In 2010, six-year-old Joey was referred to PACT (Parents And Children Together) because his feeding, swallowing, and undesirable mealtime behaviors resulted in frequent school absences. Despite their best intentions, Joey’s parents became overwhelmed in managing his medical care. The school psychologist wanted to increase parent communication so Joey’s doctors would have the necessary information to address his medical, motor, and learned feeding patterns to keep him educationally on track.
PACT worked with the parents and school psychologist to organize Joey’s medical and feeding histories to create a more understandable plan in order to help the parents prioritize next steps. People with intellectual disabilities may often be reluctant to trust people and/or procedures they do not understand. In this case, the parents believed that their son would eventually just “grow out of” whatever was causing the issues. But with PACT’s help, after seven months of problem solving, Joey was enrolled in an intensive feeding program at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Nearly two years after PACT’s initial involvement, Joey successfully completed his feeding program, is back in school, and is able to feed himself when appropriate. All parties involved, including his doctors, school psychologist, and teachers,are extremely pleased with Joey and his family’s successes.
PACT (Parents And Children Together) is a community-based parenting-education program for Somerset County area families headed by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
PACT’s preventative family support approach helps families access community services so they are able to live, work, and parent independently in order to keep their children emotionally healthy and educationally on track.
Staff includes professionals with advanced degrees and certifications in Special Education, Social Work, and Counseling.
PACT Family Interventionists ensure:
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Family attendance and participation at child evaluations
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Children’s school enrollment and attendance
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Family communication with teachers to enrich student learning and address issues that might interfere with progress in school
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Family participation in the child’s transition from school to post-secondary education, paid employment, or a training program for employment.
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Family access and utilization of primary and preventative health care.
For more information, please contact the Jeanne Guarnieri, Director of PACT, at 908-725-8544 x637 or jeanneg@thearcofsomerset.org.
