Louie is 4 years old and enjoys playing with his brother, watching his favorite movie: Monsters Inc, listening to music, playing the piano, Irish dancing, and swimming. Louie has an eating disorder called Dysphagia Oral Phase which makes it very difficult for him to swallow foods and difficulty moving food or liquid into his throat. Louie was also diagnosed with Autism when he was 2 years old.
When learning about Louie’s condition, his family said, “At first we were very scared. We knew he needed surgery but didn’t know how it would affect his life; and we are still learning more day by day.”
Louie started receiving services through Easter Seals three and a half years ago. He initially started out with feeding therapy but after he was screened for autism, he began developmental play group, developmental play therapy, and is now finishing PLAY project.
There are many struggles related to Louie’s needs. Louie’s family says,
“Unless you have a child with an eating disorder, you cannot imagine the planning that it requires. You can’t just go out to dinner because he can’t eat anything most restaurants serve. Play dates with snacks, nope. When he was a baby we could take baby food and even as he got older we could take stage 3 baby foods but you get a lot of nasty looks from people when you are feeding a 3 year old baby food. And then he started to try to eat more foods but not everything goes down right away so we have a lot of puking. Again, it doesn’t make you very welcome at restaurants or other’s houses. He can’t just have a snack in the car because he needs to be careful and drink after every few bites.”
It has been a long road for Louie and his family. They are now able to incorporate pasta, bread and cheese into Louie’s diet! Louie has made tremendous progress during his time at Easter Seals and is starting to understand the world around him; he is eating more things than ever before, conversing and making friends. This is what makes Louie a Champion of his own abilities
Story about Louie from his family:
Louie is an amazing piano player. His first piano recital was incredible. He was hesitant at first but the little dude loves to perform and he played great. He got a standing ovation. My mom has shown the video of it to half the town she is so proud of him! Check out the video here! https://youtu.be/ESxtG_1u8pY
When learning about Louie’s condition, his family said, “At first we were very scared. We knew he needed surgery but didn’t know how it would affect his life; and we are still learning more day by day.”
Louie started receiving services through Easter Seals three and a half years ago. He initially started out with feeding therapy but after he was screened for autism, he began developmental play group, developmental play therapy, and is now finishing PLAY project.
There are many struggles related to Louie’s needs. Louie’s family says,
“Unless you have a child with an eating disorder, you cannot imagine the planning that it requires. You can’t just go out to dinner because he can’t eat anything most restaurants serve. Play dates with snacks, nope. When he was a baby we could take baby food and even as he got older we could take stage 3 baby foods but you get a lot of nasty looks from people when you are feeding a 3 year old baby food. And then he started to try to eat more foods but not everything goes down right away so we have a lot of puking. Again, it doesn’t make you very welcome at restaurants or other’s houses. He can’t just have a snack in the car because he needs to be careful and drink after every few bites.”
It has been a long road for Louie and his family. They are now able to incorporate pasta, bread and cheese into Louie’s diet! Louie has made tremendous progress during his time at Easter Seals and is starting to understand the world around him; he is eating more things than ever before, conversing and making friends. This is what makes Louie a Champion of his own abilities
Story about Louie from his family:
Louie is an amazing piano player. His first piano recital was incredible. He was hesitant at first but the little dude loves to perform and he played great. He got a standing ovation. My mom has shown the video of it to half the town she is so proud of him! Check out the video here! https://youtu.be/ESxtG_1u8pY