FAMILY COMES FIRST – MOONEY FAMILY

FAMILY COMES FIRST – MOONEY FAMILY
INTRODUCTION IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
VINCENT J. RUSSO
KIM BERK
LENORE STAMM
RUTH MOONEY
NORMAN MOONEY
MONSIGNOR JAMES McNAMARA

1 MR. RUSSO: Welcome everyone to Family Comes
2 First. I’m Vincent J. Russo.
3 MS. BERK: I’m Kim Berk. Today our topic is
4 Children with Special Needs. This subject is
5 certainly one that is deeply rooted in your
6 heart, I know that, isn’t it, Vincent?
7 MR. RUSSO: Absolutely. My daughter, Theresa,
8 was born with special needs, and she was truly a
9 gift from God.
10 Today we have the wonderful opportunity
11 to share the story of the Mooney family.
12 Like my daughter, their son, Rian, was born
13 with cerebral palsy.
14 Rian’s parents, Norman and Ruth, are
15 extremely dedicated to Rian and his quality of
16 life while raising a family with his younger
17 sisters, Isa and Heather.
18 MS. Berk: Having’ a child is always
19 a life-changing event, but having a child with
20 special needs translates into a little bit more.
21 Isn’t that right, Vincent?
22 MR. RUSSO: Certainly, Kim. Every child is
23 different and each situation is different. There
24 is no clear-cut guide to raising a child with
25 special needs. Fortunately there are a multitude
23 of community resources to help our special
24 children and their parents.
26 3 MS. Berk: Today we are going to be j oined by
4 Lenore Stamm, Executive Director of.the Long Island
5 Infant Developmental Program. Now the Infant
6 Developmental Program works with children to
7 help each child function to his or her
8 maximum potential.
27 9 Let’s take a look at a typical morning in
10 a parents’ support group offered by Long
11 Island Infant Developmental Program.
28 12 SPEAKER: My son loves my father, his
13 grandfather, and my father will sit down and
14 he’ll come over and engage him in play and he
15 just wants to slap him on the leg.
29 16 SPEAKER: I think that’s really what happens
17 is that’s the only way for them to communicate,
18 that they just use their hands or just reach out,
19 and they don’t really know whether what’s right
20 or wrong and they are just thinking that
21 they are communicating and it’s the right thing
22 that they’re doing.
30 23 SPEAKER: I think he gets bored, and he
24 just wants that attention. Like if we are
25 not giving him the attention he needs, it’s like,
26 1 okay, I’m going to get my attention I want.
27 2 SPEAKER: How are his parents; are
3 they handling it; do they have a plan; do they
4 tell you what they want?
28 5 SPEAKER: You can’t watch them all the time.
6 He goes over to someone or something and hits
7 and actually something bad happens. As opposed
8 to grabbing the hands or redirecting, if you
9 can’t watch them.
29 10 SPEAKER: I notice he has trouble sitting
11 in the group. When the teachers come, he can’t
12 sit, he runs away and lately he’s been running
13 into the couch and doing a lot of spinning.
14 We are worried about that. He started doing that.
30 15 SPEAKER: Have you talked to the therapist
16 at home? They can give you specific things for
17 your son.
31 18 SPEAKER: I don’t know your son so well, but
32 19 I really, really feel that it’s important to
33 2 0 have the same schedule everyday because it will
34 21 make you more whole during the day.
35 22 MR. RUSSO: We are now joined by Lenore Stamm
23 of the Long Island Infant Developmental Program.
24 She’s the Executive Director as well as the speech
25 and language pathologist.
23 Thank you so much for joining us today.
24 MS. STAMM: I’m glad to be here.
25 MR. RUSSO: Lenore, I’m very familiar with
26
4 your program as our Theresa Foundation has provided
5 support with your parent support groups, and
6 I truly understand and lived through the benefits
7 of early intervention with my daughter, Theresa.
27 8 Tell us about the Long Island Infant
28 9 Developmental Program.
29 10 MS. STAMM: The Long Island Infant
11 Developmental Program is an early intervention
12 and preschool program. We help children from
13 birth to age five. Most of our services either
14 are done in the home or in a family daycare or
15 at grandma’s house, wherever we find our
16 children.
30 17 We do evaluations and services and the
18 best thing is there’s no cost, no out-of-pocket
19 cost for the family.
31 2 0 MS. BERK: So who are the members of the
21 team that work with the families once they
22 are actually referred to you for services?
