Luke Parsons enrolled at Project Explore in Valhalla in September, 2016, after his parents toured every Preschool Special Education program in the region. Finding an appropriate school for Luke was not easy. Luke is cognitively advanced, with excellent social, speech and communication skills, but is non-ambulatory. Programs that serve non-ambulatory children in a CPSE environment are extremely rare in Westchester County.
Tracey Parsons, Luke’s mom, credits one-on-one aide Caitlyn DeSimone with Luke’s remarkable growth and overwhelmingly positive experience at Project Explore. Caitlyn’s presence in Luke’s life means that Luke is able to play to his cognitive strengths and mix and learn with children who have the same cognitive skills as he has.
Without her Luke would be unable to attend Easterseals and his development and education would be held back,” Tracey said. “He would be denied the opportunity to interact and learn with his peers, and everyone who knows Luke knows that he LOVES interacting with his friends at school!”.
Citing the qualities that make Caitlyn such a special teacher, Tracey said that she genuinely cares about Luke and puts his needs first. She is a great listener, is very attentive to concerns raised by the family, and offers suggestions about how she could do things differently. Caitlyn keeps the family informed about Luke’s activities, ensures that he fully participates in classroom activities and always strikes the right balance between keeping Luke safe and providing him with the freedom and independence to develop on his own.
“We’ve seen so many changes in Luke since he started at Easterseals,” Tracey said. “We are so happy that Easterseals has given Luke the chance he deserves to thrive among classmates in an integrated environment.”
