Community Stories

My son Ocean, he is almost two now and just such an amazing special little boy and he just loves people and singing and he's just an amazing child. He came here when he was about one, so about six months ago, and he's just a really big boy. He's very big for his age, and he was just like really, he was a little bit delayed with his pediatrician, so we started physical therapy, but he would just take a few steps and fall, so he was very, just like not, not very stable on his feet.

Parent as Teachers program through Easterseals through a friend of mine named Christina through MOPS. Being a stay-at-home mom can be isolating sometimes, and I really love how the Parent as Teacher would come and just be down to earth and really help me with any questions, and sometimes that was more important than anything else. It helps support expecting moms and new moms in their journey with parenting. I love that we could encourage each other and just share with each other and learn so much from the other moms. I know children spend a lot of time in school and families should be the foundation of where they learn from. First and foremost, family is a priority.

His name is Reynaldo Guajardo. Rey has severe food allergies. And I did not feel safe for him to go into public school or preschool at such a young age because he was not able to verbalize for himself what he can and cannot eat. In an anaphylactic situation, it can be life or death. So it's very difficult to manage those type of allergies, especially in a school setting with young children, because his specific food allergy is dairy. I was fortunate enough to find the HIPPY program and be able to teach him at home and use the resources that were provided to me to help him learn and develop and prepare him for elementary school.

Families enrolled in our program benefit greatly with a range of services. So that can be from their monthly home visit to access to meeting other parents that are group connections, linking them to family resources in the community such as childcare, counseling, basic needs support. For every model visit, our families receive information about three areas. The first area being parent-child interaction. So our parent educators take in an activity and they coach the family in being able to do that activity together.

HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. It's an evidence-based school readiness program that follows a curriculum that's developmentally appropriate and encourages parent-child interaction. During the pandemic, I was a little bit hesitant about sending my kids to school. So I started doing some research on virtual school so that they wouldn't stay behind since I wasn't going to be able to send them to school that year. So on Facebook I was actually able to find Easter Seals and they were like offering the program for virtual schools or for virtual classes and of course I called and contacted them.

From the very first visit, I felt heard, respected, and hopeful for my son’s future. I’ll never forget the emotional moment when he sat up on his own for the first time.

Jake is able to soar on a zip line, sing his heart out in “Fairlee’s Got Talent” and savor new foods in a safe and nurturing environment. Meanwhile, his parents, Jen and Frank, get the break they need.