32 23 MS. STAMM: Once we evaluate children
24 and determine that they do need services and that
25 they are eligible for services, we have a team
33 Page 5
1 and all our professionals are licensed or
2 certified or registered professionals in New
3 York State. We have special education teachers,
4 speech language pathologists, occupational
5 therapists, physical therapists, nutritionists,
6 psychologists and social workers, of course,
7 which lead our parent support groups.
34 8 MS. BERK: That’s quite a team. What is the
35 9 current trend for services on Long Island?
36 10 MS. STAMM: Years ago parents would say
11 if their child was not doing what they were
12 supposed to be doing, the doctors might say, oh,
13 don’t worry, he’ll grow out of it, or it’s a
14 boy. Don’t worry, boys speak later. But today
15 we really know that early help makes a
16 difference and that’s really the current trend.
37 17 MR. RUSSO: Are you seeing more referrals by
38 18 ‘ professionals such as doctors to your program?
39 19 How do parents connect to you?
40 20 MS. STAMM: Well, parents do connect from
21 the doctors. The doctors — it’s really been
22 a change in their mindset. They really are
23 learning these things in school which doctors
24 years ago really never learned about early
25 intervention and preschool services.
26 1 Families are referred to us either by
2 their pediatricians, by a neighbor who’s
3 been through the program. Even just Googling
4 on the Internet they find information.
27 5 MR. RUSSO: Times have changed from when
28 6 Theresa was with us.
7 MS. BERK: Technology.
8 MS. STAMM: That’S good.
9 MR. RUSSO: Lenore, how old are the children
29
10 who enter into your program and how long do
11 they stay in the program?
30 12 MS. STAMM: Early intervention is a program
13 from birth to age three so some children we know
14 when they are born may have some difficulties.
15 They may have a diagnosed syndrome or they may be
16 a premature birth and we might know that these
17 children might need help right away.
31 18 Other children don’t come to us until maybe
19 they are 15 months or 18 months. They might not
20 be talking or walking as their peers would be
21 so then their parents may have some concerns.
32 22 Children in early intervention stay till
23 they’re three and certainly there’s other help.
24 If they continue to need help, they can go to the
25 pre-school program through their local school
23 district, also be evaluated and receive
24 services until they turn five.
26 3 MR. RUSSO: And you are there as a team to
4 support and that’s so important and there may
5 be a hesitation on the parents’ part sometimes
6 to reach out for a program like yours.
27 7 What tip or what would you say to
28 8 those parents?
29 9 MS. STAMM: Well, our goal is at least to
10 help each child reach their maximum potential,
11 and I think in the past people were feeling,
12 oh, it’s a stigma to have a child who has a
13 delay or a handicap. We are really seeing today
14 that it’s not — parents receive so much joy
15 from their children. But we are helping them
16 to focus on the things that they need to and
17 because we have so much support for families
18 today.
30 19 MS. BERK: Does it help some families to
31 20 know that there are other parents going through —
21 MS. STAMM: Yeah.
22 MS. BERK: They are not the only ones going
32 23 through this.
33 24 MS. STAMM: Yes. I always tell parents
34 25 it might be good to either find a friend,
1 somebody that you might meet because they
2 can benefit from you and you can benefit from
3 them. You can go through the process together.
35 4 MS. BERK: Thank you very much, Lenore>
5 for joining us today. I know a lot of people
6 probably are grateful for the information.
36 7 Thank you for creating an awareness
8 of the services that are available for children
9 with special needs from birth and to adulthood.
37 10 The work you do is certainly close to
38 11 our heart here.
39 12 For more information on the Long Island
13 Infant Developmental Program you can log onto
14 www.liidp.org.
40 15 When we come back we’ll sit down with the
16 extraordinary parents of a young boy who
17 has multiple challenges.
41
18 Please stay with us.
19 RUTH MOONEY: When we found out that Rian
42
20 had cerebral palsy it was a huge shock
21 because nothing prepares you for that and
22 no childbirth classes really talk about that
23 option happening so when Rian was born we
24 both felt shocked, first of all, disbelief and
25 then what can we do to rectify this or
26 1 make everything all right.
27 2 NORMAN MOONEY: Normally the idea of having
3 a child born any other way was never
4 considered something could go wrong, not once.
28 5 ROTH MOONEY: I was a working artist
6 before Rian was born. My goal was to put Rian
7 in daycare at a few months old and get straight
8 back to work, but that never happened. I never
9 ended up going back to work.
