite sure what to do I'm curious.
• 24:30
  I give some strategies, things that I do with my own children
• 24:34
  every single day because I just know that they're just helpful
• 24:38
  strategies for any child anywhere.
• 24:40
  And so I post a lot of that. And yes, that milestone
• 24:45
  checklist is really there because so many times I get
• 24:48
  asked, well, I don't know if my kids delayed or not or, you
• 24:51
  know, I, I feel like I have these concerns, but my
• 24:53
  pediatrician keeps saying like, let's just wait and see or
• 24:56
  everything's fine. I put that in there.
• 24:59
  So you can really kind of go through and check those boxes
• 25:01
  and see for yourself. Like, OK, is my child following
• 25:03
  one step directions? OK, does my child have 50 words?
• 25:07
  OK. Is my child saying B&P&H and
• 25:10
  those sounds that we would want them to say.
• 25:12
  And so that really lays out all those steps right there.
• 25:14
  So you can kind of see. And then if you do have
• 25:16
  concerns, you can take those concerns a little bit more
• 25:20
  formally to a pediatrician or someone else that you might want
• 25:24
  to share them with. I love that.
• 25:26
  Do you need to have a referral to go to speech or can a parent
• 25:29
  just decide they want to? It it really depends.
• 25:34
  There's no perfect answer. It depends on your insurance and
• 25:38
  every state has some form of early intervention services.
• 25:44
  So what I would recommend is if your little one is 3 or younger,
• 25:48
  look into your state's early intervention support.
• 25:53
  Every state, like I said, is different.
• 25:54
  Ours is called the regional center, but we are able to see
• 25:59
  kids. They will help cover services,
• 26:01
  They will help kind of figure out where your child needs
• 26:04
  support. So that's a really, really great
• 26:06
  resource. Definitely talking to your
• 26:09
  pediatric pediatrician is a good start.
• 26:13
  And like I said, it depends on on your insurance.
• 26:15
  It depends on so many factors. So sometimes you need a
• 26:17
  referral. Sometimes you can just go find a
• 26:19
  therapist and and start working with them.
• 26:21
  OK, so many questions. I have so many questions.
• 26:25
  What would people want to know if they were chatting with you
• 26:29
  and didn't live in Orange County?
• 26:30
  Especially 'cause I know if you're living down there, they
• 26:33
  can contact you and you can, and they can fill out the online
• 26:36
  form and you can potentially come into the home and work with
• 26:39
  them right there. But I love all the ways not just
• 26:41
  that people can do things for free, but just kind of figure
• 26:44
  out is there an issue? Is there something that they
• 26:47
  need to worry about? What should my child be doing at
• 26:49
  these different ages? I know here we have like
• 26:53
  children's cabinet. It's a community partnership
• 26:55
  here locally in Reno, NV. And they do a lot of, they have
• 27:00
  a book program. They have a lot of that where if
• 27:03
  they don't have it, they can help find it for you.
• 27:07
  And so sometimes it's a community partner program that
• 27:10
  you can find at least get your foot in the door and see if
• 27:13
  there's something that you need to worry about.
• 27:14
  But you have so much on your website.
• 27:16
  So that was a very impressive. Have you ever brought your kids
• 27:21
  with you and used them? Like my first daughter was
• 27:25
  brilliant. She was in college and junior
• 27:26
  high school. Nothing I did, I don't know why.
• 27:29
  It's like it's no pet. Like she was just incredible.
• 27:33
  But I would have used her with other kids as an example of
• 27:38
  like, sometimes kids can help each other better than we can
• 27:41
  help them. Have you ever used your own kids
• 27:43
  in therapy? Not yet.
• 27:47
  I have not. I feel like they are not ready
• 27:51
  yet. They may be more distracting
• 27:53
  than helpful at this stage, but I could see maybe that changing
• 27:56
  in the future. I think right now they would
• 28:00
  come in and they would just think like, cool, it's playtime
• 28:03
  and mom's here and it would be challenging.
• 28:06
  But I have had a couple situations recently where I
• 28:11
  thought, hey, like it might be really helpful.
• 28:13
  So I don't know, maybe we'll do like a play group or something
• 28:16
  in the future. And it would just be really fun.
• 28:19
  Kids model after other kids. Not that parents can't do a lot,
• 28:22
  but there's definitely different energy when kids are modeling
• 28:25
  things with other kids. And I know like my first
• 28:28
  daughter, I probably could have put her in any.
• 28:30
  But also one of my other girls, when we moved to Nevada and she
• 28:34
  was in kindergarten, there were, there were a group of these
• 28:37
  other three girls who had limited English.
• 28:40
  And they put Gabby at the table with them.
• 28:44
  And I was like, why didn't you learn Spanish?
• 28:48
  But basically they were putting matching kids together to model
• 28:52
  that so that they could speak English more quickly.
• 28:54
  And that's where that's where I was asking that question from.
• 28:57
  But how fun. At least options play groups
• 29:01
  what would be a blast. Oh, absolutely.
• 29:03
  Yeah, yeah, definitely. Jesse, thanks so much for being
• 29:06
  on today and sharing all of your experience.
• 29:09
  And I'm so glad that it shifted your business when you became a
• 29:12
  mom and for the better. I think we're we're, we're
• 29:17
  better at doing other things when we can relate to other
• 29:20
  parents. Thank you so much.
• 29:22
  Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.