Lisa Scharfenort knew from experience that her daughter was developmentally delayed.
“When Eliza was 18 months old, she wasn’t babbling,” Scharfenort says.”She used ‘dada’ as the word for everything, and she wouldn’t mimic us. People would say, ‘oh, she’s little, it’s not bad….’ But we went through Early Intervention with her older brother, Austin, so I knew the signs.”
In December 2025, Eliza and her parents started working with Renee Farmerie, an Early Intervention (EI) Speech-Language Pathologist with the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Cuyahoga DD).
The sessions take place where Eliza feels comfortable: the family room of their home.
“Being at home is really helpful!” Scharfenort says as the family’s gray cat Pablo observes the activity from his perch on the cat tree.
“Renee suspected that Eliza had apraxia,” she adds. “Apraxia limits the mind-body connection. We can tell now, after not even a year of therapy, that her wires are starting to connect as they should.”
Farmerie brought the family a loaner tablet with communication software, suggesting it would be a good tool for Eliza to use to help with her apraxia.
They worked with the borrowed tablet for a while and found it was worthwhile.
At that point, the Scharfenort family used their Cuyahoga DD Family Supports Program funds to pay for their own tablet with the same software. The Family Supports Program uses local tax revenue to help families access goods and services. Annual funding allotments are available to individuals of all ages who qualify for Cuyahoga DD services and live at home or independently.
“We found our tablet on sale, so Family Supports ended up covering the entire cost,” Scharfenort says
Renee and Eliza use the tablet during their therapy sessions, and Lisa and her husband Mike reinforce the techniques during the rest of the week.
Scharfenort says that Cuyahoga DD’s support of Eliza has made “a huge difference.”
“In less than a year, she went from not even babbling, to communicating in almost full sentences: enough to where I understand her meaning,” she says. “It’s made a huge difference in our lives.”
The 2026 Cuyahoga County EI Family Questionnaire results reflect similar successes.
Developed, processed and distributed by the Ohio Department of Children & Youth, Cuyahoga DD’s positive responses outrank the statewide percentages in 12 of 13 items.
Survey results show that Cuyahoga DD therapists have helped parents communicate their child’s needs (97.57% positive) and have also taught parents how to help their child learn and develop (95.93% positive).
Cuyahoga DD EI earned a 98.11% positive response that families are “likely to recommend Early Intervention to another family.”
Scharfenort agrees.
“We’re on a better track than we were, for sure,” she says. “Eliza is a great testament to the benefit of the EI program.”
Watch a short video about Cuyahoga DD’s Early Intervention services here: https://youtu.be/kv5iroLH00c
If you have concerns about your child’s development, and your child is between ages 0 – 3, call Bright Beginnings at 1-800-755-GROW (4769).