29 10 First of all, Rian’s situation was a
11 full-time job just making sure he’s getting
12 adequate care. First of all, doing research
13 to figure out what was cerebral palsy and how
14 do we treat this; how do we work with this,
15 finding about early intervention, school. It
16 turned into not only his care but doing the
17 research.
30 18 NORMAN MOONEY: Trying to decide on
19 which therapies and what to do. There’s so
20 much there with, you know, first off with
21 the neurologists and dealing with that
22 medicine and the seizure disorder so I think
23 a lot of your time was deciphering through
24 information and trying to figure out where we
25 wantedto spend our time and what best
26 1 therapies are suited for Rian.
27 2 RUTH MOONEY: And even though medicine
3 today is very much broken down into categories,
4 you have to fish through 10, 15 dentists until
5 we found the right dentist that could work with
6 Rian and the right gastroenterologists and the
7 right neurologists. Every area we needed to find
8 the right person. And they don■t know anything
9 else about the other issues so unfortunately
28
10 it has to be that broken down so right now we
11 are good. We’ve managed to find I think nearly
12 everybody we need.
29 13 During Isa’s pregnancy, I was walking on
14 eggshells. I was just nervous the whole time.
15 I couldn’t relax, and I was nervous about the
16 birth. Rian, at that point, was still sleeping
17 in our bed with us and so if he ever kicked my
18 belly, which would happen, I would be traumatized.
30 19 NORMAN MOONEY: But it was also very difficult
20 with just being pregnant because you couldn’t
21 hold Rian.
31
22 RUTH MOONEY: It was hard on Rian.
23 NORMAN MOONEY: It was very difficult for
32
24 Rian. All of sudden his mama who was with him 24
25 hours a day — because Rian slept in our bed until
26 1 Isa was born.
27 2 RUTH MOONEY: Rian is attending the
3 Henry Viscardi School. It’s a wonderful school.
4 We are very happy with it. It was very challenging
5 for him to get a place there. We are happy with
6 the school because a lot of the kids are very
7 cognitively able. They have physical disabilities
8 so there’s a lot of interaction for Rian,
9 social interaction, and there’s a lot of help,
28
10 medical help there for him with his feeding tube
11 and his non-verbal issues so they address
12 everything.
29 13 NORMAN MOONEY: One of their specialties is
14 facilitated communication. Their focus is
15 facilitated communication particularly with
16 Rian and that’s kind of we think his biggest
17 challenge is to be able to communicate so they
18 are working — they have a fantastic team there
30 19 that works across the board with different
2 0 aspects of — right now we are working on
21 eye gaze where he’s using his eyes to look
22 directly at symbols and images to communicate
23 and that’s been quite successful.
31 24 I think our big goals are communication and
32 25 if Rian can have a consistent facilitated form
33 Page 12
1 of communication, the world will open up a
2 lot to him.
34 3 MR. RUSSO: We are now joined by Norman and
35 4 Ruth. Thank you so- much for being here today.
5 NORMAN MOONEY: It’s our pleasure.
6 MR. RUSSO: I’m going to start with a question
36
7 for you, Norman. You mentioned on the video that
8 our audience has seen that it never entered
9 your mind that you were going to have a child
37 10 other than healthy.
38 11 As you know my daughter, Theresa, was born
39 12 severely disabled.
40 13 After the shock, what support did you
41 14 have in place right from the start?
42 15 Were there any family members that had
16 prior experiences with children with special
17 needs or you’re on your own?
43 18 NORMAN MOONEY: We were on our own in that
19 sense of experience. We had no family members
20 that had ever had a child with disabilities
21 like that before so that was a huge shock in
22 the beginning.
44 23 MR. RUSSO: What were the first steps then that
24 you took to figure out, well, Rian is coming
25 home from the hospital, how are we going to
26 1 get through the next day?
27 2 RUTH MOONEY: It was such an unknown
3 territory. We just didn’t know what to do.
4 You were dealing with the shock of having a child
5 with special needs and then trying to
6 desperately gain information.
28 7 MS. BERK: But just being a parent in general
29 8 is scary.
30 9 NORMAN MOONEY: It was our first child also,
31 10 Rian, so that was huge in and of itself.
32 11 MR. RUSSO: Talk about how you explored
33 12 his options for therapies and then schooling.
34 13 Initially it was probably more at-home;
35 14 how do we do the best we can for Rian.
