Dear Kathy,

I am writing this letter to thank you for all that you and your volunteers at DSES do for our children. As you know, both of my sons started attending DSES this winter. My son Tyler, who is 6 years old and has the diagnosis of herpatic encephalomenegitis with a seizure disorder, had immediate impact from attending your program. Tyler had approximately 15 ski lessons at DSES this winter, where you fitted him with skis and the apparatus called the slider. When Tyler started with the program, he could not even walk in his ski boots without falling with every step. Tyler is considered a spastic quadriplegic and has difficulty with balance and distributing much weight through his right leg. As a Physical Therapist myself, I saw dramatic improvement in Tyler since he began the DSES Program. He is walking with an improved gait pattern and improved weight bearing on his right leg. Even after his first initial ski day, Tyler was able to perform a double leg hop as well as a single leg stance momentarily, which he was previously unable to do. His school Adapted PE teacher asked what we had been doing with him. I told them about the DSES program.

Another area that the program has helped Tyler is socialization with his peers and adults. Tyler has always had a hard time interacting with new people and your volunteers made Tyler so at ease and confident that he is communicating and interacting with his classmates more than ever. Tyler enjoys coming home from Mammoth and telling his teachers what he does in his program and how he gets to play with wooly mammoth and all his other teachers.

We have also been participating in your summer programs. We have participated in the wall climb, zip line, summer camp out, fishing, kayaking and the therapeutic horseback riding.

Your program has not only helped my son Tyler, but also my 4 year old son Sean. Sean has a moderate Speech and Language delay with some developmental delay, and like Tyler he had significant improvement. The speech therapist that Sean sees, said the movement action helps the motor planning center with the speech and language process. She also stated that it helped that the teacher required Sean to use his words to continue the lesson. Sean also had difficulty following 2 step commands; this was also helped with all the therapeutic intervention your programs at DSES provide.

We recently finished the therapeutic horseback riding, and all of my therapist here-Speech, OT, PT and APE are thrilled that we have been able to participate in these programs. They have all seen and commented on the progress of the boys since attending DSES. Not only has your program helped my children physically, it has given my husband and I so much joy in the confidence and freedom our boys have gained from your program. My husband and I have bought season ski passes for next year so my boys can participate and we can volunteer even more at DSES next year.

As a parent and a Physical Therapist, I have seen how your program has helped change our life and the lives of many other families. Thank you again for all that your program does for the disabled.

Best regards, Cindy, Michael, Tyler and Sean Stern