"I had heard of the Babies Can’t Wait program, but quite honestly, I never fully knew how deeply Easterseals BCW Program would impact our lives. We received a Down Syndrome diagnosis at 34 weeks of pregnancy, and we delivered our daughter at nearly 38 weeks. By the time she was six weeks old, we had already had a home visit and physical therapy appointment to learn how we could help strengthen her muscles. We could not have been more blessed by our experience with Easterseals North Georgia's Babies Can't Wait program from our coordinator to our first physical therapist. They were both so very reassuring as we adjusted to having a child with special needs, guiding us along the way. Nancy “graduated” from physical therapy after turning 26 months old, when she started walking on her very own. From PT we transitioned to OT, and that was also beneficial in her development. Since my husband and I both work full time, it was awesome that the therapists would come to her daycare for some of her sessions.
The first year felt a lot easier to manage with our Babies Can't Wait support. When our daughter was a little over a year old, she contracted a very bad case of RSV. After we were discharged from the hospital with an NG feeding tube, we were soon thereafter moved to a regime of thickened liquids and assigned a speech therapist. While we continued to work on weaning to thinner liquids, her expressive language took off. Not a day goes by where Nancy does not ask for her speech therapist. Even though we’ve graduated from the BCW program, we’ve continued to work with our speech therapist; quite honestly, she feels like a member of the family. In fact, graduating out of BCW was terribly difficult because we had become so attached to our new “extended” family.
I cannot say enough awesome things about our time with BCW and Easter Seals North Georgia. The early intervention services have definitely helped our daughter blossom into the capable little person she is today, and I know the foundation established by BCW will continue to shape her along the way."
-Sandra