Love My Local: Medical and Developmental Needs Edition

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Little girl in hospital As someone who was born and raised in Fort Worth, I’ve always been proud of our city. Since becoming a mom of a child with “special needs,” both medically and developmentally, I’ve become even prouder. We have some of the most talented medical and developmental professionals in the country right here in our own backyard! I read posts from other moms who drive hours to their children’s doctors or therapy appointments, and I feel SO lucky to live where we do.

The hardest part about living here is choosing whom to see because there are so many great specialists in town. Not a bad problem to have!

Here, I will share some of the incredible providers we’ve met throughout our daughter’s journey.

For us, our journey began when Avery spent 234 days in the Cook Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after being born 3.5 months early.

Cook Children’s

As residents of Fort Worth, we are very lucky to have one of the country’s leading integrated pediatric health care systems in our own backyard. What does integrated health care system mean, you ask? In short, it means you have access to a one-stop shop of pediatricians; specialists; medical centers; surgery centers; occupational, speech, and physical therapists; a home health company; and a health plan.

The benefits can best be explained by a couple of examples:

See how that works? Pretty cool, huh?!?

These days, Avery’s needs have become less medical and more therapy focused. As our needs have changed, we’ve found some incredible new providers.

Child Study Center

The Child Study Center has specialized developmental pediatricians who treat and diagnose children with learning and developmental disorders like autism and attention deficit disorder. There are very few of these doctors in the country, and we’re lucky to have some of the best here in Fort Worth. Additionally, they have The Jane Justin School for children with learning and developmental disabilities and an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program for kids with autism. Avery was in the ABA program for a short time and made amazing progress in her feeding difficulties.

Carter Speech Therapy

When I was looking for a new speech therapist for Avery, I received more than five different recommendations from various people in my life who all said the same thing: “Therapy with Marilyn [the owner of Carter Therapy] was life changing for us.” And, I can tell you that our experience has been no different. We currently visit Carter Therapy twice a week for feeding and speech therapy.

Cowtown Pediatrix

Sue Khammar, occupational therapist and owner of Cowtown Pediatrix, has this magical way of evaluating children’s developmental deficits, explaining why they can’t do certain things, telling you how they will work on those things in therapy, and assuring you it’s all going to be okay. Her knowledge is incredible. They are working on Avery’s gross and fine motor skills, but the progress we see positively impacts her speech and eating as well.

Mildred Haupt Preschool Girl on playground

Some people call it preschool; we call it play therapy!

In her first couple years of life, Avery had very little interaction with other children because of her fragile immune system. This, along with other developmental delays, caused some pretty large deficits when it came to her social skills. I was looking for a place where Avery could go a couple days a week to learn how to “play” with other kids.

The preschool director and teachers are so kind and loving that it was the only place I even toured when  looking for schools. Its ratio of teachers to kids is very low, and you can just feel the love all around when you walk into the school. Since starting this fall, we have seen her grow leaps and bounds.

TCU Early Childhood Music Program

Rounding out our “therapies” is the music program that TCU offers for families with children ages zero to four. When Avery came off oxygen at almost two, this “music therapy” was the first formal interaction she had with other kids. All the teachers are so kind and nurturing. They do a great job of explaining how their formalized music programs help with all aspects of a child’s development. It’s more than just a music class; it truly has therapeutic benefits for a child’s development.

So, who have I left off this list? Who have been some of the GREAT medical and/or therapy providers in your life?

The Fort Worth Moms Blog hosts 19 Neighbor Groups via Facebook, including the Moms of Special Needs Tarrant County. These groups are free to join and offer online and offline opportunities to build relationships and gain resources from other moms in the area.

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Kelly
Kelly and her husband, Shawn, are both Fort Worth natives and proud parents to their eight-year-old daughter, Avery, the inspiration behind many of Kelly’s articles. In her time as a mom, Kelly has become an unofficial expert on the NICU, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and global developmental delays. She’s an open book about their experiences and is always happy to talk to other moms looking for guidance or just another mom who gets it. After being in corporate marketing for almost 20 years, craving more flexibility and time with Avery, she founded 314 Marketing Solutions (www.314marketingsolutions.com) in 2019, a full-service boutique marketing agency. She considers herself an expert in multi-tasking and counts her car as the main headquarters for her business, regularly switching being a special needs mom driving to and from multiple therapy appointments, activities, and business owner.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Nice list – a “Who’s Who” of pediatric healthcare providers in the Cook Children’s system! I would add Cook Pediatrics on Magnolia. Dr. Charette and her colleagues take pride in treating kids of all abilities, and they do it well. And of course my beloved KinderFrogs, where therapies are offered “in house” for our kiddos with Down syndrome. Thanks for sharing your list!

  2. Hi! A pediatric-trained chiropractor is another to consider having on one’s medical team ?
    Ear infections for example: Chiropractic care tremendously helps ear infections by correcting the upper neck misalignment that is usually the cause. This helps the eustachian tubes to properly drain, keeping infections from taking hold, and also boosts the function of the immune system. Chiropractic adjustments boost immunity by as much as 200%! If you’d like recommendations, I’d be more than happy to! Love this blog! Thank you for all of the extremely helpful information!

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