Welcome to our online newsletter Hope & Help. Each issue will feature a story of one of our families and how they found hope and help at STAR Institute. We will also communicate how your donations support our mission, and remind you of other ways you may become involved with our work. Thank you for your support as we continue to improve the quality of life for children, adolescents and adults with SPD, and their families.

Hope and Help

It is a tremendous burden on families when the answers cannot be found or the solutions are out of reach. STAR Institute offers hope and help to those families living with Sensory Processing Disorder.

The reason we are so successful in treating children and adults is because we have studied the disorder for over 40 years and we use our research to form our therapies. We have the answers and solutions.

"When my son was about 16 months old, he was playing with toys in his own little world. I called his name…nothing happened. I said it again…nothing. I yelled his name…no response. My tears were flowing. What’s wrong with my son?

I called my pediatrician immediately to schedule an appointment. I thought my son was autistic. A series of tests were performed and my pediatrician, again, tried to calm me down and tell me that I had nothing to worry about.

To appease a scared mother my doctor gave me a referral to Child Find. A team of therapists evaluated him to see if they felt there was a problem.

They determined that my son was over 50% delayed in communication, and he also had cognitive and motor delays. At the time he only qualified for speech therapy. His speech therapist eventually identified the sensory problems and brought an occupational therapist onto his team. The OT soon had him crawling and we saw vast improvements, but there was still so much work to do.

When he aged out of Early Intervention at age 3, our two therapists referred us to STAR Institute. They both agreed it was a wonderful place, and the logical next step for my son. There’s only so much therapy that can be done at home.

When we toured STAR Institute we found an amazing facility. A multi-disciplinary evaluation was conducted, and the amount of information collected was astounding. They knew my son so well, even though they had spent only a couple of hours with him.

The REALLY amazing thing was the team’s ability to engage him. I had never seen him go so willingly with other people.

We started sessions of occupational therapy, speech therapy, and social groups. To say we saw immediate results is an understatement. Within the first few sessions at STAR, it felt like we were meeting our son for the first time.

He had a personality! He started pushing himself physically. He started PLAYING WITH US. He began communicating so well, and even using his IMAGINATION. To see my son laugh, play, ask for help, problem-solve, and to persevere when tasks were difficult was like the answer to a million prayers.

His therapists amazed me every time I saw them work. And yes, they sometimes made me jealous, because they had the ability to get him to do things that are so challenging for me. But, they always worked with us to continue their work at home.

My son has Sensory Processing Disorder.  My son has low muscle tone, speech delay, fine and gross motor delays, and oftentimes an attitude problem. His challenges are real, and ongoing. However, I’m not filled with despair, I am filled with hope.”

We see successful results like this every day. At STAR Institute our goal is to nourish the relationship between parents and their children, to grow and strengthen the bond as the cornerstone of moving a child forward.

Your donations help make this and other stories possible
and we are truly grateful.
Thank you!