TimesLeader.com

December 19, 2008
Agency helping out with ‘little miracles’

JANINE UNGVARSKY For The Times Leader

For some, a child feeding himself with a spoon or telling his mother he loves her are everyday occurrences. For those involved with Wyoming Valley Children’s Association, those events are little miracles, the reward for hard work well done.

Joan Gilberton, an early intervention teacher at Wyoming Valley Children’s Association, works with Faith.

S. JOHN WILKIN/THE TIMES LEADER

What began in 1924 as an orthopedic clinic to help children evolved into a full-service agency that in 2007 helped more than 600 children with a wide range of needs, according to marketing and special events director Kim Rollman.

The agency is one of 12 community organizations featured in The Times Leader’s Giving Guide, which began on Thanksgiving.

Readers are encouraged to donate to the organizations featured in order to help them continue to serve residents of the Wyoming Valley.

Wyoming Valley Children’s Association continues to offer an orthopedic clinic as well as other diagnostic services for children with physical, mental and emotional challenges and developmental delays, Rollman said. It has 90 children of all abilities in preschool, she said.

“By law, we must incorporate the special-needs children into the classroom with typically developing children,” Rollman said. The arrangement helps all the youngsters, she said.

While the typical students pay tuition for preschool and reimbursement is provided for the therapy of some special-needs students, Rollman said there is a gap between the money received and the cost to provide those services.

“We also need to change and grow with the children, so this year we may have a child with a different need than we’ve ever had before. There’s always a need for new equipment and new training,” Rollman said.

Some of the equipment is simple and low-tech, according to education coordinator Jane Phillips. A child with cerebral palsy may have trouble with a regular spoon, but may be able to feed himself with a special spoon with a fatter handle.

“These adaptive devices for feeding make such a big difference in the quality of life for these children,” Phillips said, “but they can only be used for one child so we’re always replacing them.”

Improving life for the child’s family is important as well, and Phillips said the agency maintains a library to help families understand and cope with the challenges of a special-needs child. One popular video program helps parents of children with behavior problems learn why their child acts out and teaches coping techniques.

“These videos can work wonders to help the child and the family so they can go to the mall or birthday parties or McDonald’s,” she said, “but our videos are VHS and we need to upgrade them to DVD.”

Helping families with special-needs children enjoy the same simple moments others take for granted is important to the staff, Phillips said. One of the tools used is a computer program called Boardmaker.

“Our teachers can create simple pictures that allow non-verbal children to express themselves. These children have the intelligence to know what they need but don’t have the physical ability to speak. Imagine having an ear ache or a stomach ache and not being able to tell anyone. Imagine how frustrating that is,” Phillips said.

Using Boardmaker, teachers print out simple pictures representing things the children might need to “say,” she said, including pictures of children holding their head or their stomach.

“Now that child can tell someone he’s hurting.”

Boardmaker helps teachers work with autistic children, Phillips said.

“Children on the autism spectrum have problems with things outside of their routine,” she said. “The teachers can use Boardmaker to make a social story book for individual children.”

Parents and teachers start reading the special book to the child a few weeks before an event.

“We had one little girl who was going to be a flower girl. Her book showed everything from her pretty purple dress to the flower basket she would carry to the bride and the groom and the trip in the car. Her mother told us she was a model flower girl, and that wouldn’t have happened without the book,” Phillips said.

Phillips said training on Boardmaker can help children learn to communicate in other ways, too.

“I remember one little guy who picked up a picture of a heart and handed it to his mother on Valentine’s Day. From the look in his eyes, you just knew what his message was,” she said.

“Those little things — the kids who learn to feed themselves, who can tell their mother that they love them, those are little miracles. That’s what we want for these kids — to give them the tools to do everything they possibly can.”

CHILDREN’S ASSOC.

To give: Send check made payable to WVCA at 1133 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort, PA 18704 or visit the agency’s Web site for instructions on credit card donations.

For more information: Call 570-714-1246

Wish list: Donations to fund therapy and special equipment such as adaptive devices, educational videos and Boardmaker software programs.

Agency’s mission: Providing therapy and early childhood education for children age five or younger who demonstrate developmental and neurological disabilities.

Service area: Wyoming Valley

Year established locally: 1924

Executive director: WVCA is governed by a Volunteer Board of Directors that meets monthly.

Web site: www.wvcakids.org