Meet Lucas: Patient Success Story

Lucas has faced so much in his ten years of life due to a diagnosis of a genetic syndrome that has caused hydrocephalus, intellectual developmental delay, seizures, cerebral palsy, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Not only has his disability affected every aspect of his life, but it has also deeply affected his family’s life. With disability comes ups and downs that are difficult to understand, and when Melody came into their lives, she helped them navigate those ups and downs by helping Lucas’ family understand more about his differences. Melody is a certified occupational therapy assistant who began working with Lucas when he was three years old to address his delayed fine motor development, self-care skills, and safety awareness. Melody taught Lucas’ mother and grandmother how to break down individual tasks to help them learn how to teach Lucas new skills; this allowed Lucas’ family to problem solve between OT visits and play a major role in his progress. Melody was able to find the right motivation (he is a musician in the making!) to help Lucas build strength and learn how to grasp as well as utilized adaptive clothing to promote independence and decrease frustration during dressing routines. Lucas had retained reflexes that caused him to struggle with motor planning, and Melody was able to help him integrate those reflexes to allow him to have more fluid movement patterns. His family was able to incorporate home program activities every week under Melody’s guidance to modify activities as needed for success. With everyone’s dedication, Lucas joined an adaptive dance program that Melody volunteered with; he began by using a wheelchair and advanced to using a walker through hard work during therapy to build strength. When Lucas started occupational therapy, he began services at 2x/week and then was decreased to 1x/week due to his progress. He is currently being seen at 2x/month and will be discharging soon due to him meeting his goals.

All that children with disabilities want is to be included, and all Lucas wanted was to be his mom’s “big helper” and to join activities with his peers. His perseverance, his family’s commitment, and Melody’s knowledge were all integral parts of Lucas becoming more independent throughout his daily routines and helping around his home. Now, his mother has the best “big helper”, and Lucas is participating in an adaptive baseball league. His family is incredibly grateful for all the progress Lucas has made and for Melody helping them to understand more about Lucas and his potential.