{"id":7068,"date":"2019-11-06T17:30:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grafton.local\/?post_type=case-study&p=7068"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:31:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T22:31:07","slug":"early-intervention-baby-walt-and-his-very-special-care-team","status":"publish","type":"case-study","link":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/stories\/early-intervention-baby-walt-and-his-very-special-care-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Intervention: Baby Walt and His Very Special Care Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Edward Walter Alexander, V, was three months old, his mother, Amy Brown, grew concerned that he wasn\u2019t using his right arm. A visit to the pediatrician led to a trip to a neurologist and, a few weeks later, admittance to a children\u2019s hospital after \u201cWalt\u201d began to have seizures. Neurologists determined he\u2019d had a stroke, which had likely occurred in utero. After a week in the hospital, Amy brought Walt home with a recommendation from his pediatrician to contact Grafton\u2019s Infant and Toddler Connection (ITC-SV) of the Shenandoah Valley.<\/p>\n

Gena Zydelis, Intake Service Coordinator, met with the family in their home to gather information used to evaluate Walt\u2019s eligibility for the program. The next step was conducting a multi-disciplinary assessment focused on functional skills. Once this was completed, an Individual Family Service Plan was then created. Finally, the level of support and services for Walt was determined.<\/p>\n

The ITC \u2013SV care team, which includes Jennifer Mantz, an occupational therapist, and Kate Hartsook, a physical therapist, then began working with Walt in the comfort of his own home. They started with the basics: tummy time, rolling, and sitting. Now, two years later, Amy says, \u201cThey\u2019ve taught me everything — how to help Walt walk up the stairs, how to encourage him to use his right arm, and they\u2019ve made sure I\u2019m comfortable doing it after they leave our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parent education is a primary focus of the care team, who take a lot of effort to support the parents of their young clients. After all, it is the parents, who are with their children every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this for 20 years,\u201d says Jennifer, \u201cand the biggest difference in a child\u2019s progress comes from the interaction and engagement they receive from family, teaching them strategies, coaching them through activities they can do throughout their day. It makes a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another difference comes from home visiting itself, which is different than a medical model. It is designed to promote learning and functional skill development during daily routines in a child\u2019s natural environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a clinical setting you have equipment at your fingertips,\u201d explains Kate. \u201cIn a home, you use what they have and incorporate it into the home visit. It allows you to tap into the interests of the child in their natural environment, use their toys, set it up in a way that\u2019s conducive to progressing their mobility or whatever the goal is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps most importantly, home visiting promotes a personal closeness.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou become part of the family,\u201d says Jennifer. \u201cThey become very important to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy agrees completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese women have hearts of gold, and they treat me like I\u2019m their family. They care for me as well as for Walt. In the beginning, when I had worse days than better, they listened to me, comforted me, took the time to let me know I wasn\u2019t the only person in the world going through this. That\u2019s great, because a lot of people don\u2019t recognize what the parents go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Walt, he continues to progress through his milestones and to be \u201ca delight,\u201d \u201ca problem solver,\u201d and \u201cthe hardest working little boy ever,\u201d according to Kate and Jennifer, both of whom credit his success to Amy\u2019s proactive efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to be there when they meet a milestone, when they roll over for the first time or sit on their own,\u201d says Kate. \u201cSeeing parents and babies glow is one of the things I look forward to. We\u2019ve had a lot of those moments with Walt, and he\u2019s going to have a lot more once he\u2019s out of our program, because he\u2019s just a really awesome kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for Walt\u2019s preschool program are already in the works as he approaches age three and transitions out of ITC-SV\u2019s Early Intervention Program.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe care team help guide you through everything,\u201d says Amy. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for families who are thinking about using this program to know how great they actually are and how much they care about your child and you.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Any child up to age 3 is eligible for early intervention services if they exhibit one of three criteria pertaining to development, and no child who meets the criteria is denied services due to an inability to pay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7067,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-7068","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","case-studiestypes-parents-and-families","case-studiestypes-success-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEarly Intervention: Baby Walt and His Very Special Care Team - Grafton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/case-studies\/early-intervention-baby-walt-and-his-very-special-care-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early Intervention: Baby Walt and His Very Special Care Team - Grafton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Edward Walter Alexander, V, was three months old, his mother, Amy Brown, grew concerned that he wasn\u2019t using his right arm. 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