Stories of Potential

Laurie Blitz began to suspect that something was not quite right with her daughter as early as when she was a toddler. Erin seemed overly hyperactive, moving so much that even simple tasks like changing her diaper became lessons in patience and control. When she was old enough to walk, she would constantly run away, placing herself in danger.

Once a week, 19-year-old Erin Strevig can be found riding horses near her home in Westminster. Born with a rare genetic condition known as Williams syndrome, she has difficulty doing many of the things that typically developing teenagers can do with ease, such as walking and talking.

Every morning, 3-year-old La'Nell Alewine and her 4-year-old sister, Ja'Nell, get dressed and make their way to preschool at the Dayspring Head Start Center in East Baltimore. There, the girls eat a healthy breakfast, play with their classmates and learn about the alphabet, colors and numbers.

Last year, 5-year-old Samuel Spring came to Kennedy Krieger Institute for evaluation of autism. The genetic and metabolic tests he was to undergo required giving a blood sample. When the nurse tried to tie the tourniquet around his arm in preparation for the needle stick, Sam began to cry and break away. His behavior made it difficult for the nurse to draw his blood.

Jim Schuyler had a big decision to make last February. Diane Stegman, one of the Program Coordinators for the Therapeutic Family Care program, wanted to know whether he and his wife, Karen, could manage to care for one more child. That day, caseworkers from the Department of Social Services had removed Dante,* a 2-year-old boy with spina bifida, from a home where his needs could not be met.

If you've ever doubted how quickly your life can be turned upside down, just ask the Bahen family. On Monday, Nov. 14, 2000, the Bahens' 5-year-old daughter Nicole joined her friends for her usual afternoon dance class. By Sunday Nov. 20, Nicole lay in intensive care recovering from surgery, unable to speak, roll over or swallow, nearly paralyzed on her right side. Such is the swift devastation of a pediatric brain tumor.

Across the country, young adults preparing to enter the workforce are feeling the sting of a tight job market. Competition for employment is stiff for the brightest, most talented youth, much less young adults with learning, emotional and neurological problems.

At 5 years old, Tyler Kiskis is a bundle of energy, a little spark-plug with tossled brown hair and an impish grin who revels in the things that most 5-year-old boys do baseball and soccer, chasing the family Labrador, jumping through a water sprinkler in the front yard of his family's Pasadena home.

As soon as Joshua Fine reached pre-school, his mother Kathleen noticed that he learned differently from his older brother. As he picked up his ABCs and began trying to piece words together, Josh often reversed the order of his letters. This tendency continued as Josh began elementary school, but never reached a crisis point. Although Josh frequently refused to read, his grades stayed adequate. But Kathleen harbored nagging suspicions that her son wasn't reaching his full academic potential.

To an outsider, it looks like the small boy is having fun with a baby-sitter. As he moves from toy to toy, his "sitter" follows him, occasionally placing her hands on his arms and legs. She tries to touch his head, but he pushes her hand away. She spends a lot of time pressing lightly on his chest. When he gets tired, she keeps applying light pressure as he becomes more and more relaxed. As the boy starts to nod off, she steps back, ending the session.