This story is reprinted from FresnoState Magazine, as written by Melissa Tav, for the Fall 2018 edition.
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Since he was 3 years old, Lucas Mullooly has joined his mom and dad at Fresno State, where they work, for his weekly appointments at the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic.
The services he receives are convenient for his mom, Adela Santana, an instructor, and his dad, James Mullooly, who chairs the Anthropology Department. Once on campus, the youngest Mullooly heads to the clinic as his parents head off to teach classes.
At the clinic, Lucas meets with his speech therapist for their scheduled one-on-one session.
Designed for children and adults, the sessions are facilitated by graduate students, under the supervision of a licensed speech-language pathologist who assesses and treats clients based on their individual communication needs.
Lucas initially had difficulty pronouncing some of the same words his twin brother said with ease. That is when Santana realized Lucas could benefit from extra help.
He is now 5 and his speech and language abilities have grown exponentially, Santana says.
“The individualized speech therapy has given my son a lot of confidence and has resolved so many issues for him,” Santana says. “This is his fifth semester in the program and each time there is a different speech therapist, which is amazing. You are helping the students complete their clinical hours and my son is benefiting from their services. It’s a win-win.”
For Santana, the opportunity to have Lucas close by on campus is an added bonus.
Even better — since joining the clinic, Lucas’ relationship with his twin brother has greatly improved, Santana says. The speech disconnect they used to have is a thing of the past.
Learn more about the speech therapy services offered at Fresno State by visiting fresnostate.edu/chhs/csds.
-Photos by Cary Edmondson
Fresno State College of Health and Human Services 
My twin sons love speech @FresnoState. Juaquin’s initial /s/ pronunciation is much improved and Lucas’ liquids and overall fluency are much better than when he started here. I hold an MA in Applied Linguistics and I can state formally that this program is doing great things for my kids and for all of the clients it serves. This is a true community asset that Fresno State and the College of Health and Human Services provides. On behalf of all of the clients (most of whom are not connected to Fresno State directly), I say “THANK YOU THANK YOU!! @FresnoStateCHHS, Here’s a tweet from this morning just before speech today. https://twitter.com/TheAnthroGeek/status/1060238859487797248
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