She brushes her hands, requests a rinse off from her brother, Luke Miller, who is on standby with the hose in hand, and gets back to work.
“Come on! Let’s go!”
The gloveless gardening is new for Mary, who has Down syndrome. Months ago the 10-year-old would have had to have her gardening gloves present to shield her tiny hands from the dirt, and years before that her therapists never would have thought she would enjoy playing in the dirt.
Working in the garden helps the kids with Down syndrome in multiple ways including improving their handwriting skills by writing their names to label their plants and improving physical strength. Since incorporating the gardening into her therapy, Maggie Jarvela, Mary’s occupational therapist at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters Health and Surgery Center in Newport News, and Mary’s mom, Billie Miller, say they have seen the biggest improvement in Mary’s speech.
It’s hard for kids with Down syndrome to put complete sentences together, as Jarvela explains.
From entering the garden, to closing up shop, Jarvela and speech pathologist Maegan Branton are working on Mary’s speech. Every interaction serves as an opportunity to help Mary speak in full sentences. “The keys please.” “Open the door please.”
Mary asks Luke to fill up the watering can. Mrs. Miller beams from the sideline as Mary tilts the big green watering can over the flowers. “Uh-oh,” she says when it’s empty.
“He is just too good of a brother,” Jarvela says.
Too good is right. The CHKD therapy garden is Luke’s Eagle Scout project, the result of months of hard work by the 16-year-old Kecoughtan High School sophomore. Last year, Luke was in search of community service project ideas. When he and Mrs. Miller asked CHKD for suggestions, they learned the hospital had wanted a therapy garden for the longest and Luke set to work drawing up plans, making presentations to community groups and soliciting funds.
Luke raised the $3,500 for the project, and collected an additional $1,000 to donate to the hospital for garden maintenance. Memorial Day weekend, Luke, his 15-member Troop 31, his father, Col. Frank Miller, and friends of Luke built the garden.
“Now the VA Beach hospital wants one too, they’ve gotten kind of jealous,” he smiles.
Surrounded by an 8-foot tall fence, the garden is designed and built for children with many different needs. Flowerbeds are raised at different levels to accommodate children of all ages as well as wheelchairs.
“At first it was really time-consuming,” says Luke. “But my parents were very influential and I knew it was for a good purpose.”
Luke has won numerous awards for the project, including the Phil Everhart Youth Award, and it has even inspired a possible future career. “Now that I’ve seen Mary in action, I like the idea of therapy,” he says.
During the spring and summer, the garden may see up to eight kids of varying ages a day. As the warm weather approaches, CHKD therapists are looking forward to spending more time in the garden and planting a wider variety of plants and vegetables alongside the current pansies, lemon balm, thyme, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Luke may be “too good of a big brother,” but like any big brother, he still likes to pester. “Look Mary, a butterfly,” he calls out. She scrunches up her face, she’s scared of butterflies. Everyone laughs.
*This article was published on HRMagonline.com as a web exclusive for my internship.
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