Tender loving care for special boy Kyle

Kyle O’Malley, with his dogs Cookie and Duchess and his brother Ethan (11) and sisters Caitlin (13) and Mia Bridget (6). ?

Tender loving care for special boy Kyle


Áine Ryan

NINTENDOS sure need concentration and definite digital dexterity, as this reporter discovered last week, courtesy of nine-year-old, Kyle O’Malley.
Kyle was patiently waiting for his parents Selma and Eamon who were having coffee with The Mayo News while they talked about an upcoming international seminar, hosted by the Clare Crusaders, on care for children with special needs.
Almost five years ago former Mayo News journalist Padraig Burns revealed how the O’Malleys were about to move – lock stock and barrel – to California, to afford their second youngest child, Kyle, then aged four, the benefits of a renowned Speech and Language Development Centre (SLDC).
Shortly after his birth Selma and Eamon recognised all was not right with Kyle’s development. He was ‘floppy’ as a newborn baby and up until he was two years of age needed to be surrounded by pillows to prevent his falling over.
A series of tests ultimately revealed that the centre of Kyle’s brain – the corpus callosum – was missing.  In simple terminology, this means his brain doesn’t send signals from left to right.
Dedicated parents Selma and Eamon soon learned that for Kyle to fulfill his potential for development he needed intensive therapy. However, after much research, they discovered that such a service was not available in Ireland. Back in 2005, he was guaranteed one hour a week of speech therapy through the Western Care services.
Having already heard of the reputed SLDC they flew out to Orange County, California, and had Kyle assessed. There was no turning back for the proactive couple after he was accepted.   
“Kyle received speech, language, physio and occupational therapy every day at the centre. It was in a classroom environment where there was mainstream and special needs children. Naturally he progressed, but it took a long time,” explains Selma.
“The moral of the story is that constant intervention has a major positive effect on kids with special needs,”adds Eamon.
Kyle had intensive therapy for a year and a half, going to school at 7.45am and often not returning home until after 4.30pm, with occasional after-school therapy also.
“Kyle worked very hard and, of course, we pushed him so as to avail of the time we had at the centre,” Selma said. “They were a fantastic team of people, his language improved, he can now balance and cycle his bicycle, and he loves all his sports, especially football.”
The O’Malley family lived in California from January 2006 to June 2007 to facilitate their second youngest child Kyle’s specialist education.
“The day we had to leave was a most upsetting day. We ran out of funds and we ran out of visa. Because we only had a medical visa Eamon wasn’t able to work,”
The family effectively had to start from scratch on their return home. Initially they stayed in Selma’s parents holiday home in Westport while they built a house on land they owned in Murrisk.
Since his return Kyle, along with his siblings, attends St Colmcille’s National School at Westport Quay, where he has the benefit of a Special Needs Assistant.
He leads as normal a life as possible, mucking in on the family camping trips and eating out on special occasions. Most importantly, Kyle is kept very busy these days looking after his Cocker Poodle, Cookie. Of course, there’s also the preparation for his First Holy Communion in May.
No wonder the busy little boy needs the odd relaxing moment catching up on his favourite TV character, Spongebob.

International seminar on caring for special needs children
A GROUND-BREAKING seminar, organised by the Clare Crusaders Clinic, will host talks and workshops by a number of therapists from the California Speech and Language Development Centre (SLDC) in Ennis from April 6 to 9 next.
Eleven therapists from SLDC will present practical and innovative programmes to parents, carers and teachers of children with special needs.
Among the workshop topics are: living with a child with special needs, vocabulary development and communication, teaching social and communication skills, how to manage behaviour at home and in the classroom, sensory processing, as well as reading and homework skills.
Clare Crusaders is a registered charity dedicated to the provision of services for children with special needs living in County Clare.
Further information Tel: 065 6896015 or www.clarecrusaders.ie