One Who Benefitted

Our precious son Andrew was born on May 23, 2006.  He came with a little something “extra”, he was born with Down Syndrome and 2 heart defects.  Andrew was immediately transported to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where he spent a week in the NICU before his first of 2 heart surgeries.  After a 3 ½ week stay, we were finally home.  As my type “A” personality kicked in, I began to research everything I could regarding Down syndrome.  One constant in all my research was the importance of Early Intervention.  After additional research and speaking to parents of children with Down syndrome, it was clear that Benton County Sunshine School was the place we needed to be.

Andrew was evaluated in August of 2006 and found to have a 50% delay.  He began receiving both Occupational and Physical therapy in October.  Even with open-heart surgery 3 weeks before he began, he was such a trooper.  His therapists were extremely conscientious of his restrictions while healing and still used the time to work with him in other ways.  It is amazing to see the leaps and bounds he has made and continues to make.   He works so hard during his sessions and we work equally hard at home.  Andrew sat alone at 6.5 months, crawled at 11 months, and walked independently at 17 months. In addition to OT and PT, we picked up Speech therapy in October of 2007 and have seen wonderful results here as well. He now uses sign language to communicate his desires.  I know that his Therapists and the Early Intervention program at BCSS have been and continue to be an integral part of his success.

With all the wonderful results we have seen with the Early Intervention program, we felt it was an obvious choice for him to continue on into the school program. We truly believe that Benton County Sunshine School has been our first ray of hope for a bright and promising future for our son Andrew.