Pasadena Child Development Associates, Inc.
Pasadena Child Development Associates, Inc.
Family Stories
The program has helped my son in his development. He is not the child he once was. His therapist has been very patient and worked well with both me and my son.
The Odebunmi Family
I feel the entire staff at PCDA who I encountered cared. The receptionist greeted my kids by name. Other therapists were excited about his progress and mentioned it to me. Not only would I recommend other parents here, I have already recommended four other families to PCDA. I like the large parking area, the large waiting room, the easy access to bathrooms, the staff offices being located away from the service areas, and of course the big gym!
Mother of Kayode, 5 years old
Bill and Gabriel Cushing
Gabriel and his Dad Bill, who wrote this lovely poem.
GABRIEL'S COMING
Things did not turn out
as perfectly as we had hoped. When
the doctors
extracted him
from the womb, there he was
a twisted pretzel of
a person, this child
who was to be perfect,
shaking and bloody
as a wounded bird and
not much different:
from the bony shoulders,
like broken wings, crooked
arms splayed up to the curled hands
that seemed jammed
under a quivering chin attached,
haphazardly, to a crooked head.
Hips
perpendicular to
a withered torso,
legs running
up the sides of a pruney chest-
all these deformities
from blood that had
clotted on the brain:
a stroke. So,
a malady
of the elderly became
his personal anomaly.
Blood soaked, crooked,
crying, and
brain damaged:
this was how we greeted
our son,
yet
from those bodily barricades
and out of that
unquenchable panic
came
a boy who
did not interrupt a family,
did not join a family,
but who
created a family.
The Gaytans
On behalf of Patrick and we, his parents, we want to thank you for the wonderful work you are doing for our precious kids. Your patience, guidance and care is uplifting and soothing to our hearts. In the outside world their lives can many times receive wounding and here they get hope and encouragement for a better future. I hope this program will continue and spread to many other areas because it's so needed. Your parents meetings area also an opportunity for us to share our concerns, joys and burdens that other parents can't understand.
Your work displays the fruit the Bible speaks of:
Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did to one of the least of these, y brethren, you did to Me. Matt:25:45
Louis, Rosalie and Patrick Gaytan
January 22, 2009
Dear Ms. Grace
My name is Sosie. I am a mother of two autistic children with many challenges. My older son, Emmanuel is 10 years old, and the youngest just turn 5. It is a pleasure to share my personal story about my children's feeding problem, and how I received assistance from PCDA.
My younger son seems to be the one with the most need with feeding. Since he approached the feeding age, I discovered that he would not eat any kind of solid food. The only food he can eat was drinking soymilk as many times as he can during the day and night.
My son's doctor prescribed nutritious milk called Pediasure to enable my son to get the necessary vitamins and proteins. I was happy he was at least drinking the Pediasure, eat French fries, and crackers. However, I was still unsatisfied about my son's feeding situation. One lucky day, I went to PCDA in the city of Pasadena after I was sent by the Regional Center. I met wonderful, kind people who were listening to my children's problems. After a series of tests and advises, a talented therapist Ms. Erin began systematically and patiently introducing my children to different kinds of foods.
At the beginning it almost seems comical. It seems that the children are playing food game. I learned that the children are unknowingly licking, touching, and smelling the food. Immediately I began to observe some changes in my children's eating habits. They began to try different kinds of foods, fruits, and cereals. Within a year time both my children started to eat different foods...such as pan cakes, waffles, fruit (apples, grapes, oranges, tangerines, peaches) and different types of whole wheat cereals and crackers. After a year of driving from LA to Pasadena once a week, I fell ill. To my disappointment, I was unable to drive to Pasadena. However, PCDA arranged a schedule to come to my home and continue the treatment service under Ms. Grace. Ms. Grace was an amazing therapist. She made my children comfortable and at ease, and they responded to her directions very well.
Now, it is a pleasure to inform you that my older son has exited the program because he is able to try all kinds of food. My younger son has recently started to eat sliced turkey, chicken nuggets, pretzels with yogurt, and fish sticks. Still continuously improving with his eating habits. PCDA feeding therapist Ms. Erin and Ms. Grace were talented therapist under the knowledgeable guidance dietitian Ms. Karen. PCDA is still extending their assistance patiently, and systematically, and my son is still improving.
I am so grateful to PCDA director, PCDA assessors, to the staff, and especially to the feeding therapist Ms. Grace and the dietitian Ms. Karen who is always there to come up with new ideas and feeding techniques for both my sons with patience and dedication.
Finally, I would like to inform all parents with children with feeding problems, to follow the advise and instructions of the therapists strictly, and to make sure to practice all the techniques independently at home. For example, the first time when the therapist show you touching, kissing, smelling, and licking the food it looks like they are playing and unimportant. However, if you practice the technique independently at home you will see improvement.
- Be patient with your children.
- Don't give up. Progress will not come over night. It takes time.
- Be creative.
- Follow the therapist directions.
Sosie Habte
Dear Dr. Cullinane.
Congratulations on this wonderful occasion, celebrating PCDA's nonprofit status and recognition of the outstanding resource you present to the special education community. I have long admired your creativity, resourcefulness, and vision in putting together such a comprehensive educational and therapeutic service, and am delighted to have the opportunity to thank you formally. Not only have you managed to gather together outstanding professionals, but you have created a wonderful culture of respectful, kind, and supportive partnerships with the families you serve. It must be an enormous amount of work to continually search for and train talented therapists, and my hat's off to you because you do a great job of it. Your outreach programs to families from parent Floortime trainings to your many holiday open house parties to training parents in music therapy are also constantly inventive and exciting.
But I must put in a special word for my favorite family outreach program. I'm talking about SEDI, which formally a Floortime therapeutic program for out children in their natural settings, but is actually also an extremely effective family outreach program. Your program truly embraces and accommodates the individuality and unique needs of each family, and is a brilliant idea. I have a 9 year old son who has quite severe autism, and though I have had parent training in interactive techniques, it takes enormous energy and is so difficult to pull him out of his preferred self stimulatory activities. SEDI has provided our family with that vital support that infuses not only that energy but love and joy that keeps us plugging along with the very hard work of interactive play. Between the early intervention DIR's for my toddler son and the current DIR's for my 9 year old, we've had over half a dozen SEDI therapists coming to our house. Every one has been lovely, professional, flexible, energetic and intelligent. Every one has come trained well, with a real understanding of Floortime, ready to go. It has been my great privilege and pleasure to work with these young people, and I have enjoyed the journey and the learning together with my Peter. Thanks for the heart, and a hearty congratulations again!
Joyce Show, MD
The Roussets
All of my son's therapies are through PCDA because I appreciate their philosophy that includes family involvement, The FloortimeTM Approach and their collaboration amongst varying disciplines that allow for building on his growing abilities. The therapists at PCDA have exceeded my expectations and continue to amaze me by going to great lengths to ensure Luca's progress.
Mother of Luca, 4 years old
Our Story Book - PCDA would like to hear your story!
We would like to publish inspiring stories about families and children served by PCDA. These stories may be shared in a booklet, our annual report, and in other publicity.
Would you be willing to talk with someone to reflect on your child's and family's experience, and particularly your interaction with PCDA?
We would be so grateful for your help.
If you would be interested in participating in this project, we will have someone contact you to set up a time to talk. We also need your consent to publish and distribute your story, along with a few photographs. So please click on the consent form below, fill it out and fax it to PCDA at (626) 793-7341. Thank you!
Click for the PCDA "Our Story Book" consent form:
PCDA-Story-Book-Project.doc (Word doc)
PCDA-Story-Book-Project.pdf (Adobe Acrobat PDF)