Research that paid off- Uplifting stories

            Early intervention is a topic I am passionate about due to the impact I have seen it make on children I have personally worked with over the years. Being able to assist a child and their family with finding the resources and implementing the plans to be able to create a higher potential for growth and development is what being an early educator is all about.

            While living in Alaska a child was in my classroom that suffered from seizures in utero and was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. The child was carried to term and delivered, however there were times the child was deprived of nutrients and the brain was not fully developed. When he was to be moved from the infant room in hopes of helping become more mobile I was the room they choose due to my patience and knowledge of working with children with development delays and disabilities.  He was two years old entering my classroom which was normally a pre toddler room ages varied from 11 to 24 months.

            When he began in my room he wore glasses he was legally blind, but with the glasses he was able to distinguish some forms and had heightened sense of taste and hearing. He was unable to walk he got around through a form of crawling or moving in a hunched sitting position. He was thriving through his height and weight he was in the 90^th percentile for his height his weight was slightly lower than average due to be unable to chew his food we has on protein shakes and smoothies.

            Prior to his transition to my classroom the parents,  the director, myself and his speech and occupational therapist created an action plan to try to challenge and push him to begin to physical develop. It was a tough rode and there were many obstacles and lots of tears from everyone, but through the continuity of care and the therapist we were able to create some strides.

He was in occupational therapy and the therapist had him fitted for what we called his “scuba suit” . It was a neoprene  jump suit he wore that compressed his muscles and allowed him to gain strength through giving him better posture and pressure to keep his curricula ion what is needed to be for gross movement. This was a newer technique and took patience and learning through use from all involved and he hated it, until following a Christmas break when holding on to his dad’s hand he walked into my classroom. I burst in to tears and he was smiling ear to ear. The intervention and tiresome times were paying off.

The scuba suit was a nightmare at times, but it was what then allowed for him six months later to walk alone with a walker and began to slowly cruise through the classroom.  This is what research and supporting the early intervention is to a more unseen extreme, but we were able to get him to a place where he was able to gain some mobility and even begin to create sounds for speech. This is and will always be why I do what I do.