Early Intervention - Tom's Therapy Friends

Early Intervention is a program that helps children ages 0-3 who need help to grow and develop. We left the hospital after Thomas was born with a referral for our local Early Intervention office. Children that have a disability should be referred almost immediately for this program, but other kids may begin to have difficulties as they get a little older and be referred then.

If you are concerned about your child's development in any way you should speak to your pediatrician about Early Intervention or call your local Early Intervention office. Click here for more information about Early Intervention.

Playing with the light box his vision therapist ordered for him

Thomas has just about every type of therapy offered by Early Intervention: occupational therapy, physical therapy, vision therapy, speech therapy and an nutritionist.

The therapists come directly to our house for therapy so it could not be more convenient. I cannot tell you how important this is. You have experts coming to your house for free!! It's an amazing program.

We started out with just vision therapy but when Thomas was about five months old physical therapy was added. Thomas was also born with hypertone, meaning that his muscles are too rigid which does not allow for proper movement. To us it felt like he was really strong and we didn't realize it was a bad thing at first. Well as soon as physical therapy started we realized its value. It is amazing what therapy can do. His body has lost all of the rigidity it used to have and they are now working on walking.

What feeding issues? I only like pretzels.

When Thomas began having feeding issues occupational therapy was added. She helps him with oral motor skills, and works on his tone and sensory issues. Too much tension in the upper body also makes feeding difficult.

Children with visual impairments often have difficulties handling strange textures. If you can't see a sticky or gooey item it is going to be very jarring to just come across it.  I find that occupational therapy is one of the most interesting to watch. They employ so many creative play techniques to get children to achieve their therapeutic goals.

When Thomas got his g-tube a nutritionist was added to the team. She worked with us to find a suitable food for Thomas and has monitored his calories and weight.

Recently, we added a speech therapist. I have often read that it is important to start speech therapy before the age of two. Thomas already had lots of pre-language sounds and about three words but by about 15 months we weren't really progressing. I felt that a speech therapist could get us on track.

He has only been working with his speech therapist for about a month and already I see an improvement. He is vocalizing much more and has several new words.

These therapists know the techniques to help your child. It is such a help to have their advice and encouragement as your child is developing.