In 2018, our son James was born to a drug-addicted mother. The withdrawals he went through wrecked havoc on his little body. He couldn’t eat, sleep, move his bowels. He was severally behind gross-motor wise. That same year, we enrolled him at just 6 weeks old into IndiKids under the care of head teacher, Ms. Lauren Smith and assistant teacher, Courtney Sweed. To say they were a blessing is an understatement.
When I would come in flustered and zombie-like from lack of sleep, Lauren or Courtney would gently take the carrier, tell me it was going to be okay and send me on my way. They helped him establish a sleeping schedule, feeding schedule and comforted him when he was inconsolable.
The biggest thing was when at 6 months James still couldn’t hold himself up and he showed no signs of progress. This is where Ms. Lauren took it upon herself to educated us about Early Intervention. Her knowledge, time she took to educate us and her persistence to find a way to help him, changed his life.
She was there for every rehab session, when he learned to sit by himself, when he learned to crawl and when he took his first steps (at over 18 months). Ms.Courtney was there too videoing him so I could see it all, writing progress notes home and texting or emailing throughout the weeks with words of encouragement.
To this day, we credit Ms. Lauren and Ms. Courtney for the running, jumping, climbing little boy we have today.
Stephanie R., mom of James