By Olivia Minnier

A vibrant preschooler bounces around her living room. She mimics words, excitedly jumps around to the music of children’s cartoons, and laughs as her parents watch.

Ava Wilson is an energetic three-year-old who excitedly runs around her home in Lewis Center with her parents, Ebony and Andre Wilson. She plays with toys, can express her needs, and communicates well.

However, things were not always this carefree. Ava was born early at 23 weeks old. She was recommended for early intervention services by Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“Being born that early we needed help in all the spaces of development. Physical therapy, OT, speech. Everything.”

Ebony said from the time Ava began services at around one year old until now at three, she has made astounding progress in all areas.

“She was not walking more than a couple of steps without falling, if walking at all, crawling, walking, running, jumping, and now doing all the things. At the time services stopped, I feel like it was just like, the next week, was a burst of ‘I’m talkative!’ ‘I’m this, I’m that,’” she said.

Ebony said DCBDD’s Early Intervention Team was along for the entire ride development-wise and that they became a part of the family.

“When services were done it was kind of like, ‘I’m not ready to see you go.’ They were literally with us from the time we first moved into our current home,” she said.

Another massive improvement has been Ava’s vocabulary and overall bank of words.

“It went from no words to 25 words, to 50 words, to now a motormouth with a huge bank of singular words and phrases,” she said.

Kristen Kaldor, Developmental Specialist with DCBDD, worked as Ava’s primary service provider during her time in early intervention.

“I met Ava and began working with her family in October of 2022. Early on it was clear to me that Ava was going to do great things. Her strong-willed personality combined with her parent’s desire to advocate for her was apparent from the start,” she said.

Kristen said Ava had additional support from Early Intervention outside of herself.

“She also had a Physical Therapist as her Secondary Service Provider for the duration of her time enrolled in Delaware County,” she said.

Kristen said she worked with Ava’s parents to help her achieve skills that would be impactful and functional for her daily life.

“By observing what Ava was interested in we were able to create strategies such as following her lead during play, being silly, giving her opportunities to let us know what she liked or disliked, and using gross motor movement as a tool to expand her communication,” she said.

Ebony and Andre said the improvements Ava has made have increased their confidence as parents and made a massive difference in life at home.

“Her being able to tell (us) exactly what she wants and what she needs. At the time (when services began), she was engaging with us, but not like fully engaged. She was kind of ‘independent and doing my own thing.’ She is still like that, but now she will play with us. They really helped us as parents with tips and what to look for. With her being able to communicate her needs, run, walk, and play, go up and down the stairs, brush her teeth, get on the step stool, and do all those things herself. It’s been huge,” Ebony said.

Ebony said the Early Intervention Team has also helped her with the tougher aspects of parenting and reminding her to slow down.

“I’m hard on myself so grace for me personally because you have the mom mind and the mom’s guilt and go through all of that. So just being patient and reminding me of how far she’s come, because we want our daughter to be fully comparable with her peers and have that gazelle mentality without overwhelming and stressing her, so they just kind of helped keep me balanced in my approach with her,” she said.

Andre said having the extra insight that the Early Intervention Team has provided them with has increased his confidence as a parent.

“We’re not starting from scratch on the information,” he said.

Kristen said the team also had the opportunity to assist in a major milestone for Ava as she transitioned to the local school district upon turning three.

“The team attended meetings with the family and district representatives and provided insight into what kind of support would be most beneficial as she entered preschool,” she said.

Andre said, as a parent, the engagement between DCBDD’s Early Intervention team and Olentangy Local Schools on Ava’s preschool assessment made a huge difference.

“We already knew what to look for, we kind of knew even scenarios to work with her on and it helped provide guidance for them as well. So just kind of that overall community really was beneficial,” he said.

Ebony said it’s been “a breath of fresh air” feeling confident about Ava’s progress.

“To go back to school and know that they’re really going to have to write a brand-new IEP for her because she’s come so far and as parents it just allows us to know we are turning in the right direction with our daughter on all things,” she said.

Both Ebony and Andre said they feel confident about where Ava is at and are looking forward to what the future will bring for their daughter.

“It wasn’t a doubt that Ava would arrive, it was a matter of when,” Ebony said.