Sonny Soars with Early Intervention

It’s such a joy when families share how Early Intervention (EI) supports enrich their lives and empower young children. As a Provider to the Ohio Statewide EI System, the focus of EI is to assist a family in meeting the unique needs of their child. Family-focused resources and supports are provided in naturally-occurring learning environments, routinely at a child’s home. Read below to hear from Katie, Sonny’s mom, about how EI made a difference for their family…

“At about 8 weeks old, Sonny was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, which is a rare liver disease. Babies with biliary atresia can’t drain bile from their liver which causes a lot of bad stuff to happen.  Although Sonny had a surgery to try to correct the problem, it was ultimately deemed a failure. At three months old, Sonny received a liver transplant. Because a significant portion of the first six months of his life was spent in the hospital unable to move, Sonny had a little catching up to do. After our discharge, we immediately started working with the Developmental Specialist Gabby and the Broadmoor School Early Intervention Program to help us develop a plan to support Sonny’s development.

Starting with tummy time (which he hated), Gabby coached us on exercises we could do and week after week Sonny has made progress.  After a year, we are proud to report that Sonny is now walking and babbling and getting into everything! 

Sonny will continue to face challenges as a transplant recipient, but we are so grateful to our entire team of people we have, including Early Intervention, to help support our family.  It’s a great illustration of ‘it takes a village to raise a child.’” 

To learn more about EI services, please visit https://lakebdd.org/early-intervention-program/.