Easterseals Helps Family Share A Meal!
By Natalie Scott
It is a typical scene happening in many homes across the country, a family sharing a meal at the table. However, for the Shrieves family, this night is anything but typical. For the first time since two-year-old Cheyanne was born, the family is all eating the same meal. Easterseals speech therapy services helped this magical moment come true.
“Tonight, Cheyanne ate what we ate for dinner. She ate chicken, a few green beans and some potatoes! That is the first time ever! I have tears in my eyes I am so excited and proud of her,” Cheyanne’s mom, Heather, says. “Thank you Easterseals for all your hard work and help. It means more than I could ever express.”
Cheyanne originally started speech therapy to help her learn sign language so she could communicate with her mom. Now, speech therapy is helping her broaden her vocabulary, tolerate more textured foods, like the dinner she shared with her family and brush her teeth. Physical therapy helped Cheyanne learn to roll over, sit up and walk. Occupational therapy not only helped her learn to grasp and stack toys, but it is also helping to improve her hand-eye coordination and with her pre-writing skills.
A trusted provider of children’s therapy services for more than 65 years, Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore specializes in treating children ages birth through eighteen years with a variety of challenges. Easterseals specializes in meeting the needs of children and their families through creative, playful activities that go beyond traditional services.
“Therapy has helped my daughter meet her milestones. But it has also helped me as a mom,” Heather says. “I have been given the tools to help my daughter meet those milestones and it has helped me realize that I am not alone in this. My husband and I have found a village at Easterseals that has helped us in so many ways. We have also learned how to be an advocate for our daughter.”
More than 430 children per year receive physical, speech and occupational therapy at the Easterseals Children’s Therapy Center in Dover. Easterseals plays a critical role in providing needed therapy for children with a variety of disabilities, short or long term. Children with and without disabilities will find the highest quality services designed to meet their individual needs. For more information about Easterseals Children’s Therapy services call 302-678-3353 in Kent and 302-324-4444 in New Castle.
Easterseals Kent County center is located at 100 Enterprise Place, Suite 1, Dover, DE 19904
Easterseals in New Castle County is located at 61 Corporate Circle, New Castle, DE 19720
Please visit our website and see all of our services for people of all ages and abilities: www.de.easterseals.com
