Our son, Dominic, was born in October and four days after his birth we received a surprise diagnosis of Down syndrome. We were shocked and felt lost on where to go from there and how to help our son in the best way possible. We connected with several therapists at Shine Therapy and they’ve paved the way for us and Dominic! We work with physical therapist Michelle….we walk away from each physical therapy session with more knowledge and encouragement. Michelle has been so observant with everything about Dominic and voiced concerns that she had that we followed up with the doctor on. Michelle is so friendly to work with and her care and compassion for Dominic really shine through as she works with him. We have seen him make such big strides since starting therapy a few months ago. 

We are also working with Kristin for Feeding Therapy. Kristin has been so encouraging to me with my breast-feeding goals. When we started out, I was unsure of if Dominic would be able to ever primarily breast-feed or not and Kristin was so encouraging and also reassuring that whichever avenue Dominic takes will be the best avenue for him. I am always uplifted during our appointments that I’m making good choices with our son’s care and always feel rejuvenated that what we’ve done over the past month helped put us in the right direction. We have been so impressed by Shine Therapy and plan to recommend them to anyone that we may encounter that needs therapy services in this area.

Sara has been amazing. I can tell she genuinely cares about Lyla and wants to help her progress with her speech and her feeding. With help from Sara, Lyla is now able to eat all table foods and is doing well with using a straw cup. Sara has been so wonderful and I couldn’t ask for a better therapist for my daughter.

When Jeremiah first started speech and OT therapy at 2, he only knew less than 10 words and had an abnormal bias to only use his right hand. In the past year and through the amazing work that Miss Casey and Miss Meghan have done, we are so thrilled to see Jeremiah improved significantly not just in his speech, but his overall confidence to interact with others and speak up for himself. He now knows so many words and he is so much better at using both hands. What a rewarding and proud moment for parents to see. Thank you so much Miss Casey and Miss Meghan!

My little one was born at 30 weeks gestation, I had preeclampsia turn into HELLP Syndrome. My 2 lb 3 oz baby girl was here a little behind in most things but Shine Therapy has had my back. I had a concern with her eating in the way she’d move her mouth but now they’re going to be helping me twice a month! As a mom with a severe traumatic brain injury I am so grateful y’all are here for me!

Kaitlyn has helped Benny progress so much since starting OT. I love how she always keeps me updated and gives me strategies to implement at home. Benny’s day care teachers also really appreciate her input and feedback and speak highly of her! Benny has started doing better with open cup at day care because of her advice. We couldn’t ask for a better OT experience!

Avery and Riley began services with Shine when they were about 21 months old…they had 1 or 2 words and mostly grunted and pointed to get what they wanted. Within just a couple months of services Rachel quickly realized the girls likely had Childhood Apraxia of Speech and switched therapy approaches to focus on motor planning. Since getting the apraxia diagnosis I have read so many stories of other families, and it seems pretty rare to get a diagnosis so early and receive appropriate therapy. Rachel has been a huge advocate for our girls, helping us get into group therapy with Brittany at Communication Junction along with helping us pursue AAC devices. 

Brittany has also been an amazing resource helping us grow our sign language vocabulary. With minimal verbal words, sign language became our primary communication. Being able to go to a class and have new vocabulary every week to focus on as a family has been wonderful! Additionally, she has a lot of experience with AAC devices, which has been so helpful to us as we figure them out and she also utilizes them in the classroom.

The girls are now about to turn 3 and while I am so sad to be leaving Rachel and Brittany, I am confident they are going to thrive at school. Thanks to their help, they now have a large variety of verbal words, signs and access to an AAC device. We couldn’t have asked for a better Shine experience!

‘Ezra will sit and play with toys independently.’ I remember the day that goal was added to Ezra’s Early Intervention plan. I distinctly remember thinking two things that day. I remember thinking how badly I wanted him to hit that goal…and I also vividly remember thinking that day how impossible that goal seemed. It felt so far out of reach. 

Today I was sitting next to Ezra, watching him play with a toy and it hit me….he now sits and plays with toys independently!! Now, to most parents thats basically an expected progression of childhood. But for us…this is Ezra living the exact moment that we prayed so long and worked so hard for. And each and every day he accomplishes these small goals that we have set for him….knowing that they aren’t small at all, but quite mighty achievements in the eyes of this Momma!