E35: Harmonizing Speech and Music for Early Childhood Development

What happens when a speech language pathologist marries a music therapist? For Chris and Kathy Baker, it sparked the creation of VoxTalk—an innovative early childhood education company dedicated to language development for children from birth to three years old. Their journey began during the pandemic when they overheard each other's virtual therapy sessions and noticed something remarkable: the powerful intersection of speech therapy and music was creating breakthrough moments for young learners.

The Bakers bring both professional expertise and real-world parenting wisdom to their approach. As parents of three children under five, they intimately understand the challenges families face. Their online course and rhyming sign language books blend speech therapy principles with music's natural engagement properties. "Music is very patterned, especially nursery rhymes," Kathy explains. "There's a lot of predictability there. For an early talker that is really powerful because not only are they anticipating the pattern, but it's also very motivating." This unique methodology addresses common parental concerns—no, teaching sign language won't delay verbal speech, and you don't need a Broadway-worthy voice to use music effectively with your child.

VoxTalk's mission extends beyond simply teaching children to communicate. The Bakers are reclaiming childhood development from digital distractions, empowering parents to become their children's most influential teachers. "In a world where we have screens and all this digital stuff," Chris notes, "take back that control and say, 'I'm going to be the responsible one to help my child grow.'" Whether you have concerns about your child's speech development or simply want to enhance your communication toolkit, VoxTalk offers accessible, evidence-based approaches that create lasting connections between parents and children. Ready to harmonize your approach to early childhood language? Visit www.vox-talk.com or follow @voxtalk on Instagram to discover how music and speech can transform your child's developmental journey.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Nick George.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of an onlineeducation for early child
development?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today, I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbors
Chris Baker and Kathy Baker, hiswife with VoxTalk.
Chris, kathy, how's it going?
It's going well.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, thanks for having us.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Thank you for having us Good Be here.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We're excited to learn all about you and your
business.
Tell us about your organizationorganization.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
So VoxTalk is an early childhood education
company that provides educationand support to families with
young kids.
Our main focus is on earlylanguage development and just
getting kids talking.
We offer an online course forparents to help their child with
their communication development, as well as two rhyming sign
language books.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
And the nice thing about VoxTalk is that we're
blending two things together.
We're blending speech andlanguage development, and we're
also blending music therapy andhow music can be used as a
extremely beneficial tool forlanguage development.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Well, chris is a speech language pathologist and
I am a music therapist, and soduring COVID, we obviously were
doing sessions from home, and sonaturally, you know, you sort
of heard bits and pieces of eachother's sessions, and so of
course, I was singing in all ofmy sessions and Chris, you know,

(01:53):
after a couple of weeks youkind of get, you have to start
thinking creatively, as we alldid right during that time, and
so I noticed that he started tosing during his sessions.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yeah, so I started to incorporate more music into my
sessions to keep the kids reallyengaged and, as Catherine will
tell you, I'm not known for mysinging voice, but it wasn't
about my voice that was soeffective.
It was more so the music andkeeping them engaged and
attentive.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, so one of the things we know just about music
in general, elements of music,things like rhythm and different
speeds of music, differenttypes of things like that are
really engaging for alldifferent areas of our brain,
not only language development,but also memory and emotion and
movement.
And so on the therapeutic side,music therapists use music

(02:48):
really as our tool to reach acertain outcome.
So when you take that withinthe early childhood realm,
specifically in languagedevelopment, it's very powerful
because music is very patterned,especially nursery rhymes and
such.
There's a lot of predictabilitythere.
So for an early talker that isreally powerful because not only

(03:08):
are they, they are anticipatingthe pattern, but then it's also
very motivating and veryengaging to them, and anyone
that's worked with kids knowsthat motivation is step one.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Wow, that's beautiful .
What are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 4 (03:25):
Well, from the speech therapy and speech language
pathology side, I get thequestion a lot of.
Well, if I teach my child signlanguage, will they just use
that and not talk?
And the quick answer is no.
And the reason why is becauseyou're also using verbal words
while you're teaching them signlanguage and the primary reason

(03:47):
and the primary mode ofcommunication within our society
is verbal.
So they're gonna be hearingwords like more and please and
eat all the time.
So we're using the sign sayingthe word at the same time and
eventually they look at mom anddad and say they're not signing
this, they're saying this, andit's just gonna be easier for me
to do that once I'm ready.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
And another one, I think more so on the music
therapy-based side, or what weeven hear from parents within
this course, is what if I'm notgood at singing?
I'm not a very good singer.
You know, I hear that I'm not avery good singer and it doesn't
matter, because you are stillable to use the pattern, use the
tool, and the bigger piece isthere's also that connection

(04:31):
with your child, so you and yourchild are engaging in this play
that is different than reallyanything else, and so you don't
need to have, you know, theworld's best singing voice in
order for this to be highly,highly effective with language
development.
So I'll speak that firsthandwith Chris's singing voice, but

(04:52):
he does just fine.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
I think the first time she heard me singing, she
said Chris, you changed threedifferent keys.
You went into three differentkeys during that song.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm like well, I've learned a lot since then.
Yeah, the shower fixes that,yeah for sure who are your
target customers if you didn'talready answer that question,
and how are you attracting themnow?

