Switching Things Up

Well...we are officially switching things up. Colton just started his Physical Therapy at Access, not Easter Seals. Why the change? Well, here's the story...

At the end of April, our Physical Therapist was still doing home visits every 3 weeks for therapy. She came to our house and was working with him, and she told me that she was ready to start having him come to the facility 1x per week for 60 minutes. I was really excited for him to start going to therapy weekly because I knew it would take a little pressure off of me...I do my best, but a PT knows a lot more than I do. She also told me that she would be leaving Easter Seals to begin working at Access in June. Access recruited her because she's really good with babies and they wanted to add more babies to their school. She was told she could take all of her outpatients with her when she moved, if the families were willing to make the switch. She mentioned it to me and I was excited. I'd heard really great things about Access. Don't get me wrong, I really like Easter Seals, but it was the only place we'd toured because it was in a good location and we had some family friends that worked there. But, when you find a PT who loves on your baby and is making great progress with them, you just have to follow them! So...Hunter and I decided to go tour Access in order to see if we liked it. Let me just say...WOW! It was fabulous! When we left the tour, Hunter looked at me and said, "This is where Colton is going to go to preschool." I totally agreed. Every room had their curriculum posted outside with themes and book suggestions, etc.... The classrooms were so inviting. The focus of the school is Literacy and all of the preschool classes are 50% typical children and 50% children with developmental delays. The therapy gym was really big. There was a large in-ground trampoline and a foam pit with a balance beam going across it. There's a stage with lots of different things on it. They had a rock climbing wall and several types of swings. It was just really cool. If I were a kid, I'd be so excited to go in there to "play." Everyone was really friendly. They have a large garden that the older kids use to learn to plant and grow things. They even have adult classes for 18-35 year olds to help with interviewing skills and getting jobs, etc.... The goal would be for Colton to go to preschool there and then transition into Kindergarten at a regular public school; however, if he needs more assistance in the classroom, he can attend Access for school.

So far, we've had 3 PT appointments at Access. It's a very busy place and Colton loves to watch the other kids while he works out. He's making lots of progress, too. Colton has learned to roll from his back to his tummy. Every time I put him down on his back, he ends up on his tummy. I'm proud of my big boy! We are working on sitting up, too, and strengthening his arms so that he can learn to get into a crawling position.





We know several people who work at Access, and it's fun to run into them each week. It's definitely going to be a new home for us, and we are really excited about our journey there. We will do outpatient therapy until August 2017. Once I decide to send Colton to preschool there, he has to go full time, year round in order for TEFRA to pay for his school/therapy. They do year round because they don't want kids losing skills over the summer, especially when they work so hard to get those skills. I'm not ready to give my baby up for that long right now, so I'm going to wait another year until he's a little bit older. I like taking him to therapy so that I can watch and learn...it makes working with him at home easier if I can see what she does with him. So far, it's been a great experience. We are thrilled that we found a wonderful place for Colton!