When mothers tell their children that they need to work with Ms. Joanie, Joan Thiel is quick to set them straight.
"They're going to play with Ms. Joanie," said Thiel, a pediatric occupational therapist at Therapy Works, a provider with the Babies Can't Wait program. "The idea is to trick [the children] into thinking that they're having a good time, instead of learning new skills and being able to participate more fully in their daily lives."
 Photos by BARRY WILLIAMS/Special |
| Occupational therapist Mary Jo Ray works with Emmanuel Dauda, 1, as his
mother, Victoria, and sister, Goodness, 5, look on. |
 |
| Mary Jo Ray dangles a toy above Emmanuel Dauda. 'It's so neat to see [children's] faces light up when they can do something or [to] hear a parent say, 'You'll never believe what he did this week,' ' Ray said.
|
Babies Can't Wait is Georgia's interagency service-delivery system for infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families. The federally funded grant program provides early-intervention therapy and services for newborns through 3-year-olds.
Thiel's job is to engage children through play or daily activities while providing therapy. It takes creativity, empathy, persistence and patience. It also helps if you don't mind looking ridiculous.
"The sillier we are, the more they [the children] like it," said Thiel, OTR.
Occupational therapy helps child development by improving motor skills, cognitive ability, sensory processing, communication, play and other skills.
Spurring development early in children's lives creates better results. "We see some dramatic changes," Thiel said.
When Thiel met one 4-month-old boy, he would cry and shake, and his parents couldn't hold him for feedings or diaper changes. After several years of Thiel's work with the boy and his family, he could sit up, move, talk and feed himself. His parents could hold him, and he was able to play with toys.
"We get very close to the children and families we serve, and they appreciate what we do," Thiel said.
Early intervention
Kay Nelson, who has been a pediatric occupational therapist for 30 years, still hears from former clients who are now in their 20s. Nelson, owner of Therapy Works in Lawrenceville, has worked with the Babies Can't Wait program for 22 years.
Early intervention is about helping children with special needs to develop and teaching families how to care for them, Nelson said.
"When a baby has been in NICU [the neonatal intensive-care unit] for months with tubes, parents have to figure out how to take care of him," said Nelson, OTR. "It's not just figuring out what the child needs but [also] what his family needs and wants — and putting the two together."
When infants are referred to Babies Can't Wait, therapists evaluate them and develop individualized family-service plans, which detail the services the children will receive and the goals they are working toward. Therapists visit the children in their homes or child care settings to achieve those goals.
"If you're a good therapist, the child should be happy to see you," Nelson said. "You become part of his world, and he doesn't even realize he's working to learn new skills.
"Sometimes the goals are just simple family things that we all take for granted. One of the best things a mom ever said to me was, "We went to McDonald's over the weekend.' "
Nelson had worked on the child's motor skills so he could eat normal foods.
When Nelson sees a child who has cerebral palsy romp on a playground or another who doctors said would become blind learn to read, she knows she's making a difference.
"It's easy to make assumptions about a special-needs child, but it is best not to. Therapy can make all the difference in the world," Nelson said.
Funding changes for the program have made it more difficult to deliver services, she said. Therapy Works recently partnered with Easter Seals of North Georgia to serve children in Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton counties.
Nelson is a program coordinator for a team model of service, which coordinates care given by all providers. Teams of therapists and clinicians meet weekly with families to discuss how to meet needs and goals, including how to fund services with dwindling resources.
According to the Georgia Department of Community Health's Web site, care-management organizations (CMOs) were put into place "to control the rapidly escalating health care costs, achieve budget predictability, consolidate fragmented systems of care, and improve the overall health status of Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids members."
While CMOs are required to provide case-management services for infants and toddlers at risk of developmental delays, the organizations aren't required to cover the costs of everything in a child's individualized family-service plan.
A rewarding job
"It's a constant battle to get kids the therapy and equipment that they need," said Mary Jo Ray, MS, OTR-L, who works at All About Kids Therapy in Lawrenceville. "It shouldn't be that hard. These kids already have an uphill battle, and the earlier they can get therapy, the better."
When Ray became an occupational therapist four years ago, she didn't expect to work with clients all day and then do hours of paperwork at night to cut through red tape.
"But working with these kids is so rewarding," she said. "No matter how hard it gets, I won't stop."
Ray knew she wanted to work with special-needs kids when she was 11. Her mother's best friend was told that her newborn "would, essentially, be a vegetable," Ray said. "I jumped in and learned how to suction her tracheotomy tube and feed her. Rachel learned to smile, to grasp and crawl. She started walking and was learning to sign at 2½, when she got sick and died. I knew then that I wanted to ... help these kids."
Ray volunteered at The Elaine Clark Center in Chamblee — a facility Rachel had attended — and was put on the payroll when she was 16. She went to college to become an occupational therapist.
"What I love best is getting to develop a close relationship with a family and seeing the kids take off and meet their goals," Ray said.
Forming those relationships can be challenging. When Ray started working with one autistic 2-year-old, the boy wouldn't let her within 30 feet of him.
"He was interested in what I was doing and [in] the toys in the bag. I'd get down on his level and play — talking in a calm, even, reassuring tone — until he started inching closer and closer," she said.
Now, after two years the boy meets Ray at the door, picks a toy from the bag and lets her help him play with it. He's learning to write, can feed himself and can almost dress himself.
"He's getting close to discharge, and that's always our goal," she said. "The parents are so thankful, but they've done a lot of the work themselves. I gave the tips, and they carried them out."
For Ray, making progress is what it's all about.
"It's so neat to see [children's] faces light up when they can do something or [to] hear a parent say, 'You'll never believe what he did this week,' " Ray said. "I've found my niche: working with kids."
Vote for this story!