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Small Victories, Make Huge Impacts

People easily visualize long-term goals but fail to see the small strides that must be taken to reach their goal. “That’s it. I am going to save $10,000 this year.” (ten seconds later) “Wow, those shoes are cool!”We are human and things happen! We are surrounded by temptations and maintain the motivation to work towards goals can  be difficult.

Zig Ziglar stated it perfectly:

 

 

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing- that’s why we recommend it daily.”

 
Small victories make a huge impact in motivating and steering you in the direction of achieving your overall goals. Just make sure your short term goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound.

Baby Steps

I am an occupational therapist in the school setting and spend my time writing plenty of long term goals. This year, I wrote a long term goal for a student to increase his independence in a self care task. We have a lot of things to accomplish to be 100% independent in self-care, but baby steps are key. Otherwise, the goal would be too overwhelming for him and me as a therapist.  I had to visualize the big picture and realize what would be possible to achieve this year for this student.

The first step is the hardest

I chose hand washing as the first self-care task to tackle. In the beginning of the year my student needed assistance in all 6 steps. I started providing him rewards to motivate him for each step he achieved with independence. It seemed to make the most sense. If you are trying to change a behavior in your life to achieve a goal, what makes the most sense as the first step? Try to do that first step really well!

Success is a rolling stone

Once my student had the motivation and he started to achieve success, no matter how small, the momentum grew and grew. Before long he was completing all 3 steps independently! Woo-hoo! If you make a small goal for yourself and you are doing it on a consistent basis, congratulations! It feels great and you should be able to keep that momentum going.

It’s all about the journey

Remember, it is the small steps on the journey that count, not just the finish line. My student was empowered by the small steps that he achieved. As a result, he was able to appreciate the progress that has been made! These small victories sets us up for success to reach our end result. We not only visualized the end result, but we lived it! If you don’t accomplish your goals immediately, that’s okay! Think about how far you have come and all you have changed in your life by achieving the small steps!
The end result for this student is to have the ability to independently care for himself. Now that is a victory in itself.

 

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Patient Reviews

LLA Therapy

Patient Reviews

Crystal Scheibe

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Great place, glad we found them. Been going to Medina over 2 months now and he loves Lauryn and Kyler. Wish they had more ABA therapy places available... live in Wooster and long drive everyday.

Karrie Swan LaRock

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My 11 year old son has dyslexia and has made noticeable gains in working At LLA THERAPY. Katie is strong in her approach toward him and also keeps him comfortable enough to perform well. We will continue visiting both the Fairlawn and Hudson offices and recommend them highly.

Ron Monroe

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My 9 year old just completed about 9 months of weekly speech sessions (due to his stuttering) with Matt Hagge at LLA and we are thrilled with the experience and results. What I thought might be a negative (what kid really wants to go to speech class?) was made very positive by Matt, and my son never hesitated or complained when we talked about class. He really enjoyed it and really took what Matt taught him to heart. His speech has been greatly improved and we definitely recommend LLA. Thank you so much!

Heather Dougherty-Pantoja

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My son’s Occupational Therapist, Jess, is an amazing OT! She gives practical tips on working with my son at home and school!

Terri Apgar

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I cannot say enough good things about LLA Therapy. My daughter was a client of Teal Simmons’ for approximately 2 years and was just released from speech therapy! She was diagnosed with Apraxia in 2015 and worked with Teal twice a week. Through Teal’s application of PROMPT therapy, my daughter had age-appropriate speech after one year. All of the staff we interacted with at LLA were absolutely wonderful. They really care about what they do and making sure your child achieves their goals.

Kelli Geisler Davisson

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LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for my son as well as my family! My son always asks, "When can I go see Ms. Jeannine again, is it Monday??" He has also made huge gains in only 5 months! I would highly recommend LLA and have already shared my experience with friends looking for services!

Victoria Hansford-Price

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We are so grateful for our Speech Therapist Ms.Teal. We have seen a great improvement with our sons confidence and communication abilities since we have started "Prompt" therapy. What we love the most about LLA and Ms. Teal is that Kohl feels comfortable and relaxed which has played a critical role in his progress. Thank you Ms. Teal for all you have done.

Laura Lee Hogsett

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They have helped in numerous ways. Speech, OT and behavioral. I've had numerous compliments on my son's progress thanks in very large part to LLA. I would recommend LLA before I recommend our local children's hospitals, though they are good, they don't have the staff that LLA does.

Amy Furukawa

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We had a great experience with Matt Hagge at LLA! Our Middle School age son was becoming very conscious of his voice, which is nasal due to a cleft palate. Matt helped him to better form his sounds and project his voice in a way that makes the unavoidable nasality less noticeable.Our son is more confident and outgoing & even took on a speaking role in the church play. Matt has the perfect personality to relate with our son, and we would recommend him to anyone needing speech therapy services!

Jessica Havalotti

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LLA Therapy has been an excellent experience for our daughter. I would highly recommend LLA. Miss Grace was so amazing and I can't believe how quickly our daughter showed improvement. Thank you!
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