Easter Seals-Goodwill Northern Rocky Mountain Inc

Meet Carter... Carter is a two-year-old who loves the playground. Playing on slides, on swings and in water are some of Carter’s favorite things to do. As an infant, he was diagnosed with an esophageal disease and numerous food allergies that caused him a lot of pain and made eating extremely difficult.

While receiving therapy to help with feeding and swallowing, they discovered that Carter was delayed in large motor, language and other skills. Easter Seals- Goodwill’s Provo Early Intervention Program stepped in to help with speech therapy.

Therapists came to Carter’s home and worked to help him catch up. “I’m beyond words to express my gratitude for ElBea and Easter Seals-Goodwill staff for coming to our home to help Carter,” said his mom, Megan.

Having in-home therapy meant they could use the toys and surroundings already familiar to Carter. It was easy for ElBea to show Megan how to help Carter between therapy sessions using items already in their home.

ElBea and other Easter Seals-Goodwill staff become much more than therapists. “Whenever I had a question about Carter or if something didn’t seem quite right, they were always there to help us,” said Megan.

As a bonus, Megan plans to use the speech and language skills she learned with Carter to help ensure his 3-month-old infant brother gets a good start in life. “These are things that will help us for the rest of my kids’ lives,” says Megan.

Meet our Peer Connections teams... These amazing teams are preparing youth with high functioning autism for the workplace and/or higher education.  In Salt Lake City and St. George, teens and young adults are matched with their typical peers.  Together, they volunteer at local nonprofit organizations like museums, learning to interact with the public, work with their peers, set goals, time management, and more—all of which are necessary after high school.  These young adults may be “outside their comfort zones” at first, but by the end, they are ready to take challenges they only imagined a very short weeks earlier!

Meet Neil... a Salt Lake City grade-schooler with autism and sensory processing disorder. He's incredibly articulate and smart. Click on his video and see how he explains what he goes through each day when messages your brain gets from your senses aren't organized. Neil was once "too difficult" to be in a normal classroom. Easter Seals-Goodwill pediatric therapy and Wiggly Worm classes helped him. Now's he's in a mainstream classroom, and in advanced reading and math groups. Wow! What a kid!

You can help children and youth in Utah -- kids from all walks of life who just need a chance. Thank you for giving generously!