Eva and Harmony are two sisters who have been attending Speech, Occupational, and Physical Pediatric Therapy at Medical Support Services for the last 5 years. When they first started, Eva was 3 years old and was minimally verbal, needed assistance with all ADLs, and demonstrated very low strength and endurance. Harmony was much younger, only 14 months old, and had very few play skills and was not yet walking. From the very beginning of their journey with us, Eva and Harmony’s parents were very involved with therapy and willing to carry over therapy activities at home.
In Speech Therapy, Eva works on improving her efficiency while eating and communicating. She was recently approved for her very own communication device and is waiting patiently for it to arrive! This device will greatly aid in communication breakdowns, clarify verbal attempts, expand expressive output, and much more.
Harmony has also made incredible progress in Speech Therapy. In her initial evaluation, she was producing only 3 words and relied heavily on gestures to communicate. She can now produce 3-4 word sentences, follow multi-step directions, and enjoys socializing with everyone she meets!
In Occupational Therapy, Eva has worked to build ADL skills, fine motor skills, and upper extremity strength. She is now able to dress herself independently (always in fun outfits!), write letters, and draw simple shapes.
Harmony has made similar progress; she has developed great play skills and is now able to dress and feed herself.
In Physical Therapy, Eva had difficulty using stairs, while running or jumping, and had sensory difficulties. In March of 2022 after a lot of hard work she graduated PT, having met her goals, improved her balance, strength, and coordination. In August of 2022, she returned to the clinic for episodic PT services due to a buckle fracture of her lower left leg. When she started services, her cast was recently removed and was walking with a walker and considered weight bearing as tolerated. Eva had experienced fractures in the past that lead to slow return to normal gait pattern. Timing was crucial for her to return to therapy in order to reduce fear and hesitation to return to normal activity. Within 2 months of therapy, Eva was back to her normal self and functional level, and once again discharged from therapy for meeting goals!
Harmony was seen for PT due to poor balance and overall weakness limiting her ability to keep up with her peers. Now she is able to go up and down stairs with no hands, jump with both feet, propel a trike, and walk across the balance beam! Harmony made amazing progress in her independence and confidence in PT.
Eva and Harmony have now both graduated from Physical Therapy and only receive Occupational and Speech Therapy once a week. We have been incredibly lucky to see their growth over the years. They have left a huge impact on all the therapists and peers they have worked with and continue to impress us with their progress.
Story update!!!
Eva has been doing so well that as of Wednesday, June 14th, 2023, she has graduated from feeding therapy! She has worked so hard to improve her strength and coordination while eating. She is now able to eat a variety of foods including chewy, crunchy, and mixed consistencies with great efficiency. Eva also recently received her Speech Generating Device (SGD) and independently requested popsicles for her graduation celebration!
We are so proud of you Eva, way to keep up the hard work!