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Sure.
So our target customers areparents with kids ages birth to
three, and perhaps these parentshave either a concern for their
child's language development orjust really want to learn more
on how to support their child'scommunication language.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
And it can also go so .
Primarily it's birth to three,early intervention, but it can
go higher than that, justdepending on the developmental
level of that child.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
So and so for now, you know we are a pretty new
business in terms of how long wehave put this together.
We have our individualpractices that we do on the
daily.
So currently we have a socialmedia presence and are working
on a couple other projects toreally get the word out more.
We're doing some local outreachas well here in Fort Collins

(06:03):
preschool, some speakingengagements, different community
events to get the word out.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
Yeah, preschools, daycares, social media.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Have you guys ever thought about doing your own
podcast?

Speaker 3 (06:15):
it's actually in the works.
So that was the one, uh onething we've recently done some
um research on, because, gosh,we could talk for hours, truly,
um, about just these differentuh kind of tidbits and tricks
that we've learned along the way.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
It sounds like it Outside of work.
What do you guys do for fun?

Speaker 4 (06:34):
So as a family, so we have three kids, three young
kids, three under five, and sowe're pretty busy ourselves.
So we try and get them out andbe active.
So we go to parks, we like togo on walks when the weather's
nice.
Sometimes, when it's not nice,kids are like let's go jump in
the rain or in the puddles.
So, so fun.
We like to go out to breweries.

(06:54):
We are living in Colorado, solots of those out here.
The kids run around and we alsoreally enjoy spending a lot of
time at the family cabin, whichis about a few hours south of
here.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
So, and then, yeah, go ahead, no, go ahead.
Oh, just saying that Chris andI also do like a rec league
softball and golf from time totime.
If we're able to do it together, great, but usually just him.
And then also we used to ski aton.
So once our kids get a littlebit older we'll get back to that
.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
My kids enjoyed their first mud puddle experience
during this weekend's rain.
They're two and four, so thatwas a mess.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Been there.
Yeah, we're right there withyou.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Let's switch gears.
Can you describe a hardship ora life challenge that you
overcame Either one of you cananswer and how it made you
stronger?
What comes to mind?

Speaker 4 (07:45):
First thing that comes to mind for me is my ADHD,
so I was diagnosed with ADHDwhen I was a young kid and
definitely had to overcome a lotof obstacles in order to get to
where I am now.
But the nice thing about thatis that it allowed me to focus
intensely on my passion, whichis helping working with kids,

(08:07):
helping kids learn and developand helping families become the
best versions, the best unitthey possibly can be, and so
just gave me the opportunity toconnect with these families on a
deeper level and with the kids,and to really utilize my skill
set to have to make a lot ofprogress with, with the families

(08:28):
and with the kids.
So k, Kathy.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
You know I would say many different ones, but the one
that I think really sticks outspecifically to this is you know
I'm a mom of three and I have abrick and mortar therapy
practice, so I run that businessas well with a team.
You know we have this businesstoo, and so I would say a
challenge in that is is figuringout how to be present and

(08:53):
supportive of your family butthen also pursue the business
side.
I love being an entrepreneurand so it's really made me
stronger because it's brought alot of self-reflection and
really challenged a lot ofbeliefs I held about parenting
and business and what wasmodeled to me and being able to
challenge those beliefs and formkind of a whole new set for

(09:16):
what works for us.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Chris and Kathy, please tell our listeners one
thing that they shoulddefinitely remember about
VoxTalk.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
I think the first thing to remember is just that
we're parents too.
Like Chris mentioned, we havethree young kids, and so we
fully understand, really, thehard parts of parenting and for
us, that is really a keymotivator for us to take our
skillset and be able to helpparents be in charge of their

(09:45):
child's development.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, our main focus is just to help parents take
charge of their child'sdevelopment, because they can be
their child's most powerfulteacher.
And so in a world where we havescreens and all these digital
stuff to take back that controland say you know what, I'm going
to be the responsible one tohelp my child grow, one to help

(10:14):
my child grow.
So we're just empoweringthrough education and through
knowledge to build a strongerconnection between parents and
caregivers and their kids.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
How can our listeners living through screens learn
more about VoxTalk?

Speaker 3 (10:24):
So you can go to our website.
It is vox V O X dash talkcom Um, or on Instagram at Vox talk.
I'll just one word Um.
So those are the two best ways.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Well, Chris and Kathy , I really appreciate you guys
being on our show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
Awesome.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Thank you so much.