8 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 30, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
How a Forest Hills mother is helping her autistic
daughter cope during coronavirus pandemic
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
As the weeks of stay-at-home orders
and school closures continue amid the
coronavirus pandemic, many families
who have children with special needs are
enduring the suspension of both school
and essential services that their children
are used to receiving.
For Forest Hills resident Rachel Sokol,
it’s been quite challenging as a mother
taking on the role of a therapist to help
her 2-year-old daughter, Aimee, who is
diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) and is non-verbal.
Autism, or ASD, refers to a broad range
of conditions characterized by challenges
with social skills, repetitive behaviors,
speech and non-verbal communication.
In Aimee’s case, she struggles with communication,
articulation, attention and
things that should come to her with ease
— such as making eye contact, pointing,
drinking from a straw and shaking
her head yes or no. She also makes loud
grunting noises instead of baby babble,
according to Sokol.
“Aimee doesn’t remember how to use
a spoon correctly, and it’s only been a
month because she hasn’t had her therapies,”
Sokol said. “I’ve been doing puzzles
with her and speech, trying to control her.
Without her therapists, I’ve seen a regression
in my daughter.”
Following the shutdown of New York
City public schools on March 15 due to
the coronavirus outbreak, Aimee’s therapists
were considered non-essential services,
according to Sokol.
“I can’t even imagine kids in wheelchairs,
kids with MS, or even kids with
severe social issues, who don’t have therapists
working with them,” Sokol said. “Now
their parents are homeschooling them and
they have to become therapists overnight. I
don’t know how to be a therapist.”
Diagnosed with ASD in August 2019,
Aimee began receiving therapy services
through the city’s program called Early
Intervention, where eligible children —
infants and toddlers — with developmental
delays and disabilities learn many
key skills and catch up in their development.
Aimee works with six therapists for
ABA, speech, physical therapy and occupational
therapy. Her time is split between
two sensory gyms in Queens and four
therapists visiting her at home, according
to Sokol.
“She learned how to wave, brush her
own teeth, nod and shake her head. Her
tantrums decreased, her eye contact was
better, and she was able to point,” Sokol
said. “I saw such a change in her and said,
‘Oh my god, there’s hope for her at the end
of the tunnel,’ and then COVID-19 struck
followed by the city shutdown.’”
Since then, Sokol has been sitting-in
with Aimee and her therapists on daily
teletherapy zoom sessions. Although she
is grateful for the service, it’s been a completely
diff erent experience — one that
she says isn’t quite eff ective as an in-person
therapy session.
“Some parents are loving it, but I’m not
loving it. I think they’re better for older
kids, but for kids like mine, it’s not helping
and my daughter is hitting me a lot
— this is diff erent,” Sokol said. “It could
be months of this or a year, and I’ve considered
opting out, but I’m not going to
do that to my daughter with no feedback
from her therapist of what not to do.”
According to Dr. Karen Dela Santa-
Pura, an occupational therapist who
began working with Aimee last summer,
the teletherapy sessions are eff ective,
depending on the child.
“For other kids, I see that in another
light, now that the parents are becoming
their therapist, it’s good in that sense
because they’re on the same page as I am,
and know what we’re working on and can
carry it over at home,” Santa-Pura said.
However, for Aimee, the transition from
in-home therapy sessions with Santa-Pura
to viewing her through a computer screen
for 30 minutes twice a week has become
diffi cult. Aimee’s attention span and willingness
to perform sensory activities has
decreased, Santa-Pura said.
“She doesn’t want to sit in front of the
computer and she doesn’t want to do
Photo courtesy of Rachel Sokol
therapy,” Santa-Pura said. “It’s a diff erent
dynamic when mom is trying to do it, it
might be a little harder for them to understand
it’s not normal.”
To help Sokol prepare for a teletherapy
session, Santa-Pura sends background
information and other things for her to
read. “I admire them so much and am
so blessed and grateful they have entered
our lives,” Sokol said. “I cannot stress this
enough because it’s NOT their fault in any
capacity that we had to move to tele.”
Like all mother’s, Sokol wants society
to stop judging other parents, and other
kids, showing a little more kindness to
special needs kids who are lost and scared
during this time.
“I hope one day, quite soon, Aimee and
the other city EI and SPSE kids can safely
reunite with the therapists they love so
much—in person— because, at least, in
Aimee’s case, they were — and still are —
her bridge to leading a life with a bit more
ease. Let’s see what happens,” Sokol said.
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