Ryden, diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy, was born at 26 weeks, weighing 1.5 lbs. He is nonverbal, but when his mother, Brittany, talks about going to The Shea Center, Ryden quickly runs to the door. Ryden has some sensory issues and when he first came to Shea...
“The Shea Center is life changing.” Those were the words of Nadia the mother of six-year-old Everett. Diagnosed with autism at two years of age, Everett has been riding at Shea receiving occupational and speech therapies utilizing hippotherapy for a little over a...
Did you know that October is Rett Syndrome Awareness Month? Shea Center staff, volunteers, and clients support by wearing purple, the color for Rett Syndrome Awareness Rett syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that affects brain development and can impact gait,...
Tank is a happy seven-year-old who loves Tesla cars. When he is not talking, he is making car sounds and pretending to be driving or parking a Tesla. He has nine Tesla t-shirts made for him by his grandma and he wears one every day. Tank particularly likes electric...
This heartwarming spotlight is about Abigail, our featured client rider at The Shea Center’s 2022 Annual BBQ and Family Faire. If you have ever seen grown adults walking around The Shea Center in tutus and crowns, they were most likely client Abigail’s volunteer team...
Stella is a happy little girl who at three years old was diagnosed with Lamb-Shaffer syndrome, a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by global developmental delay and poor expressive speech. Over time, Stella has participated in numerous and varied...
Levi is on his own timeline. Those are the words of his mother Ivana. Born by emergency C-section at 24 weeks and weighing 1.5 pounds, Levi was in the neonatal ICU for 112 days. It was three weeks before Ivana could hold her newborn son. After severe brain bleeds and...
Kyle and his wife, Kim, have been Shea Center clients for a year and a half. Kyle spent 23 years in the military, with two combat tours and two traumatic brain injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. When he returned from combat, Kyle was not the same...
Kristina, the mother of identical twins Chloe and Olivia, felt her five-year-old daughters seemed to hit a wall in their traditional clinical therapies for developmental delay. She started looking for a therapy that would be fun and keep the girls engaged. She found...
Arthur M. is a happy nine-year-old who sits up straight riding his favorite horse, Shaw, with a big smile on his face. It hasn't always been this way. Arthur came to The Shea Center at age four with a diagnosis of autism. His mother, Claudia, explains that at the...