Success Stories

While parents anxiously await the birth of their child, they often visualize their baby meeting every milestone, from the first cries after birth to rolling over, crawling, babbling, and walking. However, for some parents, these visions do not become reality. Instead, they watch and worry as their child lags behind babies their age on developmental stepping stones.

At Pathways, we're dedicated to raising community awareness of the benefits of early detection and therapy for children with early motor delays. As part of our mission, we also assist parents in getting help for children who develop at a different pace. These are just a few of our success stories.

Kathy's Story

Kathy Olson was concerned when she noticed that her young daughter Katie was not meeting certain milestones while other children her age were mastering head control, sitting, crawling, and eventually walking. Olson expressed her concerns to her family pediatrician when Katie was still not walking at 15 months old. Finally walking by 18 months, her movements were awkward. She habitually locked her right knee and was diagnosed with generalized hypotonia. “When you have a child, you think your child is perfect. When I found out that Katie wasn’t perfect, I couldn’t help but think of the limitations she would face. I worried that she wouldn’t be in a ballet or run cross country, and it broke my heart,” said Kathy. At age two Katie began early intervention services through physical therapy.

After Kathy became pregnant again, she contacted Pathways Awareness Foundation to learn more about developmental milestones and warning signs for her newborn Kiley. After her daughter was born, Kathy had her screened for delays. Kiley was diagnosed with generalized hypotonia just as her older sister had been. Kiley began receiving physical therapy at six months and then speech therapy as a toddler. As a result of the early intervention given to the girls, both have graduated from physical therapy stronger and able to participate in all activities.

Pathways Awareness Foundation strives to reach more and more people with the important message of early detection, early intervention and the benefit of therapy for infants and children with early motor delays. Pathways helped Kathy realize that early intervention is essential, and that a “wait and see” attitude is not beneficial to a child with motor delays. In turn, Kathy's story served as an impetus for a California mom to seek further help for her four year old son John.

Kris' Story

After Kris Stone adopted her then 9½ month old from Korea, she was advised that he had been receiving physical therapy for weak trunk muscles. Kris quickly brought John to an area physical therapist who stated that he was “doing everything he was supposed to be doing,” and that he did not need or qualify for therapy services. Kris believed John’s coordination was still below his peers’ and began researching hypotonia to find additional resources. During her search, she located Pathways Awareness Foundation. While on the Pathways website, she read Kathy Olson’s story. The story, Kris said, described the girls’ conditions, the therapy they received, and the progress they made. She said that the information in the story “validated her feelings” that John’s physical development was delayed, and that she needed to find avenues to help him improve his coordination and strengthen his muscles. “Having [the] article made me realize that it [hypotonia] needed to be addressed,” said Kris. She also called Pathways’ toll-free parent answered number, which serves as a resource line for parents. In the course of her conversation with a Pathways’ parent whose child had benefited from early intervention services, she learned activities that she could do with her son to help him, as well as different resources available in California. Equally important, she said, she received reassurance that the things she was seeing were significant and that her efforts to help him were important to his future. Pathways gave me ideas for “fun things that really help him,” said Kris.