Housecall

Columbus Community Hospital's Wiggles & Giggles Therapy for Kids™ has served families since 2002.

"And my, has it grown!" said Jill Zaruba, OTR/L, clinic supervisor.

The pediatric therapy clinic offers a full spectrum of physical, occupational and speech therapy services for kids of all ages. Many children come to the clinic for help meeting developmental milestones — such as walking, talking or eating — and some are recovering from injuries.

"As kids progress and meet challenges, it's a big celebration," Zaruba said. "Every child is special and has unique goals, but they all work so hard! We have stars of the month in each discipline, and kids really get excited to see their picture up on the star wall."

The highly trained therapists use medically based therapy prescribed by the child's physician, often using play to help maximize a child's potential.

"Our sessions look like a lot of fun," Zaruba said. "We use play throughout therapy because that's how kids learn, how they're motivated to do hard things and develop curiosity about their environment."

Staff members hold numerous certifications and advanced training in specialized pediatric therapies, including Interactive Metronome (IM) for kids who have difficulty with attention and processing information, therapeutic listening, augmentative and alternative communication, vision therapy, sensory processing, primitive reflex integration, and feeding and swallowing. Over the years, they've helped countless children. Here are two of their stories.

Austin, a patient at Wiggles & Giggles, works on his fine motor skills, while Chelsey Wurdeman, MS, CCC-SLP, observes.

"Our sessions look like a lot of fun," said Jill Zaruba, OTR/L, working with Eloise Krings.

'The sweetest boy'

Liam, age 3, wants to hang out with his brothers all day long.

"He loves giving hugs and kisses," said his mom, Becky Slater Johnson. "He's just the sweetest boy."

At 9 months, Liam was diagnosed with infantile spasms, a seizure disorder that can lead to a loss of developmental milestones previously learned. He stopped rolling over and struggled to sit up, babble and grasp objects. Liam is also on the autism spectrum, which adds more challenges for his team to address.

"He wasn't meeting a lot of the milestones of a typical 9-month-old," Becky said.

Liam received early intervention services, followed by therapy at Wiggles & Giggles. Since then, he's made progress in his milestones, from sitting up to walking to holding a fork.

"I think he's come tremendously far," Becky said. "It's been about two years. As far as his gross motor skills go, I feel like he has almost reached his peers in that regard. He's running, he's jumping; he's able to move on his own and do things. There are still struggles for him, but those are things we're going to continue to work on with his therapist there. And even with fine motor skills, he does really well."

'She just lights up'

Alex Aguallo began taking her daughter Sammie to Wiggles & Giggles after their car collided with a train, injuring Sammie's brain. Sammie, now 12, has been nonverbal and unable to walk since shortly after the accident. But with the help of her Wiggles & Giggles team, she's learning to communicate using a device that tracks her eye movements.

"When they encourage her, she just comes alive," Alex said. "She lights up."
Sammie's therapists also helped the family obtain a new wheelchair, patient lift and other equipment to help with home care.

Each week, Alex drives Sammie from David City, Nebraska, to Wiggles & Giggles in Columbus for therapy, where therapists focus on many goals for Sammie. Alex has never lost faith and refuses to limit what might be possible for Sammie in the future. She is focused on giving her daughter the best opportunities — including Wiggles & Giggles. For Alex, it has been encouraging to learn from Sammie's therapists about what is possible.

"It was so eye-opening to hear them tell me, 'This is what we can do,' " Alex said.

Categories: Wiggles & Giggles Therapy for Kids