“Our son was born like a normal child and was doing the normal milestones and then all sudden we started seeing some symptoms that needed assistance. At the age of one year old. We called early on services, they tested him and he had a speech delay at the time. When we were discharged from Early On, they did a 3-year-old exam to see where he was with his milestones. The results came out that he did not qualify for any special education services. Early on recommend us to CTC. We started by getting him tested. He qualified for OT and he doing amazing work with Ashley. While our journey went on with Ashley, she noticed the same symptoms that we had noticed and recommended us to get Zacchaeus diagnosed or tested for autism. She supports every step of the way. She did an amazing job by giving us her observations that she took and we took those observations to help us get a diagnosis of autism. Through this journey, he did not have any help with speech but when he was 4 years old we had him tested again. He qualified because he was behind enough in his speech. He had been with Madeline from the beginning and she had done an amazing job helping him through his speech delay. She always keeps him up with his milestones and finds creative ways for him to learn. He’s willing to learn and wants to learn letter sounds. He is so happy to go there every time and he doesn’t want to leave. Both therapists give out ideas that support him and us so we can do at home as well. Both therapists have developed friendships and encouraged him to grow.”
“Our daughter was born at 27 weeks. She was considered a preemie. We enrolled her and myself in the head early on. We also enrolled her in the Early On program. She graduated from Head Start early on at age 2 years old. She graduated from early on at 3 years old. When she graduated from The Early On, they gave advice that she could get more services for her speech delay. So our daughter already came with us and waited for her older brother’s appointments to get done. So we decided to get tested at CTC because our son already goes there and she already loves going. We tested her, she qualified for speech and OT services. She loves going to CTC for her OT and speech because of staffing and the environment. Both therapists gain friendships with her and encourage her to focus her growing her milestones. Overall, CTC is a fun and energetic program that supports children’s milestones. They love the environment and love positive support. Our children can be themselves and all the staff accepts them right where they’re at. The staff treats them as their own child. Our family is blessed to have CTC.”
“We went through a very traumatic experience when our family changed because of a divorce. That was very difficult for Rosemary to put emotions and feelings too, but because of CTC, she had the tools to do so. At that time, my financial situation changed dramatically and I was unable to pay[…] When I said I couldn’t bring her [to the clinic] anymore, they told me the CTC scholarship covered her, as well as my outstanding bills. They really took care of me, my girl, and my son. My son was able to learn about his sister and that brought them closer together as siblings. Not only did she need to learn what our world was like, we needed to know what her world looked like. We learned that from CTC.”
“They are very personally invested in each child and work with the parents to figure out how to help the child be successful in each one of those short segments. This whole program is just really organized and it’s amazing, awesome, the personal attention that each individual child receives.”
“It takes a village. It takes all of us doing what we can do to try to help all of these children. Because I’ve always said, I really have always said all of these children are all of our children. As a society, we need to understand that these children are our children and we need to advocate for them. We need to help them. We need to provide the resources that they need. And so we really need programs like Therapy & Fun and organizations like CTC.”
“I work with a kindergartener in my school placement with severe verbal apraxia and language delays who has two brothers with autism. We have been working on both verbal speech and using an AAC system when he can’t be understood. In two years, he’s gone from about 10 understandable words to 3-word phrases verbally and has started spelling on his talker. But my favorite story recently is that we were expanding the “nature” vocabulary on his device in preparation for the classroom unit on growing plants. I made sure he had the vocabulary needed (stem, root, etc.) and then asked if needed other words and he pointed to the category “space”. This is a big area of interest for his brothers, but he had never mentioned it before. “Oh do you like planets too?” I asked. “No,” he replied, “Brother love space.” My heart melted. I think we can forget, in counting words per utterance or ensuring access to classroom vocabulary, that the goal of communication is connection, but our clients understand so much more about love and acceptance than we think, and I’m so proud of this kid for reminding me.”
“I am incredibly grateful for the “Therapy & Fun” program, which has been essential in supporting our child’s development. Programs like these are vital for children with disabilities, as parents often can’t navigate this journey alone. While school and private therapy can help, they aren’t always accessible to everyone. “Therapy & Fun” offers our child a chance to succeed in a warm, peer-filled environment, rather than a clinical setting, making a real difference in his growth and happiness.”
“I’m so happy and thankful for the CTC team and all the volunteers. Luna has learned so much in these 5 weeks. Everyone is so kind and patience working with all the children. We will definitely keep attending Therapy and Fun in the years to come.”
“I learned about many different career paths and I think I have a more defined goal for my future career.”
“I learned how to help her interact with other children in her age group, and I saw her confidence growing leaps and bounds.”
2505 Ardmore SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49506
(616) 559-1054
Fax: 616-559-1056
Hours
Monday – Thursday:
9am – 6pm
Friday:
9am – 5pm