URS gives children a chance at life

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - United Rehabilitation Services provides crucial support for children and adults with disabilities across the Miami Valley.

2-year old Enya McKinley has been coming to URS of Greater Dayton since she was just 15 months old.  Enya was born at 19 weeks with Cerebral Palsy.

"I had her at the Ohio State Fair.  I didn't even know I was pregnant with her until they told me I was going to have a baby and I needed to push," said her mother.

Enya works with a speech therapist twice a week.

"With that, we're working on her feeding, a lot of muscle coordination, specifically like tongue coordination.  So that she has the ability to manage liquids and be able to manage and manipulate foods so she can chew them and swallow them without choking and without it getting stuck in her airway," explains therapist Alicia Clore.

Speech therapists not only work with children but adults as well.

"They work on articulation, They work on fluency and stuttering.  We have people who specialize like Alicia in feeding and swallowing.  We have people who specialize in using vital stem which is like electrical stem to different vocal muscles or facial muscles.  We have people who actually help with reading comprehension," says licensed occupational therapist Susan Carmona.

In addition, URS offers occupational therapy with specialized evaluation and treatments to promote the development of motor skills as well as daily living skills.

"We work a lot on self-help skills.  upper extremity skills.  We work on using adaptive equipment.  We work with a variety of patients, we work with patients with anything from developmental delays or disabilities to maybe post-traumatic brain injury to muscular dystrophy, to autism, maybe writing skills that they're behind on, that type of thing," comments Carmona.

Physical therapists are also on staff.  They help improve mobility, strength and independence.

"They specialize in Kinesio taping, orthotic fittings, an evaluation, we also have a wonderful wheelchair clinic that we have here and we do other types of equipment for evaluation and fitting," explains Carmona.

One of the unique services available is aquatic therapy.  It's one of the only programs of its kind in the Dayton area.

"Our pool is kept between 94 and 92 degrees. The really neat thing about water is that some of the properties of water, the buouncy can help people who can't walk.  Because of the temperature, it allows the muscles to relax and us to get some great movement that we otherwise might not be able to get.  One of the other neat things, you can also use it for strengthening," says Carmona.

No matter what program they're apart of...
each person is treated like family.

"I think it's really exciting that these people let us in their lives.  Their families let us into their lives."

We're gearing up for the 34th annual United Rehabilitation Services Telethon Sunday, December 2 from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm on WDTN.  2 NEWS anchors Mark Allan and Katie Ussin will host.

All proceeds benefit URS.