Meet Keyla and Leyla.

Gratitude (n): feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful They are an adorable duo. With rhyming names and matching pigtails, two year old twins Keyla and Leyla elicit “oohs” and “aahs” wherever they go. However, like most of us, they have been isolated at home throughout the pandemic. For their mom, Reyna, this posed a unique challenge. With her toddler twins at a critical stage of development the lack of access to early intervention services at home had her worried about their progress.

The twins had already faced a difficult beginning. Born early at 30 weeks gestation, Keyla was less than four pounds and Leyla less than two pounds. The more fragile twin, Leyla, had a heart condition that required surgery last summer. After her surgery, Coastal Kids physical therapist, Patricia Krall did an evaluation to monitor their progress toward gross motor milestones. At that visit, in addition to documenting Leyla’s developmental needs, Trish also observed that Keyla was behind. One week later she evaluated the second sister.

This spring, nearly eight months later, both twins are progressing beautifully. When Trish first started, they were crawling, but not yet pulling to stand or cruising on furniture. Now, Keyla is taking five independent steps and Leyla is getting comfortable walking while holding on to her mom’s hands.

In Trish’s words, working with the twins has been a delight, “I’ve been really impressed with how receptive mom is with any suggestions, and her follow through is excellent.”

The feeling is mutual. For mom, having a physical therapist come to her home, while the twins’ other services are taking place via zoom, has made an enormous difference, “They see [Trish] in the window and they get so excited to see her. They love working with her. Of all the therapists they’ve had, they definitely love her the most.”

Meanwhile Trish is grateful to be doing a job she loves, providing safe, nurturing physical therapy to the twins, while Keyla and Leyla’s smiles (and tears when she leaves) clearly show how grateful they are to have Trish in their life.

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“They see [Coastal Kids Physical Therapist, Trish] in the window and they get so excited to see her. They love working with her. Of all the therapists they’ve had, they definitely love her the most.”

--Twins' Mom