The CACTI Blog: From Toys to Treatment - Small Moments of Care with Big Meaning
By Meghan Adams, 2024-2025 Undergraduate Certificate in Developmental Disabilities
As a medical student, I wanted to learn how to help kids with disabilities get better healthcare. My time with the Sonoran Center doing research led me to a volunteering opportunity with the Children’s Clinics of Southern Arizona. At the Sonoran Center, I learned that there are systemic barriers that keep people with intellectual and developmental disabilities from getting the healthcare they need. The Children’s Clinics is different - they offer primary care, behavioral health, and rehabilitative services, all with a special focus on children and teens with developmental and physical disabilities. I knew this would be a great organization to get involved with.
Starting in January 2025, I volunteered at the Children’s Clinics every Thursday morning. My tasks were to help keep the rooms, toys, and waiting areas clean, and sometimes supervise the kids or their brothers and sisters. These interactions illustrated some of the things I learned through my training with the Sonoran Center, like the types of intellectual and developmental disabilities and the systemic barriers that affect people with such disabilities. My favorite part was meeting the patients and learning from the experts who work there.
One day, I got to follow a speech-language pathologist (SLP). An SLP is a teacher who helps people learn how to talk and communicate. Before this, I wasn’t quite sure what speech-language pathologists do, or rehabilitative specialists in general, so I was very excited by this opportunity for real-life learning.
We worked with a four-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy. This condition can make it hard for a person to move their muscles or speak clearly. The SLP said her main goal was to improve the girl’s attention span so she could more easily learn to communicate. The girl needed engaging activities to get and keep her attention. These activities included toys like light-up balls and noisy rattles. The SLP even pushed the girl on a swing! Once the girl was watching and listening, the SLP used sign language and spoken words to help her communicate. It was amazing to see all the care and patience these healthcare providers give to help someone with special needs. It also showed how important specialized clinician training is in working with people with complex conditions, something I had learned about at the Sonoran Center.
The SLP also showed me a unique piece of technology called an Eye Gaze device. This tool lets a person communicate just by moving their eyes! Even though it worked well, the SLP said the girl’s family might not be able to get one because insurance companies likely would not cover it. High costs of care and restrictive insurance policies are more systemic barriers that keep people with disabilities from getting the care they need. It was disheartening because every child deserves the best tools to help them.
Volunteering at the clinic taught me so much. Every week, I met new people — patients and providers — with different stories. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities for connection, learning and growth this work provided me. In the future, when I am a physician, I want to make sure all patients are treated fairly and get the healthcare they deserve.
The CACTI Blog features the voices of our interdisciplinary trainees and Community Advisory Council members as they highlight diverse images of people with disabilities and provide community information and advocacy on disability issues. Check Out The CACTI Blog