SIKESTON -- The five local children chosen as this year's poster children for the 38th Annual Kenny Rogers Children's Center Telethon represent the various services the Center provides, but they're also selected as a way to educate the community.
Poster children are also chosen to represent the primary counties the Center serves.
The Kenny Rogers Children's Center serves children with all types of special needs and developmental delays including prematurity, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, seizure disorder, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder, sensory processing dysfunction and many other developmental delays.
Occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy are all provided at the Kenny Rogers Children's Center. These services are provided in the Center as well as in many of the surrounding school districts.
The children selected for this year's Telethon, which will be March 17-18 at Sikeston Field House, are Brystol Carter of Benton, Kaiden Dodson of Sikeston, Austin Grubbs of Morehouse, Hunter Lesch of Chaffee and Will Sutton of New Madrid.
The 3-year-old daughter of Chad and Mandy Carter, Brystol loves to play with her big brother Brayden, and she also loves to play with her baby dolls. She loves going to her "school" at the Kenny Rogers Children's Center.
Since coming to KRCC, Brystol's speech has improved so much, and she seems stronger and so determined, according to her therapists. She's also become more independent. She receives physical and occupational therapy at KRCC also. The adaptive equipment they have is great! We are blessed to have the therapists we have!
Kaiden, 11-year-old son of Denise Green, is a shy but sweet boy who loves to play with technology, such as, computers, phones, tablets, etc.
His communication has improved, and his ability to be in a large crowd for a long period of time has gotten better, his therapists said. He has gotten better at expressing needs and wants to those around him. He has become more open to trying new foods and drinks as well as more self sufficient and able to perform and cope with activities of daily living.
The 9-year-old son of Bradley and Stephanie Grubbs is a very loving, outgoing, sociable little guy, his therapists said. He absolutely loves his family, and being at home. He enjoys playing on his tablet and his favorite apps include solving math problems, setting clocks and making videos.
Since he started coming to the center, there has been tremendous changes in Austin's everyday activities, according to his therapists. Some of the most evident changes are in his fine motor skills, such as learning to zip his jacket, using a spoon or fork, brushing his teeth, and combing his hair. His steadiness in his walking has had some drastic changes, and his speech has improved. When he he started at 4 years old, he was saying very few words, but within a short time, he was talking nonstop.
Hunter, 13, is the son of Ivan Ray and Carrie Lynn Lesch. His favorite thing to do is to listen to music on his iPad and look at pictures and watch videos. He likes to play & throw balls and he gets tickled while throwing them.
Since Hunter has received his communication device, he tends to communicate with therapists better about what he wants, such as asking him what he wants to eat and rocking as a yes answer. He knows where several of the things are on his device such as, "I want to look at pictures", "I want to listen to music", "Scratch my arm please" and "I want my tablet." He has also progressed with muscle strength in physical therapy and the way he steps when he is walking with his therapist in either the walker or the parallel bars.
Four-year-old Will is the son of Daniel and Leslie Sutton. At home, Will loves anything with wheels! His favorite vehicles are garbage trucks and tow trucks.Will was born 10 weeks early due to a hemorrhage in his cerebellum. He also had low lung function and weak muscular development. He stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit for 12 weeks.
In the beginning, it was predicted that, if Will lived long, he would not be able to do most things kids do like walk, talk, or feed himself. While there, it was suggested he be put on the waiting list for KRCC. During the 12-week stay, he began to develop somewhat normally. When he was brought home, he was able to bottle feed but still didn't have the muscle strength of a 3 month old.
He was enrolled in the First Steps program to receive what therapy was available until he could get in to KRCC. During this time, he had surgeries on his eyes, ears, and airway to help with balance, vision, hearing, and breathing.
When he began going to KRCC, he could walk but had terrible balance, could not climb steps steadily and wasn't able to communicate clearly with words. He was functioning as a child half his age.
In the two years we have been with the center, he has grown and developed at an incredible pace. He can now climb stairs, drink from a regular cup, put on his coat and carry on a conversation.
For more information about this year's Telethon, see Wednesday's Standard Democrat.