Two moms care for boy with cerebral palsy

May 31, 2009 (CHICAGO) Meet two moms who are making sure their son with cerebral palsy is getting all the resources to fulfill his needs. Seven-year-old Josh is learning to use a communication device at DuPage Easter Seals.

"He really has a lot of trouble with his body and getting his voice to come out, so we use technology to give him the words and the means to communicate," said Kathleen Post.

Post is Josh's speech and language therapist. She has been working with him since September.

"He's doing great. I think that he's making some really nice strides. He's begun to establish a really vocabulary for him to start to tell us what he's thinking and feeling and how his body is working for him," said Post.

Moms Christine Levy and Joy Ungaretti are doing whatever they can to make sure Josh's succeeds.

"Although one day we're hoping he'll take a couple steps from here to there," said Levy.

And, like most parents who have a child with a disability, there are always challenges.

"I feel like Joy and I often-- we're never really sure what we're prepared to accept in terms of you know what Josh is going to do in his life," said Levy.

Both Christine and Joy have experiences raising children with and without disabilities. Josh has two sisters. Four-and-half-year-old Sarah and Ella, who is 2 years old. Both girls are not disabled.

"We don't do all the things that I think we would do if we had three kids that were able bodied," said Ungaretti. "We just recently went on a vacation to Disney world, and it was hard work bringing everybody, and we had to bring someone to help, and go somewhere they had accessible vehicles and tamps and restaurants."

But they find things they can do as a family.

"We like to take walks, we have a nice yard with swing set that even had an adaptive swing for Josh. So that's something that we all enjoy," said Ungaretti. "You know, it's funny, because before we had kids, I anticipated that the two moms thing would be you know difficult, but one we had Josh and there was so much to deal with in terms of his disability, that things about being two moms was totally, you know, not even an issue usually."

To learn more about DuPage Easter Seals services go to our website at www.dfvr.easterseals.com.

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