Ethan's Therapies

Ethan turned 3 in 2007, which means he graduated from the Missouri First Steps Program and his therapies were switched over to the school district we live in, Liberty, MO. Even before he turned 3, he began to attend Preschool at The Children's Center for the Visually Impaired, and began receiving all of his therapies except for Physical Therapy while in school there. Ethan currently attends CCVI 4 half days a week and gets all of his therapies there now by incredibly caring people! These therapists provide the best, most consistent and sometimes rigorous therapy for Ethan! We feel very lucky to have these people in Ethan's life who care about him and his ability to improve and make gains every day! Thank you Ms Gayla, Ms Jill, Ms Mirissa, Ms Jean, Ms Becca, Ms Jill, Ms Jeanne and Ms Sam for all the time you devote to Ethan! Thank you also to Jenn Lee from the Liberty Early Childhood Center and Lisa Lind from CCVI for making sure all the paperwork and all the fine details are always handled perfectly!

Ms Jeanne is Ethan's Preschool 2 teacher. Ethan's P2 Classroom is CCVI's dedicated Deaf/Blind classroom. Ms Jeanne does an amazing job with Ethan-what we love the most is that even with Ethan's disabilities, he takes part in all activities that the other children do from painting to making his Valentine box! The class even went on 3 field trips so far this year! One was to Union Station to see the Marillac Christmas Tree display and ride the Spirit Train. Ms Jeanne had called ahead to check if Ethan would be able to ride the train since he is unable to sit unassisted, and originally they told her no-he wouldn't be able to-but when they got there-they let him ride the train on her lap! He watched the big, lighted tree in the middle of the train track and laughed the whole ride! We love Ms Jeanne!!!

Ms Gayla was Ethan's Preschool 1 teacher from August 2006 to July 2007. Ms Gayla was the perfect person for us to have as Ethan's first teacher at CCVI-she was patient, understanding and made Ethan work hard when he was just trying to be lazy! Our first impression of CCVI's Preschool program with Ms Gayla as Ethan's teacher only confirmed our belief that Ethan was right where he needed to be! Thank you Ms Gayla for all the care and love you provided to our son!

Ms Jill was one of the assistants in Ethan's Preschool 1 classroom. Ms Jill was one of Ethan's favorite teachers-and I think he was one of her special students too! Ms Jill even showed Parker how to Braille his name on the Braille machine one afternoon!

"Good-bye Antonio, it's time to go, Good-bye Antonio it's time to go, Good-bye Antonio it's time to go-put your name in the bucket and we'll clap for you!" was the song P1 sang at the end of the day while each child put their name tag in the bucket. Ethan's name was on an Elephant! Miss Jill, Ethan's current PT is seen in this pic helping Antonio with his name tag while Ms Gayla helps Ethan clap!

Ethan's Pool Therapy Oct 2005 to March 2006

Ethan was fortunate to be able to receive Pool Therapy for a short time at Children's Mercy-every Monday morning from about October 2005 until March 2006. His PT was Nathan-and Ethan worked really hard for him!

Ethan loved the pool on really early cold Monday mornings! It was 95 degrees after all-and more like a big warm bath-tub than actual work! Nathan was great with Ethan, and we would still be doing the pool therapy except Ethan had an OPM which determined he was a 'thin liquid aspirate risk" and Mercy wouldn't accept the risk of putting him back in the pool until he was no longer a risk! So, maybe one day-when he is no longer a risk-we will definitely get him back in the pool! Until then-we do Ethan's pool therapy ourselves at home in the hot-tub!

Again, I would like to Thank all of Ethan's therapists-past and present! All of you have made a positive impact on Ethan's quality of life, without you-Ethan wouldn't be where he is today!