A team that finally talks to each other

By the time Helena was five, we had a neurologist, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a nutritionist, and a wonderful school aide. Five excellent professionals — who had never exchanged a single word with each other.

Every month someone new told us to try something that contradicted what someone else had said. My husband and I spent our evenings as translators between our own daughter’s providers.

The change for us was almost embarrassingly simple: a one-page summary of what each person was working on, updated monthly, shared with everyone, with written permission for them to contact each other. Two of her therapists now plan together. The school aide uses the same sensory strategies we use at home.

Helena’s gains belong to her — she works harder than any of us. What changed on our side is that her team pulls in one direction now, and the gains she makes in one room no longer evaporate in the next. If I could give one gift to another family, it would not be another therapy. It would be coordination.