Our Children’s House at Baylor-Irving (OCHI) is the only child development program of its kind in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that—under one roof and subsidized by philanthropy—offers nurse-directed, specialized childcare with integrated, onsite therapy for children with medical needs. Parents also receive social services at OCHI to help their families. 

OCHI specializes in care for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years with moderate to severe medical needs. This includes cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome and brain trauma. OCHI’s child development center has an onsite nurse and offers speech, occupational and physical therapy. 

Ayeden's Story  Seasyn Ruvalcaba shares her and her son’s experience with OCHI... Ayeden Ruvalcaba, now a 23 month old toddler, was enrolled in Our Children’s House at Baylor – Irving (OCHI) when he was 3 months old.  He was diagnosed with Down syndrome shortly after birth. Therapists began working with Ayeden shortly after he began attending OCHI. Emily, the physical therapist, began working on his gross motor skills such as rolling over and crawling, as well as helping him to develop enough strength to start walking. We were so excited when Ayeden began walking at 15 months old! Laurie, the occupational therapist, began a few months later on his fine motor skills such as shaking, banging, reaching for and/or holding toys and other objects. He now works on handling objects with his index finger and motor skills to help prepare him in learning to color and write on his own. Ayeden has difficulties when eating with different food textures. Lilly, the speech therapist, has worked with Ayeden for about eight months. He has made many positive strides, such as overcoming his dislike for different food textures, beginning to talk, and has also begun signing, which is completely adorable. Ayeden’s development has been amazing thanks to his teachers, Millie and Shirley; the staff nurse Annie; and his therapists. Ayeden truly adores his teachers. His teachers’ goals are to love Ayeden through this entire process, and to incorporate his therapy goals daily into the classroom activities. For about six months, Ayeden had to wear a helmet on his head to treat Brachycephaly and had braces on his feet to help strengthen his ankles and to help him walk correctly. The staff was great at checking the equipment to make sure that it was on him properly and did not leave marks. His favorite thing to do is to watch the fish in the aquarium in the infant room. Ayeden can literally watch the fish swim for hours. He also loves blowing kisses to everyone which Mrs. Shirley loves to teach the children!  At the beginning of July 2011, he moved from the infant room to the toddler room. OCHI has a wonderful way with children and the transition was awesome. OCHI has made life so easy and I wouldn’t take him anywhere else, the care there is truly incredible.

Please consider a gift to Baylor Our Children's House at Irving. A tax-deductible gift of $80 will sponsor a child for a day, $400 sponsors a child for a week and $1600 for a month! You also can view the center's wish list of needs for toys, books.

Join our annual giving club - Help Us Grow
 

Join our our fundraising and activism group - Viscardi Society