PHOENIX — As a parent, we all remember the moment our child first started to walk. But when you have a child with special needs, that moment is more than a milestone, it can be a miracle.
That was the case for 5-year-old Giovanni Soto.
Before Giovanni was even born, his mother Claudia Soto knew he would be different because Giovanni has a condition called microdeletion syndrome.
“It is where he's missing part of his 15th chromosome. And with that he has low muscle tone, developmentally delayed,” explained Claudia.
Doctors told his mother that Giovanni wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or hear.
But Claudia, who’s a carrier of the gene, still hoped for the best. That’s because Giovanni wasn’t her first child born with this condition, he was her second.
Her 12-year-old daughter Genesis also has microdeletion syndrome.
“I didn't lose hope because I saw my oldest do it… So I was like, you know, I'm not going to believe it 100%. We'll see where life takes us,” Claudia said.
For years, doctors were right. But things started to change after Giovanni enrolled at Holiday Park Elementary School in a “Learning for Independence” class.
The LFI program serves 104 students throughout the Cartwright Elementary School District where students in kindergarten through 8th grade with special needs get extra help from a team of specially-certified teachers and therapists.
At the beginning of the school year, his kindergarten teacher, Cara Friday, said Giovanni was still at a preschool level.
"So still trying to learn how to explore. Not really holding pencils… still not reading or, like knowing letters or numbers yet,” the teacher said.
But Giovanni slowly made progress academically and physically with the help of a gait trainer.
Then just three weeks ago, one of his therapists recorded a video of Giovanni taking his first steps.
“I was lost for words. I literally looked at the phone like, 'Is that Giovanni? Is that like my Gio?'” said Claudia. “I never thought I would see this.”
And now Giovanni can get his lunch all on his own at school.
“The school and everybody (who) teachers here, you know, see him and cheer him on (as) he's going down the hallway,” Friday said.
Giovanni still can’t talk, but he communicates through I-pads and pictures. He’s also able to now hear out of one ear.
“It's like they said earlier, it takes a village with these kids and I have amazing support from family to the educational resources to the outside therapies to everything… I’m very thankful for the whole support that I have because I don't think I would be able to do any of this alone,” Claudia said.
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