Every child deserves a free and independent childhood. The independence your child gains from receiving Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy or Speech Therapy from a Small Hands, Big Hearts therapist can allow her or him to more greatly experience this freedom. Each therapy session is an investment in your child’s future. We know your child has unique challenges and all of our patients receive customized pediatric therapy treatments to Help Every Angel Reach Therapeutic Success. We provide services to patients from birth to 21 years of age. All SHBH Therapists are fully licensed and screened, offering fun, interactive sessions in your home or your child’s care setting.
My name is Rachel, and I am an SHBH Physical Therapist Assistant.
I would like to introduce you to Prince*. Prince was born extremely premature at 24 weeks and only weighing 2 pounds, 2 ounces. He spent the next 4 months of his life in the NICU and was diagnosed with hypotonia, anemia of prematurity, macroglossia, retinopathy of prematurity, sleep apnea, and an MRSA carrier.
Evaluation (Creating a Plan) -
Sarah, a Physical Therapist with SHBH, evaluated Prince in March of 2019 when he was 15-months old, and initiated Physical Therapy services. At that time, Prince was only able to hold his head up. He could not sit on his own, roll, crawl, or stand up as would a “typical developing” 15-month-old should. Sarah devised a plan of care specific to his needs, and we began Physical Therapy.
Therapy Begins (And incremental Improvements begin) -
I began working with Prince in May of 2019, following Sarah’s specialized treatment plan. We started with maintaining positions like tummy time, sitting, and quadruped.
After a few months we progressed to transitioning into and out of positions; like rolling back and forth, tummy time into sitting, and sitting into quadruped.
After 3 months of therapy Prince was rolling by himself and sitting briefly on his own. Another 5 months of therapy Prince was crawling, pulling to stand, and taking steps alongside the couch.
Four months later his siblings were able to help him walk as he was walking with only hand-held assist! A few months later and at 2.5 years of age, Prince began walking on his own!
Conclusion (Therapy Success) -
Now he is able to walk around his house, interact with his siblings, all the while increasing his quality of life because of SHBH therapy services!
Rachel B.SHBH Physical Therapy Assistant
SHBH–Helping Every Angel Reach Therapeutic Success.
*The client’s name has been changed to protect their identity.
My name is Shira D., and I am a Small Hands, Big Hearts Speech Therapist. Here is a recent success story.
I started seeing Rachel* when she was about 5 years old. Diagnosed with hearing loss, she was barely speaking. She communicated mostly through pointing and grunting. Her mother felt that even though she was such a smart, shining, beautiful girl, nobody could see just how great her daughter was. I began seeing Rachel for language and articulation therapy. Every activity I brought, her eyes lit up. She was so eager to learn and to participate; she made my job very easy. And I looked forward to making her happy every session! After just a few weeks, we could already see her growth. Her determination was paying off quickly.
Over the year, Rachel kept progressing. She’d work on a sound and she’d fix it. She’d learn a new word, and use it. Nobody could stop her. Now, after 18 months of intervention, Rachel is just barely below the normal range for articulation skills. Some fine tuning is needed, but she is completely intelligible to an unfamiliar listener! Her language has skyrocketed. She can tell us what she needs, how she feels, what she likes and dislikes. She shares opinions, jokes, and she speaks in full sentences! She can show how smart, how kind, and how friendly she is. I can’t wait to see what the next few months of therapy bring for Rachel. I’m so proud of all of her hard work!
My name is Dana H., and I am a Small Hands, Big Hearts Speech Therapist. Here is a recent success story.
I want to introduce you to Sara*. Sara has visual challenges as well as hearing and speech difficulties. She often has to use a wheelchair.
When this precious little girl was born, she was developing typically. All of sudden, she had a series of seizures at 3 months of age. Her development slowed drastically after this event.
I met Sara when she was 18 months old. I was providing home speech therapy to her older sister. I noticed her developmental delays. Since Sara was only 18 months of age, her mom was not aware speech therapy could benefit her. I explained that speech therapy could be exactly what Sara needed to accelerate her development.
SHBH was able to get Sara quickly approved for speech therapy services and we started working together.
Soon Sara began babbling, a positive step which is a necessary for speech development. As a therapist, I want every child to develop as much communication independence as possible, so we also began using PECS–a picture exchange communication system. Sara and I worked on identifying pictures by simply pointing at them when I vocalized the object.
We soon had a breakthrough. Sara started handing me pictures to communicate what it is that she wanted, a drink, a snack or a certain toy. I was excited because this showed that she understood the functional connection between the picture and the object with which it corresponded. Over time she started using PECS to communicate more and more.
One occasion her mom related to me stands out in particular. Sara was at school and had grabbed a picture of Cheese-Itz, a snack she loves. Sara crawled over to the teacher and handed her a card to express her wishes for a snack. The fact that she was able to do this represented a milestone of freedom and independence for Sara.
Sara can now use an iPad or iPhone to communicate using PECS. Melissa Gutzmer, our SHBH CEO, took the time to research grants and provided me with an application from the Elk Lodge. This particular grant provides needed equipment for children with special needs. Through the Elks club grant, we were able to get Sara her own iPad. She is now able to tap and slide all over the iPad and communicate using PECS.
We have seen another victory. Sara has begun vocalizing! We still have a ways to go, but this is a beautiful picture of a child making progress through the efforts of SHBH to provide therapy while connecting Sara with strategic partners like the school district and Elks Lodge.
Recently Sara visited extended family in Mexico who had not seen her for a long period of time. They were amazed at her progress.
