12 Bringing health care news to your home Columbus Community Hospital’s Wiggles & Giggles Therapy for Kids™ has served families since 2002. “And my, has it grown!” said Jill Zaruba, OTR/L, clinic supervisor. The pediatric therapy clinic offers a full spectrum of physical, occupational and speech therapy services for kids of all ages. Many children come to the clinic for help meeting developmental milestones — such as walking, talking or eating — and some are recovering from injuries. “As kids progress and meet challenges, it’s a big celebration,” Zaruba said. “Every child is special and has unique goals, but they all work so hard! We ‘The sweetest boy’ Liam, age 3, wants to hang out with his brothers all day long. “He loves giving hugs and kisses,” said his mom, Becky Slater Johnson. “He’s just the sweetest boy.” At 9 months, Liam was diagnosed with infantile spasms, a seizure disorder that can lead to a loss of developmental milestones previously learned. He stopped rolling over and struggled to sit up, babble and grasp objects. Liam is also on the autism spectrum, which adds more challenges for his team to address. “He wasn’t meeting a lot of the milestones of a typical 9-month-old,” Becky said. Liam received early intervention services, followed by therapy at Wiggles & Giggles. Since then, he’s made progress in his milestones, from sitting up to walking to holding a fork. “I think he’s come tremendously far,” Becky said. “It’s been about two years. As far as his gross motor skills go, I feel like he has almost reached his peers in that regard. He’s running, he’s jumping; he’s able to move on his own and do things. There are still struggles for him, but those are things we’re going to continue to work on with his therapist there. And even with fine motor skills, he does really well.” Helping children WIGGLES & GIGGLES THERAPY FOR KIDS™ THRIVE have stars of the month in each discipline, and kids really get excited to see their picture up on the star wall.” The highly trained therapists use medically based therapy prescribed by the child’s physician, often using play to help maximize a child’s potential. “Our sessions look like a lot of fun,” Zaruba said. “We use Austin, a patient at Wiggles & Giggles, works on his fine motor skills, while Chelsey Wurdeman, MS, CCC-SLP, observes.
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