My daughter, Hannah, now age 4, is a bright, social, engaging, curious, loving, feisty, chocolate-cupcake-loving little girl. She knows that if she’s really super-sweet, she gets what she wants.
One month after her birth, Hannah suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. After the stroke, she was able to respond if we spoke to her because the communication side of her brain was fine, but her entire right side was drastically affected. She didn’t acknowledge the right side and couldn’t move it. In her mind it didn’t exist, because those nerve endings were simply not there.
From the moment she was diagnosed, both my husband, Anthony, and I felt our world come to a standstill. We allowed ourselves to wallow in this darkness for a while. Then we took charge and started to seek out the best way for our beautiful Hannah to live a full, enriched, and happy life as any other child deserves to.
I took a leave of absence from work so that I could concentrate on helping Hannah. Fortunately, I was guided to the Early Intervention system. After Hannah was diagnosed by both her neurologist and pediatrician, she was evaluated by an Early Intervention team and found to be eligible for services.
Through Early Intervention, Hannah was given needed support—first occupational therapy and physical therapy, and later speech therapy as well. When asked by the therapists what goals I wanted Hannah to achieve, my first response was: to live a happy life and do what all children can do. I then followed up saying I just wanted to see her clap her hands—let’s start with that. At 12 months Hannah was able to sing and do the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands.” To most parents this is cute, but to a parent with a child with special needs, it is a connection, a milestone, a miracle achieved. At 15 months Hannah crawled and then at 23 months she took her first steps unassisted.
The Early Intervention therapies were instrumental in Hannah’s success. As a stroke victim who never knew how to move her body, Hannah was helped to build
those neurological paths in the brain so that she would be able to develop and reach milestones. It did take longer, but she was able to reach them.
Because the brain is so plastic in the first year or even two years, there’s a much higher percentage of success in that period. If you wait longer, the chance of success dwindles. We are positive these milestones would have never been achieved if we had not addressed her challenges early with the support of the therapists provided by Early Intervention.
Early Intervention actually saves money. Because of Early Intervention, Hannah was able to get help in that 12-month window. Because of Early Intervention, she does not need a one-on-one staff person to support her in the classroom. Although physical therapy will always be part of her life, because of Early Intervention, she will need much, much less of it. Because of Early Intervention, Hannah is able to participate in typical activities for her age, such as yoga and tap dancing, which provide socialization opportunities as well as body strengthening activities that reduce her need for physical therapy.
Most important to us as parents, though, is that Early Intervention has transformed and enriched the quality of Hannah’s life. You cannot put a price on that.
We are appalled by the Governor’s proposal to cut Early Intervention rates by 10%. Past cuts and a low rate have already forced agencies to stop providing Early Intervention services. Another large cut will completely wreck the system. Early Intervention will not be available to the thousands of families who need it.
As New Yorkers, we are proud of our outstanding Early Intervention services. With a system already in place that has been successful and benefited so many families, how could you ever deny that to future families? How could you consider removing the hope and direction that Early Intervention has provided so many families in the past? The higher long-term cost for tomorrow’s infants and toddlers will outweigh any short-term cuts you consider. What a shame that would be, what a terrible waste.
Thank you.