Max, A Child with Special
Needs
Maxwell (Max) Theis is six
and one-half
years old. He has a five year-old brother named Nathaniel. Our
family lives in Apple Valley, MN. Right now we receive funds from
Dakota County that are part of its Client Driven Support program.
These funds help with tuition for a non-traditional therapy program
and an aide to assist Max while he attends the program.
One never expects to
have a child with special needs. This is no different from our
experience when we had Max on June 25, 1999. Our journey didn’t begin until he was four months old. His pediatrician
was concerned about his head size. Additionally, he was not holding
his head up on his own and was showing some other signs of developmental
delay. We made an appointment to see a neurologist at Gillette Children’s
Hospitals, and an MRI/CT scan confirmed our fears. Max had a rare
brain disorder called Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC).
At six months of age,
Max began one-hour visits to physical therapy, occupational therapy,
and speech therapy respectively. Because our insurance only covered
weekly visits, we thought we were doing everything we could. Then
in March of 2000, a colleague of Greg’s had
informed him of a center that helps kids with motor disabilities,
and he encouraged us to check it out. After many decisions and time
spent raising funds, we enrolled Max for one month of classes.
The next month, in November
2001, we moved to Apple Valley so Max could attend daily classes
at The Minnesota Center for Conductive Education [now known as
The PL+US (Physically Limited Underdeveloped Skills) Program] in
Burnsville, MN. These classes have been an integral part of Max’s
life. We have recognized his need for routine, repetition, and
positive reinforcement every day; this was lacking in other traditional
therapy programs.
Because of his work there, Max has achieved some amazing milestones:
He is using a walker (with little assistance)
uite nicely. He is eating almost independently. He is able to drink
from a cup with little assistance and is learning to drink from a straw.
He is using the potty-chair by telling us via sign language. He can
scoot down stairs on his tummy all by himself. He can stand against
a wall for hours if he wants! He can throw a ball. He is learning to
play games with others and to socialize with other children. Finally,
he learned object identification, colors, shapes, the alphabet, numbers,
and, most importantly, other daily-living and age-appropriate skills.
Currently, Max is enrolled in a regular kindergarten class. He has
made some wonderful friends, and we have a wonderful support team.
We know life for Max will not be easy, but we can celebrate the many
successes, big and small, that we see as he develops and grows.
— Andrea and Greg Theis, Apple Valley, Minnesota
Provided by The Arc of Minnesota; 770 Transfer Road, Suite 26; St.
Paul, MN; 55114
651-523-0823 or 1-800-582-5256; Web site: www.TheArcOfMinnesota.org;
e-mail: mail@arcmn.org
