2010-02-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Staten Island Advance

Hometown remedy inspires random act of kindness.
Prince's Bay speech therapist offers overseas evaluation for former Islander living in Italy.

Monday, February 15, 2010

By MAURA GRUNLUND
Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Prince's Bay speech therapist, Felix M. DiPalma, extended his practice all the way to Italy by providing free advice via e-mail for Giacomo Castelmare, 2. Giacomo's mother, Danielle DeVito, grew up in Midland Beach and now lives in Lucca in the Tuscany region of Italy.

Ms. DeVito became concerned that her son was slow to speak and brought up the issue with her son's Italian pediatrician at his age-2 health check in August 2009. The doctor explained that in Italy early intervention wasn't available and Giacomo would have to wait at least another year, until he entered preschool, before he could be evaluated.

Knowing that she would be returning to Staten Island for the 2009 Christmas holidays, Ms. DeVito used the Internet to research speech therapists in our borough. "As soon as I came across Mr. Felix DiPalma's Web site and blog, I knew I may have found my answer," she wrote in an e-mail to the Advance.

She e-mailed a request to schedule an appointment in December and also expressed her concerns about Giacomo's speech, even including links to home videos. "I heard back from Mr. DiPalma himself almost immediately and I knew I had made a wise decision to contact him," Ms. DeVito wrote.

"Not only had he read over my entire e-mail and watched all my videos, and not only was he willing to meet with us face to face in December, but he made a point of fixing us a phone consultation right away so that I wouldn't worry myself to death in the following months waiting for my appointment in December."

DiPalma spoke to her by phone for about two hours and offered to e-mail her weekly tasks to work on with Giacomo. She would give him weekly updates via e-mail. The weekly e-mailing between mother and speech therapist when on through December. DiPalma insisted
that Giacomo's appointment would be free of charge but that she could donate money to a charity for unwed mothers.

"Giacomo and I arrived to the appointment with a bottle of olive oil made from the olive trees on our land in Italy and a homemade cheesecake from my sister who is a pastry chef," she wrote. "It was the very least I could do."

The evaluation indicated that Giacomo had no signs of serious underlying issues and his speech already had improved with the help of the e-mail assignments. The mother and speech therapist continue to e-mail weekly about tasks and progress.

"My story may not seem like much, but the stress that comes not only with living overseas, but also raising a child in a country that is so different when it comes to resources, I can honestly say that Mr. DiPalma helped me in a way that could never be repaid," she wrote.

"He had made a permanent mark on my heart and inspires me to also do random acts of kindness.

Much obliged. No obligation. Honestly.

2009-08-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Thank you for visiting my blog. If reading is the end to writing, we're just about to complete the cycle of the printed word. And, for that, I am grateful. Some polite folk might say, "Much obliged."

You probably linked yourself to my blog by clicking on the appropriate portion of my web site, and that leads me to the "no obligation" segment of this entry's title. It speaks to one of the three main themes of my web site. Along with the theme of improving quality of life through improved communication skills, and an encapsulation of my Speech-Language Pathology Practice, there appears the recurring invitation to call for a free, friendly, no obligation telephone consultation. And, finally, we are led to the last element of today's title, "honestly." I honestly mean all of what that theme statement implies.

I have been providing counsel, imparting information, allaying fears, drying tears and, generally, answering questions and doling out advice over the phone for thirty five years. It is most often appreciated by the caller. But, how do you get the public to believe that you are available to them with absolutely no obligation on their part to "sign on the dotted line", so to speak, simply because we will have talked for a while? For three and a half decades I have been able to project this absence of pressure through an honest, caring and gentle tone, while addressing those countless thousands who have called for a myriad of reasons. I have never been tempted to use whatever the speech therapy version of, "what do I have to do to put you in a car today?" might be. I simply listen and advise.

Yet, in all my years of extending this form of community service to those in need by taking the time to give my neighbors whatever help can be administered through a telephone call, I have never devised the most effective wording for conveying the message of, "yes, I will; honestly" regarding my offer to listen and confer.

It may seem ironic for a speech and language professional to be at a loss for proper phraseology but, with one large gulp, I will swallow my pride and admit that the magic formula for expressing my sincerity in this matter continues to allude me. Perhaps the world has become too skeptical.

So, to you, my readers and web site visitors, allow me to postulate that you have a need to converse with someone of my profession. And, let me make you a promise which is true for all who seek to "pick my brain". Call me. It's free, it's friendly, it's completely without obligation, and will be of the highest professional standard.

If you haven't reached this blog through my web site, please visit it at www.felixmdipalma.com.
You'll probably learn at least one thing you never knew. Honestly.

Speaking of Speech

Much obliged. No obligation. Honestly.