36 15 RUTH MOONEY: It’s interesting because
16 there are systems set up and you get offered
17 the systems, you know, early intervention and
18 things like that, but you have to explore deeper
19 so you can’t just take what’s handed to you. 2 0 NORMAN MOONEY: In the very beginning
37
21 the early intervention was fantastic, but it is
22 a structure that’s sort of laid out on a plate.
38 23 RUTH MOONEY: But we had to find the
39 24 right early intervention.
40 25 NORMAN MOONEY: We did. You also got to
41 /^s
42
1 fight for as much early intervention as you can
2 possibly get and they will give you the minimum and
3 you really got to push to get more but that was
4 a great –in the beginning — start because
5 they come to your home in the beginning and you
6 get therapies and they assessed Rian for what
7 he needs.
43 8 MR. RUSSO: We had Lenore Stamm of the Long
44 9 Island Infant Developmental Program talk to
10 us in our resource room about early intervention.
11 You make an excellent point though. You have
12 to fight for what you believe is important and
13 necessary for your child, like any parent for
14 their child.
45 15 MS. BERK: You are your child’s advocate
16 basically. He’s your child. You want the best
17 for your child no matter what.
46 18 RUTH MOONEY: It’s a big learning curve.
19 You have to learn also alternative therapies
20 that are available and things beyond just
47 21 . early intervention.
48 22 MS. BERK: And still you’re first-time
49 Page 15
50
51 23
52 parents. You’re learning just to be parents
53 24
54 in general.
55 25
56 RUTH MOONEY: Yeah.
57 1 NORMAN MOONEY: Also with cerebral palsy
2 it’s such a — the disability is very particular
3 to each child so it’s not like a disease or
4 something you can — there■s a set protocol
5 this is what you do. Each child is
6 completely different.
58 7 RUTH MOONEY: Rian has seizures, a lot of
59 8 seizures.
60 9 MS. BERK: Which would probably be very
61 10 scary for you as a parent.
62 11 RUTH MOONEY: He had about 150 to 300 a
63 12 day in the beginning.
13 MS. BERK: Oh, my goodness.
14 RUTH MOONEY: So nobody — Like Norman
64
15 said, it’s a child with these conditions,
16 presenting these conditions but with the seizure
17 disorder, as well.
65 18 MR. RUSSO: You move from a different mental
19 mindset, from we try to fix it, then we can’t
20 fix it.
66
21 NORMAN MOONEY: That was a big —
22 MR. RUSSO: You just said that and you shifted
67
23 very importantly so that you shifted to how do we
24 make the most for Rian and how do we give him
25 the best quality of life.
26 Page 17 j*4 l That’s a difficult shift for parents.
27 2 NORMAN MOONEY: It is. It took a long time
3 to get to that point and realize this is what
4 this is about. It’.’s not about fixing it or
5 solving this problem.
28 6 RUTH MOONEY: He’s not going to be a
29 7 typically developed child.
30 8 NORMAN MOONEY: And then through that
31 9 understanding what’s beautiful about not
10 being typical. All of us as a family have been
11 able to enjoy that experience as parents and
12 as siblings.
32 ^ | 13 MS. BERK: You just mentioned family
14 because your family changed a little bit. It was
15 you and Rian for a while and then Isa and
16 Heather came along.
33 17 Before you decided to have more children,
18 did you talk about it; were you nervous about
19 it or this was just something you knew you wanted
20 to do?
34 21 RUTH MOONEY: Part of the decision was
22 that Rian would have support and then when we
23 had Isa, we thought well, Isa needs support
35 { 24 so really we were — it was all this sort of
36 25 structure to give support and also to have some
1 fun. Rian enjoys his sisters so much, and I
2 think with Heather it’s just made it all the
3 more better. He just laughs and he engages in
4 their play.
37 5 MR. RUSSO: Give us a typical day.
6 Take me from what time do you get up; what’s
7 a typical day for Ruth?
38 8 RUTH MOONEY: Well, I have to say that
39 9 every year it changes. Last year we had a lot
10 more therapies outside of the home. We did a
11 lot of water therapy which was phenomenal
12 for Rian in a warm pool, and we would take
13 him there three times a week and he would float
14 and move and start to blow bubbles.
40 15 NORMAN MOONEY: And he really loved it as
41 16 well as being a great therapy.
42 17 RUTH MOONEY: And then in the summer,
18 last summer, we were doing a lot of horse riding
19 with him which he loved, but a typical day now
20 is mostly —
43
21 MR. RUSSO: There is no typical day.
22 RUTH MOONEY: No. I’m trying to think of
44
23 everything we did with Rian. At the moment he’s
24 doing school. That’s taking up —
45 25 NORMAN MOONEY: At the moment he’s really
46 Page 18
1 stable and doing really well and he’s in school
2 every day.
