Program helps kids catch up and succeed
Submitted by jcht2010 on
By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
As a first time mom, Rokisha Wilkins hadn’t noticed that her daughter Brea hadn’t met several of her “baby milestones,” because she didn’t have any other children for comparison.
“She was so friendly,” said Wilkins, “She would smile at you and all that, but when she got closer to one, a lot of babies were already starting to say ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ and she just really wasn’t doing it.”
However, when Brea had an hour-long seizure at ten months old, Wilkins was thrust into a whirlwind of doctors and hospitals and confusion. The seizures continued, and little Brea was still not talking, among other things doctors said she should be doing.
Wilkins was confused, scared, and worried for her daughter.
“She had her first seizure the day before Thanksgiving, so it was in November,” said Wilkins. “Then she had one in December, and one in January. The doctors told me it may be epilepsy.”
Thankfully for the Wilkins family, Region 3 had a program for families like them, and for children like Brea. Early Childhood Intervention is a state and federally funded program that helps children from birth to age three with various disabilities and ailments to help put them back on equal footing with their peers. ECI is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2016.
“We are a state and federally funded program,” said Dana Gaskins, a ECI case manager, “We provide developmental services for babies from birth to three who are developmentally delayed, or have disabilities. What we do is provide evaluations, physical therapy, speech therapy, all those things, to get that baby where they need to be with their development.”
“When you work with kids with special needs, you have to have it in your heart,” said Wilkins, “and they do. They just knew what made Brea work. They would laugh with her and they knew how to get to her. They had the funniest ways to get a kid physically active.”
Wilkins said Brea wasn’t the only one who benefitted from the ECI visits.
“The caseworker helped me with things. Eventually when she turned three and the program was over, they helped me with what would be the next steps. They helped me with Social Security paperwork. I would cry and they would just listen to me. It was physically hard for my daughter but it was really emotionally hard for me.”
When Mickalla Ashley’s twin boys, Kayden and Kolten, were born a month premature, she knew they might be behind their peers a bit, but as they grew, she said they weren’t really moving or being active at all.
“They were really stiff and they needed help with development,” Ashley said. “ECI got them up and helped me get them crawling. They’re teaching them to put toys up and take them out.”
The mother of four boys knew that something was not right when they were seven months old.
“[ECI] had come when they were three weeks old and they didn’t qualify, but they told me to call them if I had any concerns and questions, so I did. I told them something wasn’t right. They didn’t seem motivated like my oldest one did.”
Her oldest son, now five, had reached milestones far earlier than the twins, and although she knew that being premature they may not reach them as quickly, she felt like they should be doing something by now.
ECI stepped in and today the twins are crawling, scooting around, and even trying to walk. They’re also very interested in their two-month month old baby brother. The program has helped Ashley get her sons glasses, and has provided hearing tests. She said she is most impressed that, unlike many doctors’ offices or therapy centers, she doesn’t have to wait for her next appointment if she has questions. Her nurses are just a text message away.
Both mothers said their experience with ECI has changed not only their lives for the better, but the lives of their children – Children who just needed a little extra push to get started on equal with their peers when they entered school.
Ashley’s twins are thriving, and learning new things every day, and Wilkins’ daughter is now six, and in a preschool program for special needs children.
“She is like a completely different child,” said Wilkins, “I don’t know where she’d be without ECI.”
Early Childhood Development is a program offered by Region 3. They can be reached toll free at 1-888-909-3512.
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