Told he’d never talk, New Orleans 6-year-old now starts conversations at Xavier University

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — When you sit down with 6-year-old Kaleb Laird, you quickly get into a conversation.

He likes to talk.

He talks the talk. He talks about zebras, giraffes and makes the sound of a rhinoceros.

He tells WGNO Good Morning New Orleans features reporter Bill Wood that he, Bill, looks a little like a rhinoceros.

Hearing all this, it’s hard to believe that Kaleb was once told he’d never talk at all.

“To hear that I might not be able to have a conversation with my son like most fathers do, they have that fatherly bond, it was really hard at first,” said Kaleb’s dad, Shane.

He has a brain disorder that makes it hard for his mind and mouth to connect.

That was until Kaleb started traveling three times a week to a speech therapy room at Xavier University of New Orleans.

Melissa Hardy runs the program there where they practice what they teach.

She says, “As speech pathologists, we help people access the world and we help the world embrace the differences we all have.”

Xavier University of Louisiana now celebrates 100 years.

That’s a century of greatness and of walking the walk.

And because of that, Kaleb can now talk the talk.

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