Inspired by the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Blythedale Children”™s Hospital in Valhalla, commemorated the Act with onsite activities.
More than 50 patients from Blythedale”™s Day Hospital, Mount Pleasant Blythedale School and Inpatient Program joined neurodiverse author Lindsey Rowe Parker in the reading of her new children”™s book “Wiggles, Stomps, and Squeezes Calm My Jitters Down,” a story which follows a young girl with heightened sensory experiences through her day with fun, interactive sounds and motions.
The hospital”™s departments teamed up to identify books with diverse protagonists and get them into the hands and homes of patients as part of a literacy outreach campaign for kids with varying abilities.
“Inspired by the Americans with Disabilities Act movement, we are also adapting some of the books at Blythedale to increase access for all kids who may have physical, cognitive or verbal differences that make a standard book inaccessible,” said Abigail Crane, Blythedale speech-language pathologist. “We physically dissect the actual book, which increases the child”™s ability to have communicative impact while also making stories come alive in a new way”¦.”
