Early Intervention:
About a year ago, six month old Sophia* began in the home based early intervention program at The Childhood League Center. Her family came to The Center with concerns for both her motor development and eating issues. Sophia has a genetic condition that is associated with developmental delays and she had recently had a feeding tube put in because she was not able to eat enough by mouth to gain the appropriate amount of weight.
When a child begins in our EI program, they are assigned a primary service provider (PSP) and because of Sophia’s motor delays, a physical therapist was assigned to work with the family as well. Her family was very supportive and often her mother, father, siblings and sometimes an aunt or uncle were present during the home visits. During the initial visits, the physical therapist noticed that Sophia had decreased strength and fatigued easily, especially when eating. She was getting most of her nutrition through her feeding tube at night because she could not tolerate bottle feedings. Her family and medical team, however, identified bottle feeding as a goal, eventually planning to move away from the feeding tube entirely.
Sophia’s family and her PSP began to schedule their weekly visits so that a feeding time occurred about halfway through each appointment. At the beginning of each visit, the therapist and PSP worked with the family to show them methods to support building Sophia’s muscle strength during play. By participating in play activities on the floor with her siblings and parents, Sophia started to get stronger.
The PSP and parents also worked together to find the best position for supporting Sophia while she was taking her bottle and spent time analyzing feeding methods, and she began to drink her bottle in a shorter amount of time with less effort. As Sophia got stronger and her parents implemented the different techniques they’d developed with the PSP, Sophia started drinking 3-4 ounces from the bottle at a time! She also began developing new motor skills such as rolling, sitting, and crawling and she could keep up with her cousin who was the same age.
Once she was able to sit up on her own, the family began to introduce pureed food, which Sophia enjoyed! She has continued to gain weight in a healthy way and loves to eat a variety of different foods. Recently, her PSP modeled how to help Sophia learn to feed herself with a spoon and fork and after working with her family, she is now independently feeding herself with utensils. She enjoys eating meals with her family and this summer she had her feeding tube completely removed, as she no longer needs it! Sophia had a challenging start in life, but with the support of her family and our early intervention team, she has an unstoppable future
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Hi ladies! Sharing a Center Success Story below. Look forward to seeing everyone this evening!
Hi ladies! Sharing a Center Success Story below. Look forward to seeing everyone this evening!
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Here’s another one The Center sent over as well! In our Early Intervention (EI) program, The Childhood League Center provides comprehensive intervention and therapeutic services, including speech and language therapy, physical and occupational therapy, family education, and family support services. The Center believes in a family-centered approach, which means that while our efforts are geared toward the child’s development, we also have a dual focus on the needs of the family. Our EI team typically works with families in the home, providing direct intervention to the child and coaching techniques to the child’s primary caregivers, but are currently providing those services virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents are uniquely positioned to provide continuous interventions and to incorporate strategies into daily routines, thereby intensifying the child's experience and promoting increased progress. Mary-Lou and her family became involved with The Childhood League Center’s EI program with Mary-Lou was 7 months old. When the family was referred to The Center, Mary-Lou had been wearing a helmet for six weeks due to a diagnosis of plagiocephaly. Mary-Lou also wasn’t yet sitting independently or crawling. The family also had concerns about her fine motor, as Mary-Lou primarily kept her thumbs tucked in and recent x-rays showed constriction in the soft tissue of her wrists. As a result, Mary-Lou was assigned to a Physical Therapist and an Occupational therapist as her providers. After the EI providers’ first several visits, the family reported that Mary-Lou’s helmet for plagiocephaly was recently discontinued to the progress that was made and they noticed her thumbs out more, allowing her to pick up puffs and toys more consistently. Over the course of 4 short months since beginning EI services with The Center, Mary-Lou is no longer tucking her thumbs and now has full range of motion in both hands during her daily activities. In addition, the family reports that Mary-Lou has successfully mastered rolling and sitting independently, as well as is army crawling across the room. Mary-Lou’s family is so pleased with her progress that they have requested to discontinue her Early Intervention services because all of Mary-Lou’s skills are now age appropriate! (*The client's name has been changed and the EI provider's name has been withheld to protect the privacy of the child and family.)