Alexander’s Story

Alex’s Story
June 12, 2014
Choices
September 23, 2014
Alex’s Story
June 12, 2014
Choices
September 23, 2014
Show all

Alexander’s Story

Alexander

AlexanderEric and Charlotte’s story in seeking early intervention for Alexander began early. “We noticed that our son, Alexander, was a little behind in reaching the usual milestones for crawling and standing, and didn’t want to delay getting help for him.”   They contacted the Alliance for Infants and Toddlers and began receiving services through TEIS. Alexander started with physical therapy, and was later referred to developmental, speech, and occupational therapy.

 

Alexander was later diagnosed at age 2 with Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) on the Autism Spectrum, starting a whole new journey for the family. Each discipline helped to guide the family in strategies that took into consideration his individual needs and built upon his strengths and skills. One thing that they’ve learned is how his sensory needs guide his behavior and how the family is able to use the sensory exercises and activities to help him focus and transition. Alexander’s family is also very involved with the bi-weekly TEIS playgroup. Playgroup has been an opportunity for Eric and Charlotte to gain supports and develop friendships with other early intervention families, in addition to providing opportunities for Alexander to work on social interactions with his peers.

 

“All of our therapists – Jeff, Sarah N, Flo, Sarah H-L, and Michelle – have been great teachers for us, as well as therapists for Alexander”, says Eric. “They involve us in everything they do with Alexander, helping us learn and practice activities, so we can continue working with him throughout the week. They work well as a team too, sharing information about his progress so that his different therapy sessions are complementary and reinforcing. They’ve been wonderful with Alexander, have taught us a lot about how best to help him, and have been supportive and encouraging to us as parents”.