Precision Songs: Our Story

Long before our son had a diagnosis, we knew something wasn’t right with Willson. Our main concern was his near total lack of speech. Through our local Early Childhood Intervention program we began occupational and speech therapy. On our own we began a special wheat and dairy free diet and gave equestrian therapy a try. After Willson turned three, he spent a year and a half in a public school special education program but unfortunately, our best resource there - his teacher - had to quit due to health problems. We then began schooling Willson at home and hired a specialized therapist.

Precision Songs was born out of Willson’s love for music and my desire to augment what he was learning in therapy. We noticed he was struggling with one word drills presented by his therapist while at the same time he loved to sing along with songs from Veggie Tales. Why not put this musical ability to use? On a whim, I wrote a song encompassing a drill Willson was struggling with. We played that song for three hours on a car trip and when we arrived home, he was able to answer twelve basic social questions - not just repeat the question back to us. Needless to say, any drill he has struggled with since has been set to music!

Desiring to launch a project to help other children speak and knowing that, as a busy mom of four, I would need both encouragement and help, I partnered with Willson’s former public school teacher, Erica Flynn. I am blessed that not only is Erica very familiar with special needs children with various diagnoses but gifted musically as well. When she heard our music and saw the results, Erica joined me enthusiastically and Precision Songs became a reality. As you can tell, we don’t present a miracle story with instantaneous success. Instead our story is one of consistent and often surprising improvement through one on one attention and a healthy dose of Precision Songs.

~ Arlyn Kantz