Peak Family Stories

My little Madi was born at 23 weeks gestation, weighing just over 1 pound. She has required various therapies to help her along the way. Up until we found Peak Pediatric Rehab, we have not had much success with therapy. We have bounced around from therapist to therapist, trying to find a good fit. Madi has been seeing the therapists for occupational, speech, and feeding therapies for about 5 months now. I can already see a huge difference in my child’s development. The Therapists are very patient, and kind. Sometimes, Madi can be stubborn and not want to participate. They have the best tricks to get her attention, and motivating her without making her feel terrible. Kaitlin has been working with Madi on hand strength and coordination by cutting with scissors, tracing letters, making fun play-doh creations, painting, drawing, and puzzles. She really enjoys the obstacle courses they set up for too! She is finally starting to trace letters, and show an interest in more hands on activities at home. When she starts kindergarten in the fall, she will be much more prepared, and much less intimidated. Madi is fed via G-tube, and has been since 5 months of age. She started seeing a feeding therapist at the age of 1, and never really advanced. Due to her sensory issues, and lack of trust, teaching her to eat has been a major struggle. When it is time for food school, the therapists take us back to the kitchen area, and we all sit around a table to eat. Sometimes, the other therapists join in, which makes it even more fun! It is more like sitting down with family to eat. It is a very relaxed, and positive environment. In the 5 months we’ve been attending food school, Madi has started to eat and drink all on her own. The therapists have given us great ideas, and tools to use at home. It has really paid off! I have not fed Madi through the tube in over a month, and she is doing great!! As a parent of a child with special needs, it is very disheartening when you can’t find a good therapist. I am so beyond pleased with the treatment and care we get with Kaitlin and Shelby!

They are really a blessing.

~Janet & Madilyn~

We moved to Colorado in December of 2016 hopeful to find high quality treatment for our autistic son Kaleb. We were recommended Peak Pediatric by his Pediatrician. When he first started treatment with Peak Pediatric he was nonverbal and had very limited communication skills at best. The therapists there were very open with us about his evaluation and their approach to his treatment so we had a clear picture of their goals for him and how best to help him achieve them. Now a little over a year later he is using hundreds of words and can communicate his wants and needs with eye contact and full sentences. His motor skills have also improved and he enjoys his play much more now and is much more capable in his daily activities. He counts to 30 and knows his ABC’s and colors and can name all the animals in most of his books. It’s incredible how much different our son is now compared to when we started treatment. I’m certain the therapy, help and direction we received here were paramount to his progress and we are so happy to have been blessed with their expertise and gentle kind approach. I would highly recommend Peak Pediatric to anyone who is considering treatment for their child with developmental delays. We couldn’t be happier with Kalebs progress.

~Tim & Kaleb~

“Madisyn had the opportunity to work with Olivia when she was 18 months old. We had no information of a diagnosis, but knew we had a long road ahead of us. Olivia didn’t let that matter. At 18 months old she did not play with toys appropriately but mouthed everything she could find. And when it came time to put the right things in her mouth such as food, she did not have the skills to do so. Within six months Madisyn was playing with the new and exciting toys that Olivia brought with her, and finally showing enjoyment when playing. She also went from not being able to self-feed, to being able to grasp and eat things like Cheerios. It was comforting to know that Olivia truly cared, and that Madisyn was going to make progress because she adored Olivia, even if it was small steps.”

~Amber & Madisyn~

I can’t say enough good about Peak. We were referred to them from our Pediatrician at Healthy Habits Pediatrics for Torticollis. They were wonderful with my son Grayson and put me completely at ease. Candice and Olivia were amazing. Every week the Physical Therapist worked to give him activities and different stretches, so that it never seemed like torture. After working with Peak, my little guy’s torticollis is no more, and we couldn’t be happier

~Megan, Kevin & Grayson~

Olivia Beare helped my son Parker tremendously. Parker was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder when he was five. His SPD presents itself in many ways, but “picky” eating has always been one of his biggest challenges. I contacted Olivia in hopes of getting Parker to eat some new foods as his diet was becoming more and more limited. She is very knowledgeable about food-related sensory issues and used this knowledge to develop a “Food Sense” game that challenged Parker to try new foods in an unintimidating setting. Olivia’s fun and non-judgmental personality made Parker feel at ease almost immediately, and he made some great gains. Parker is now more willing to try new foods, and he eats sausage, hotdogs, brats, and an occasional chicken strip. Prior to working with Olivia, he wouldn’t eat any meat—and very little protein in general. In addition, he has developed a taste for Chinese food and he loves rice (with sauce) and will eat a variety of beef and chicken dishes. Words cannot adequately express how wonderful it is to see him be able to order off of a menu at a restaurant! Thank you Olivia!

~Rebecca & Parker~

Olivia Beare is an awesome therapist! She worked on my son Connor when he was only about a year old until he was just over two. She got him to become mobile by teaching him how to commando crawl. Shortly after she left Colorado Springs he was using what he learned from her to enable himself to use a step to get he leverage he needed to position himself into a seated position. Because he was able to do this on his own, after her help, his neurologist has said that he is 99% confident that he will eventually walk (with help from a walker). I am eternally grateful for her hard work and expanded knowledge of working with children. She was a joy to visit with every week, and my son enjoyed it as well. He had his moments on days that stretching hurt, but over all he was very comfortable with her. He is almost four now but the ground work that Olivia started, laid the foundation of his many accomplishments today. Thank you Miss Olivia. We miss you so much, but we know that you are brightening so many other lives, it would be would be wrong to keep you for ourselves.”

~Heidi & Connor~

When our sweet Ruby joined our world, we were thrilled to welcome our little bundle of joy. She was happy, healthy and beautiful! Unfortunately, as time went on, she became less healthy and increasingly unhappy. We noticed something wasn’t quite right and we began to have evaluations completed. When we consulted with Olivia, our daughter was barely on the weight charts and was having multiple behavioral outbursts every day. She wasn’t sleeping and her sensory issues were getting the best of her (and us). Olivia began feeding therapy with Ruby shortly after our consult and we learned that Ruby’s sensory issues and low muscle tone were preventing her from consuming an appropriate amount of calories to maintain her body mass. She would bite a carrot and swallow the piece whole. She wouldn’t even touch proteins and was essentially surviving on whole milk and yogurt. Her lack of nutrition was affecting her sleep patterns and in turn, Ruby was unable to control her volatile behavior. In essence, our daughter’s speech, sleep and behavior issues all stemmed from lack of nutrition to help her brain grow and develop. Thankfully, Olivia calmly endured frequent melt-downs, screaming fits and refusals on the part of our child. She did so with patience and ease, all the while encouraging Ruby to develop skills and tolerance to begin consuming desperately-needed nutrition. After only a few weeks, Ruby actually looked forward to seeing “Miss Olivia”. Instead of avoiding food or crying at every mealtime, she began to see eating as fun. As time went on and Ruby ate more, she began sleeping better which helped her feel less irritable. As a result, her behavior improved. Because eating became more of a preferred activity, her muscle tone improved because she had more energy to run and play. Our beautiful, healthy, HAPPY daughter was back, thanks to Olivia’s help and support, knowledge and expertise.

~Brooke & Ruby~