Esther Megias, MS, SLP is a Speech Language Pathologist for Grafton’s Early Intervention program. Along with providing speech services, Esther also provides hope and support to many families across the Shenandoah Valley. Her knack for building relationships, along with her  compassionate and empathetic nature not only makes her incredible at her job, but is also a huge reason for her success.

Another factor that makes Esther great at her role is her ability to relate to the families that she works with. Esther has both an impressive and inspiring background. Being a single mother, she went back to school, with the initial plan of being an ESL teacher. She went on to complete two degrees – majoring in both Linguistics and Communications. Esther then received her Master’s in Education with a specialization in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP).

Despite her success, her journey has not been easy. She understands how challenging it can be as a single parent. For this amongst other reasons, she feels it is easy to relate to a lot of the parents she works with because of this shared background. Additionally, being bilingual, she is able to connect and communicate with numerous families by breaking down barriers and making them feel heard and understood.

Esther is especially passionate about supporting single mom’s. Since she can relate to their struggles, she enjoys encouraging them and telling them they are doing the best that they can.

“A lot of mom’s we work with are young and have little support. I enjoy being that support for them and giving them hope,” Megias proudly shared.

Esther enjoys providing in-home services that are flexible with the family’s schedule.

“I think it’s a fantastic program. We get to meet and collaborate with their loved ones, who know them best,” said Megias.

Esther continued by stressing the importance of family involvement and how critical it is in helping our individuals reach their fullest potential. She enjoys getting to model for the parents in their natural environments, promoting incidental teaching opportunities. This can be anything from using basic tasks around the home to communicate or repeating words of items as you use them. She explained that this is a fantastic method of teaching because the parent is getting a task done, while also working on their child’s goals.

“The baby’s brain is going to grow the fastest before the age of three. If we can catch things early and give them the support they need, this will be instrumental in their development,” explained Megias.

Esther believes that all families can benefit from Early Intervention services. Outside of speech therapy, our Early Intervention team also offers occupational therapy and physical therapy.

“We have a strong, talented team. I regularly work with our OTs and PTs and often learn a lot from them. After COVID, we have seen an increase in behaviors. Collaborating with my team members has been monumental in our infants’ progress and providing families with effective strategies,” Megias proudly shared.

Additionally, Esther shared that her team is made up of a lot of young mothers. She appreciates the flexibility that they have in their role, which supports them in taking care of their own families and navigating childcare.

“We’re caring for families, but we need to take care of our own families as well,” stressed Megias.

Esther continued by sharing that she enjoys baking and spending time with her grandchildren, when she is not working.

With a love for family, Esther treats her infants and their families like her own, supporting, encouraging, and protecting them. She recently shared two powerful stories, where one ended in an act of heroism.

“I have been working with a little girl in foster care, who has brain damage and a trauma history. We recently had a breakthrough with her speech. I was told previously that it would be too challenging to have her say 3-word phrases. She has proven otherwise and recites 2-3 word phrases frequently,” Megias proudly shared.

Esther often runs into families that she has previously worked with at the grocery store and they tell her how well their kids are doing because of her. She finds this job extremely rewarding knowing that the children she has supported are doing really well.

She continued by sharing a recent story where she helped a family catch and prevent a potentially life-threatening and scary incident from escalating further, during their first session.

“I recently had my first session with a lovely family. The mother is a sweet, loving mom who is working hard to provide for her two boys. One of the boys is a five-year-old with Autism and the other little boy, whom I was scheduled to see, is two years old. The mom requested sessions in the evening.

I arrived a little after 6PM and we exchanged greetings. I met with the two-year-old who was happy and friendly. As soon as I sat down, I started to cough. The mom was cooking, and I asked if she was using spicy/hot peppers. The mom laughed and said not yet. However, I noticed some smoke and asked the mom to check if something was burning on the stove. She checked and there was nothing. The smoke started to increase, and the mom went to check the laundry room. She started to scream and came out with clothes on fire, dumping them in the sink and kept going back and forth bringing burning clothes to the sink. I kept telling the mom to leave them and come outside. She then asked me to go upstairs to find her five-year-old son. I picked up the two-year-old, ran upstairs and grabbed his brother, took both of them downstairs, wrapped a blanket around them, and went outside to call 911.

The mom continued to put out the fire by wetting the clothes in the sink. The kids began crying, and the mom came out to help get the boys situated in the car. I sat in the car with the kids and waited until the fire department came. They came and inspected, put fans, and opened all the windows. The mom had put out all the clothing that caught fire. The firefighter reported that the house heater pipe had burned and the clothing on top of the dryer had caught on fire.

After the fire department cleared the home of any danger, we went back into the home. I asked the mom if she would like to go to the emergency room, since she had taken in so much smoke. The mom insisted she was okay and was very grateful that I had gotten her kids out of the house and that nobody was injured,” Megias shared.

Following this incident, Esther checked on the family and to much relief, the mom stated that they are all doing well.

Thankfully, Esther was in the right place at the right time and was able to help this family prevent the situation from escalating further. Her instincts and quick actions that day were heroic. 

We have many unsung heroes at Grafton. Often, due to the nature of our work, many Grafton team members find themselves in challenging situations where they too have to think on their feet and act swiftly. This takes true skill and courage. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don’t, but we always learn from it. At the end of the day, we are all humans working with humans. 

We can all take a page from Esther’s book by giving grace and being there to support each other. Because, afterall, we are all just trying to do the best that we can.

Join us by commending Esther on her bravery and celebrating her unwavering commitment to providing hope and supporting children and their families across the Shenandoah Valley!