Trent

Trent has been at Heartspring for almost one year and is not the same child that he was when he first enrolled at Heartspring last August as a day-only student. “Trent was very introverted when he first arrived at Heartspring almost a year ago,” said Jennifer Luby, Trent’s special education teacher. “He didn’t talk a lot and only enjoyed drawing and being on the computer.”

Trent is very schedule driven and used to get very anxious and agitated when there was disruption in his schedule, making him aggressive towards himself and others. He would also target items in the classroom when he was upset. Trent had difficulties going out into the community and this created a challenge for any parent who wanted their child to succeed beyond just the home or classroom setting. His behaviors would increase whenever he had to get into a vehicle. Trent required one-on-one staff for almost everything, including independent skills, pre-vocational training, music and his academic studies. When he would attend music he would wear headphones and would hardly participate and when staff would try to interact with him, he often was not interested. His schedule was made using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and he would only choose drawing or computer time for his leisure activities. He was also very particular about the foods he would eat due to some sensory issues.

Trent, now 12 years old, has come a long way in a short amount of time. His classroom staff shares such an excitement for each of his successes. Trent enjoys music now and sang a solo in Heartspring’s Parent Weekend performance this past May. He has also gained more independence in the pre-vocational training classroom by accepting changes and doing more new tasks. His academic knowledge is amazing, compared to when he first arrived. He can now spell words at almost a 4th grade level and he is learning how to use his reference knowledge to name the title page, glossary and index of books. His classroom teacher and the staff who work with him are thrilled with his progress! His classroom enjoys their community outings to the park, zoo, swimming pool and Wal-Mart and now Trent attends the outings with them. His father, Corey, shared a recent story of a family outing with Trent, “A few days ago we took the family over to a friend’s house and Trent was out of the car first and went up and in the house. Later we found out he walked right into the kitchen and without being prompted said, ‘Hi Angie’. Trent doesn’t normally interact with others and certainly does not initiate communication. So we were very excited to hear about that – it made our friend’s day too!”

“Trent used to grunt a lot and now will use words to express his wants and needs. For example ‘please help me tie my shoe’ or ‘please help me with my work’”, said Stephanie Taylor, lead classroom para.

Trent and his team are also working to introduce him to new foods that he would never have tried before and his leisure activities have also broadened to include basketball, baseball, and building things out of Legos. He still continues to be an amazing artist and of course he still enjoys the computer. Structure is still important to Trent’s success, but now instead of a picture exchange schedule, he has graduated to using a “to do” schedule with only vocabulary words.

“We are just thrilled with the progress he has made since coming to Heartspring,” said Corey. “He is more compliant at home than he has ever been and seems to ‘get over’ issues more easily. He also seems to be happier at home, like he’s getting enough of what he needs, such as physical and mental stimulation, at school and so he can relax a bit at home. That makes things a LOT easier for us and his brothers and sister. We’ve also noticed he has a much healthier desire to interact with his siblings. A few weeks ago when it was warm outside one evening, he and I even played catch with the football out back. That was really neat.”

It is stories and successes like these that make each day a gift. And for families like Trent’s, they are thankful to the staff who have made this possible. Each challenge and each struggle are truly worth the effort. Trent continues to achieve and grow and become more independent with the help of his family and Heartspring.