Scout project gives back to Kindering
Published 11:15 am Friday, May 31, 2013
Jason Cummings earned his Eagle Scout award May 18 by building 12 wooden benches at Kindering in Bellevue. It was a special effort in more ways than one.
Cummings, now a junior at Interlake High School, received help from Kindering early in his life when he was not thriving.
As a toddler, Cummings was diagnosed with idiopathic infantile spasms (IS) and needed physical/occupational therapy and speech and language therapies. The condition causes cryptogenic seizures – and the onset when he was 7 months old caused regression to occur. After an onset of a large cluster of seizures, and a four-day stay at Evergreen Medical Center, Cummings began to undergo 10 weeks of ACTH treatment for the infantile spasms.
When he began therapy in April 1997, Cummings could sit up, but could put no weight on hands or arms, and could not roll over. Working with Elda Harada over the course of a summer, Cummings was able to crawl at 13 months and was walking at 16 months. Physical therapy continued into the fall and in six months’ time, he’d made 12 months’ worth of progress.
By 22 months, Cummings no longer needed physical therapy.
Cummings also received speech therapy at Kindering and was enrolled in a playgroup facilitated by early intervention staff.
“If it wasn’t for Kindering, Jason wouldn’t be working toward becoming an Eagle Scout,” said Cumming’s mom, Marie. “We’re very proud of his accomplishments – including becoming a competitive swimmer specializing in the challenging 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, taking AP classes in U.S. History and Environmental Science, as well as two years of Chinese language.”
Kindering began in 1962 when five Eastside mothers established the program for children with special needs. In 2012, Kindering helped more than 3,300 children and their families.
More information about Kindering is available by calling Joe Cunningham at 425-653-4321, email joe.cunningham@kindering.org, or visit its website at kindering.org.
