Rory Demeter

Photo obtained via KSDK 

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (WAND) - A favorite hockey team helped a young boy with a speech disorder make some big strides. 

Rory Demeter, 5, was struggling when he started with speech therapy. He has speech apraxia, a condition that causes difficulties with forming words, and his speech therapist, Julia Crutchfield, told NBC affiliate KSDK his vocabulary was "very limited" when therapy began.

"It was hard, especially around the neighborhood. People that didn't know him look at you and were kind of like 'What did he say?'" said his mother, Jamie. 

Being a big hockey fan, Rory spends hours of his time at home playing hockey. He also watches the St. Louis Blues. 

His therapist noticed about how much Rory cared about the team, so she made them part of the lesson plan at Zumwalt Early Childhood Center. 

"He started pointing to the numbers saying, 'Hey I know that guy, he's a good player,'" Crutchfield said. 

Hockey player names can be hard to pronounce, and a breakthrough for Rory came when, a few weeks later, the boy surprised his mother by saying the name of a Russian player. 

"He said Tarasenko," Jamie said. "I was like 'What? What did you just say?' 'Tarasenko mom!'" Jamie said.

Rory is continuing to work hard at developing his speech. Crutchfield said he's trying harder and has started to "really take off" - something she is thrilled to see.Â