Impact Stories

Emilia’s Story: A Social and Happy Little Girl

Behavioral | Communication | Sensory

When Emilia’s family noticed that she was not meeting development benchmarks at 13 months old, they reached out to Early Intervention Services in Lawrence, MA for an evaluation. Emilia received a diagnosis of global developmental delay¹ and autism². The EI professional helped the family set up in-home Applied Behavior Analysis³ therapy to give Emilia all the support she needs.

Early Intervention Services

The family was matched with Jolene, CEIS and Early Intervention developmental specialist. Initially, Emilia was shy, but she quickly warmed up to Jolene in the weekly therapy sessions and the two grew close within weeks. In the beginning, Emilia was not interested in playing and did not know the names of familiar household items. Jolene focused on play skills and labeling by leveraging various strategies: choices, seek and find, and music choices. Jolene also worked on receptive and expressive language in order to improve Emilia’s communication skills. As a “gestalt” language learner, Emilia used phrases to interact but often these phrases did not make sense to listeners. Jolene and Emilia worked to break down her language to make it functional.

Emilia also worked with Jamie, an Early Intervention physical therapist, once a month to focus on her motor skills. Jamie worked with Emilia to gain strength so she could walk with balance and coordination, walk up and down stairs, and jump on a trampoline.

Finally, Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, an extension of Early Intervention Services, was provided to Emilia every week in the family’s home. This therapy included approximately five hours of therapy to target attention to activities, consistently answering to her name, following directions, developing functional language, and pre-academic skills including sorting and matching.

Over time, Jolene became like a dear family member and was a trusted advisor to Emilia’s parents.

Jolene shares, “Emilia’s parents have been consistently diligent in following through on strategies worked on in our weekly sessions. This has been apparent every week when I see the progress she is making, their dedication to their daughter’s growth is beautiful to watch. I love that part of my job! It has been a pleasure working with this family!”

Benefits to Child and Family

Emilia has made significant advances in her development including motor skills and communication. Her family has seen an incredible change; Emelia is more communicative and is a happy and sociable little girl. With Emilia aging out of Early Intervention Services at three years old, her family is excited as they look ahead to see all that she will accomplish!

¹Global developmental delay – young children with notable delays in two or more areas of development.

²Autism (Level 1) – Characterized by challenges in social skills, communication, and behavior. It is important to note that autism is a spectrum disorder so each child will present symptoms differently.

³Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy helps teach new social skills, lessen challenging behaviors, and improve communication.

I will forever be grateful that we had the privilege of working with Early Intervention Services at Partners in Child Development. Emilia would not be where she is today without them.

– Stephanie, Emilia’s mom, Methuen, MA