47
3 MS. BERK: And he’s at Henry Viscardi?
4 RUTH MOONEY: Which is a wonderful,
48 5 wonderful institution.
49 6 It’s taking up most of his day. He’s now
7 doing his music there and he’s now doing his
8 water therapy there and he’s now doing his art
9 there so we are not doing as many —
50
10 NORMAN MOONEY: And his speech.
11 MS. BERK: How is that for you then?
10 Suddenly you have a day where you have some
11 time.
51 14 RUTH MOONEY: It’s very different. He
52 15 leaves very early. Rian is out the door by 7.
16 NORMAN MOONEY: We put him on the bus at 7:15.
17 MR. RUSSO: I’ve always said that’s the most
53
18 incredible moment of the day is when you take
19 your child and you put him on that little yellow
20 bus and you say, God, I have faith with all
21 these people who are going to be with my child
22 and do the right thing and take care of him, and
54 23 he comes home with a smile and you say, thank you,
0^ 24 God. Thank you, God, because it is an amazing
55 25 event.
56 Page 19
57 1 NORMAN MOONEY: I have to say the people
2 in Viscardi, every time we go there, we are
3 just blowed over about their optimism and enthusiasm
4 and hard work there.
58 5 MS. BERK: What are they telling you about
6 communicating. How has he communicated
7 differently since he’s been to school?
59 8 RUTH MOONEY: It’s a big issue. It’s an
60 9 ongoing battle. I think just in terms of we
10 worked a lot on Rian’s physical development
11 when he was a baby, trying to get him to crawl
12 and walk, and as Vincent said, we just realized
13 Rian may not walk. This is where he’s at
14 physically, but now we’ve been trying to work
15 on communications.
61 16 NORMAN MOONEY: What’s going on and it
17 happens with us emotionally but directly
18 communicating, yes, no, I don’t like ice cream or I
19 do like ice cream.
62
20 RUTH MOONEY: He understands. He talks —
21 MR. RUSSO: You understand him.
22 RUTH MOONEY: But we want to be able to really
63 23 communicate.
64 24 MR. RUSSO: Tell us more about what Rian
65 25 likes. What brings a smile on Rian’s face
66 1 other than your beautiful presence?
67 2 NORMAN MOONEY: His sisters which is going
3 back to that point of that decision of
4 integrating and being outside of these things
5 and what having other children really did was
6 bring the rest of the world in and around
7 Rian.
68 8 RUTH MOONEY: Last night we put a CD on
69 9 from one of the music classes that he used to
10 go to and Isa went to, and Isa and Heather
11 just danced around and Rian —
70
12 NORMAN MOONEY: Rian laughed.
13 RUTH MOONEY: Laughed, and that is actually
71
14 his favorite thing in the world is, you know,
15 movement that’s involving him and he feels that
16 he’s part of that.
72 17 NORMAN MOONEY: Rian loves a dinner party.
18 We had 20′ people over around the table and Rian
19 nowhere happier.
73
20 RUTH MOONEY: Cheers.
21 MS. BERK: He loves that.
22 RUTH MOONEY: Yeah. Communication, you
74 23 know, being involved.
24 MS. BERK: And his sisters.
25 RUTH MOONEY: And he gets it. He has a
26 1 good sense of humor.
27 2 MS. BERK: That’s sometimes tough to come by.
28 3 I don’t care who you are.
29 4 • MR. RUSSO: Rian .has a wonderful temperament.
5 As you know being your attorney and spending
6 time through the years with you, because you needed
7 to have a guardianship put in place, he has such
8 a great disposition. He just –he lights up
9 when people were in the room.
30
10 RUTH MOONEY: Yeah.
11 NORMAN MOONEY: Yeah. He really is a people
31 12 person.
32 13 MR. RUSSO: And that makes everyone else
33 14 better.
15 RUTH MOONEY: He has an amazing smile.
16 MS. BERK: That probably comes from you guys
34
17 too, as well, as parents because you are very
18 easy going and you love people too. He picks
19 that up from you.
35 2 0 RUTH MOONEY: Yeah.
36 21 MR. RUSSO: Let me ask you about your family
22 support because I noted a little bit of an
23 accent and I think you might have family over
24 in Ireland.
37 25 RUTH MOONEY: Yeah.
1 NORMAN MOONEY: Yes.
2 MR. RUSSO: And other places so how has that
38
3 been for you and for them who want to be there
4 for you but they are from —
39 5 NORMAN MOONEY: They are both in Ireland,
6 both sets of grandparents. In the beginning,
7 going back to that point, even though we
8 didn’t have any real experience at that time,
9 they were fantastic. All our parents came
40
10 over and everyone just approached it as a
11 challenge that we all had as a family so sisters
12 and brothers, and, you know.
41 13 MR. RUSSO: And I know you get to take time in
14 the summer to go to Ireland and that’s a gift
15 to them because they really get to spend time
16 and bond with their grandchildren.
42
17 RUTH MOONEY: It’s worked out really well.
18 MR. RUSSO: And I’m sure it’s support for
43
19 yourselves. It feels good just being home with
20 your parents and family members.
44
21 RUTH MOONEY:. Yeah.
22 MS. BERK: It’s tough when family lives so
45
23 far away. You have your own family, but then you
24 have the rest of your family.
46 25 NORMAN MOONEY: And you only really become
1 aware of that when you have children and you
2 realize —
47
3 RUTH MOONEY: You need family.
4 MR. RUSSO: That’s what our show is about,
48 5 family comes first.
49 6 I just thank you so much for sharing
7 your entire family with us. It is clear that
8 you have such great love for Rian and your
9 kids. That is a lesson for all of us. Thank you
50 10 so much.
11 RUTH MOONEY: Thank you.
12 NORMAN MOONEY: Thank you, Vincent, for
51 13 all your help over the years.
52 14 MS. BERK: Thank you for sharing your
53 15 family with us. It’s a wonderful experience.
54 16 Let’s now check with Monsignor McNamara
55 17 for a spiritual reflection.
56 18 MONSIGNOR McNAMARA: Recently at one
19 of our celebrations of First Holy Communion,
20 we had four children with developmental
21 disabilities receive Communion for the first
22 time. The care and devotion of their families
23 and siblings were very impressive.
57 24 As with the Mooney family their lives
58 25 changed drastically overnight. I am sure that
1 some days it is quite a challenge to provide for
2 the care of their children, but they do
3 this everyday. I have profound respect for them.
59 4 I see this in my own family. My niece, Laura,
5 and Alex care for Nicky who is now 11 years
6 old. He needs constant care since like Rian
7 he suffers from Cerebral Palsy. They never
8 complain. Nicky’s older brother, Alley, will
9 be graduating from high school and going off
60
10 to college this year. He has been a great help
11 in caring for Nicky and is very patient with
12 him. His departure will leave a void that will be
13 hard to fill despite the devotion of Nicky’s
14 parents and his nurses.
61 15 You have to admire that kind of devotion
62 16 and dedication.
63 17 God bless the Mooney family and the many
18 families we all know who provide such
19 extraordinary care.
64 20 MR. RUSSO: Rian Mooney is a child with more
21 obstacles than most children. However, he has the
22 support of two unwavering parents. With the
65 23 amazing love and support from his family, Rian has
{* 24 a bright future ahead of him.
66 25 The Mooney family demonstrates day in and
67 Page 25
68 1 day out that no challenge is unconquerable.
69 2 MS. BERK: Well, certainly seeing it and we’ve
3 certainly seen the strength of these loving
4 parents today, and we also learned about a great
5 outlet here on Long Island for parents of special
6 needs children to cope and to share.
70 7 The Long Island Infant Developmental
8 Program reaches out to the community with
9 early intervention and pre-school programs.
71 10 For more information please visit
11 www.liidp.org and the Henry Viscardi School at
12 www.abilitiesonline.org.
72 13 Of course another great resource for
14 special needs is your law firm, Vincent,
15 at www.vjrussolaw.com. For more helpful
16 information as well as the Theresa Foundation
17 website which is at www.theresafoundation.org.
73
18 MR. RUSSO: Well said.
19 MS. BERK: It’s a lot of websites, but it’s
74 20 very important information.
75 21 MR. RUSSO: Well, Kim, it’s been a great
76 22 family show of love and hope.
77 23 MS. BERK: That’s the way we like to do it
24 here. I couldn’t agree more, Vincent.
25 I’m happy to be a part of it.
78 Page 2 6
79 Have a fantastic day, Vincent.
80 MR. RUSSO: Thank you and have a great day, Kim.
81 Thank you all for. joining us and remember family truly does come first.

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