“What I find most valuable about Summit DD Early Intervention services, is having another person in Katie’s corner. Having someone that celebrates Katie and recognizes her smallest accomplishments, is invaluable. Teaching Katie that she is accepted and loved and that her life is important and valuable, despite her challenges, is my most important job as a mom. Summit DD services help me to accomplish that!” proudly shared Katie’s mother, Ali.

Katie is just one of more than 700 children with developmental disabilities throughout Summit County that receive essential Early Intervention (EI) services. Our dedicated team of Developmental Specialists provide in-home and remote EI services to help children reach their developmental milestones. EI services are based on the principle that children learn best through everyday experiences with people they know, making parents a child’s best teacher.

“I feel very fortunate that I was selected to be Katie’s Developmental Specialist. I cannot put into words how enjoyable it has been to be able to work alongside her family on their developmental outcomes. I have had the pleasure for over a year now seeing her beautiful smiling face as well as celebrating when she sat up on her own,” shared Tamie Digman, Summit DD Developmental Specialist.

“Summit DD and Tamie have provided continual support for Katie. Every visit, Tamie listens to any concerns that we have about Katie’s development and always provides ideas and resources to help us. Early Intervention services have helped Katie learn to sit independently, crawl (in her own way), and pull up to stand. And now Katie’s on her way to walking. Tamie has given us ideas to help Katie to become completely free of her feeding tube and Katie has been 100% oral since March of 2022!” proudly shared Katie’s mother, Ali.

“Our next development goals for Katie are for her to learn to crawl on all fours, learn to walk, and increase her speech and vocabulary. I would tell any parent or guardian of a child that qualifies for services to take advantage of those services 100%. Even if you don’t think that Summit DD services can help, I think you’ll be surprised,” concluded Ali.

Summit DD is a levy funded government organization that provides and coordinates essential services for more than 5,000 people with developmental disabilities throughout Summit County. Whether it’s early intervention services for a newborn child or retirement services for a senior citizen, Summit DD provides a lifetime of support for those eligible for our services.