Lolo’s Story

Meet Lolo. He’s a happy, glasses-wearing, 17–month-old boy who loves to dance to electronic dance music and old school jams. He’s a brave and daring risk-taker with a smile that lights up every room he enters. Lolo also has Down syndrome.  

Jessica and Manuel, Lolo’s parents, learned about his Down syndrome (and heart condition) during Jessica’s pregnancy. Time allowed them the opportunity to process the reality of Lolo’s future and feel tremendous joy upon his arrival. Soon after his birth, Jessica and Manuel learned about Kindering’s early intervention services and therapies. At Kindering, they found knowledgeable staff excited to work with them and eager to set achievable goals for Lolo’s future.  

Jessica and Manuel both have experience working with people who have special needs, but that didn’t fully prepare them for having a child with Down syndrome. “You picture what your family will be like, and when it’s not like the picture you had in mind, it’s difficult to handle,” says Manuel. Jessica agrees, “There are so many emotions. We just take it all step by step, and there has been success, but it’s scary. This adds so many extra layers to the challenges of being a parent.” 

At Kindering, Lolo receives occupational therapy to bolster his low muscle tone, speech therapy to augment his communication skills, and vision therapy to strengthen his eyesight. His participation in a Baby Steps class provides Lolo extra socialization opportunities as well. Jessica and Manuel are extremely thankful for the reassuring resource of their therapists at Kindering. “They help us understand where he should be developmentally, as a child with his challenges, not just where he should be developmentally if he were typically-developing,” says Manuel.  

Lolo has now been at Kindering a little over a year. “We’re really taken aback by the strides he’s making,” says Jessica. Both parents rave about their therapists, “They bring us new ideas and they constantly give us tips and tricks for ways to help Lolo, both in our home therapy sessions and in Baby Steps. They work collaboratively with us to set goals for Lolo, making sure that we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. We celebrate the small stuff, because it’s big for him.” 

Baby Steps has been one of the family’s favorite Kindering experiences. Manuel says, “In this class we’ve made friends with other parents, and Lolo has a best buddy. It’s so good to see him connecting with a friend so early. The class has given us such a supportive community.” 

As they look to the future, Jessica and Manuel know Lolo will face new and different obstacles that go hand-in-hand with a Down syndrome diagnosis. Despite any added stress they face, both parents want to be a source of comfort to those around them and help build community for families who have children with special health needs. “We don’t want other people who face this kind of challenge to feel alone. The emotional roller coaster of all this is very real, and we want to be a support for others.”   

Ultimately, “Your kids choose you,” says Manuel. “He brings so much joy to us and he’s the most special kid. We’re really lucky to have him.”