Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsey Brown.
Hi Kelsey, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m a momma to three and a speech language pathologist. I started my career as an SLP at Memorial Hermann working with adults in acute care. Three years into my career, I opened my first business, HTX Speech Therapy, working with pediatrics in a home health setting.
A couple of years later, I had my first child, who we would come to find out is highly sensitive. While that might look like shyness, fearfulness, or fussiness; it also looks like creativity, intuition, surprising wisdom, and significant empathy. After frequently using sensory play as positive reinforcement in speech therapy, I quickly had a deeper understanding of the benefits it has for young children. I started using sensory play at home with my highly sensitive child (HSC) and saw the positive impact almost immediately. In 2020, I started a second business, As The Littles Grow LLC; where my main objective is to highlight what being highly sensitive is and isn’t, educate on the benefits of sensory play for HSC, and support parents on their journey to seeing the beauty in sensitivity, and teaching their child the same.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Our struggles are our WHY! When you become a parent, you don’t get a guide. You wonder if your choices are the right ones because you can find supporting arguments for either side of any parenting dilemma. When your infant cries for hours every evening, screams at kissy sounds, and only tolerates room temperature foods; you wonder what level of fussiness is normal, you question at what point it’s considered abnormal, and you fear what might lie ahead for your little one. It’s these parenting struggles and endless “am I doing this right” questions that have led us to show up for other parents who are where we started. While parenting a highly sensitive child is not always easy and definitely has its battles, we hope to bring light to this temperament and to help other parents raise their sensitive child, using their sensitivities to their advantage.
Owning a business, managing 2 SLP-assistants, shifting our business model during a pandemic while also being a full-time stay at home mom to three, and starting another business amongst it all, quite obviously brings its own challenges. Organization, outsourcing, and knowing when to ask your village for help is what make this all possible. And coffee, lots of coffee.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
HTX Speech Therapy currently serves children via teletherapy and in home, from newborn up to 21 years of age across the greater Houston area. We pride ourselves in providing high-quality, research-backed therapy services. Areas of expertise include language, articulation, social skills, fluency, augmentative and alternative communication, oral motor (including tongue ties), feeding/swallowing, and breastfeeding and bottle-feeding support.
As The Littles Grow provides resources for parents of highly sensitive children (HSC). We specialize in creating free printable worksheets for use with sensory bins. We have virtual course offerings ranging from learning about high sensitivity to reducing big emotional reactions in your HSC. It brings me great pride that I have been able to grow two businesses while being a stay at home mom; but, more importantly that I can continue to reach and help more families using both my educational background and my personal experiences.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We’d love to bring online courses to HTX Speech Therapy to help parents at home with breastfeeding, bottle feeding, and early speech/language skills. We look forward to expanding our course offerings at As The Littles Grow. There is potential for a physical product as well. We have been excited to host a few rooms on Clubhouse and can’t wait to have plenty more, providing tips and tricks for parenting your highly sensitive child. You can find myself on Clubhouse @sensitivechild or our club “Highly Sensitive Children.”
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.asthelittlesgrow.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/as_the_littles_grow
- Facebook: Facebook.com/asthelittlesgrow
- Other: www.htxspeechtherapy.com ; [email protected]
Image Credits
MKStallings Photography
What to check out next:
Aleasha Bahr is a sales & marketing strategist known for showing introverts and ambiverts the Secret Art of Subtle Selling. She personally sold millions in revenue while discovering introverts are usually top sales people – as soon as they stop trying to act like extroverts. We’ve partnered with her to produce Introverted Entrepreneur Success Stories. Check out episode 1 below:
