Jace Rodriguez is a patient at Permian Basin Rehab Center who brings a lot of excitement to everyone he meets.
That’s one of the many reasons why he was named this year’s Patient Representative.
The 6-year-old son of Joe and Jeanette Rodriguez has been taking therapy sessions at the Permian Basin Rehab Center every week for three years now.
He had the honor of lighting the Community Christmas Tree recently at Optimist Park. He’ll also be featured at the center’s telethon April 22-23 on KWES-TV, Channel 9.
“Last year, Jace was one of our patient stories that we used for (last year’s) telethon and his story is intriguing,” Permian Basin Rehab Center Communications Director Shannon Adams said. “It catches your heart strings. But just Jace himself is so dynamic and geared towards people. He wants to be in the limelight and have a good time. we’re drawn to him. He’s cute, he’s a firecracker and has all kinds of fun personalities.”
Jace’s mother says he enjoys the attention and is still talking about lighting the Community Christmas Tree.
“At each event, he’s like the star of the show so he’s been really excited,” Jeanette said. “He’s still talking about the Christmas tree lighting. He’s been liking the attention.”
Jace, who is autistic, first came to the Permian Basin Rehab Center when he was 3-years-old. He goes in each week for his speech and occupational therapies.
“He started off with two sessions each week and that lasted for about a year-and-a-half,” Jeanette said. “Now he goes to two therapy sessions but just one day a week because he’s shown enough improvement.”
Jeanette says his communication skills have improved tremendously over the last three years.
“When he started here, he could talk but it was just gibber-jabble,” Jeanette said. “You couldn’t understand what he was saying. There was maybe one or two words to get some needs across but he couldn’t say sentences. Now, he’s saying full sentences. His sentences are becoming more complex. It’s like his brain keeps waking up more and more.”
Jace is currently in kindergarten at IDEA Yukon.
“He did Pre-K last year and transitioning to kindergarten, it was a similar atmosphere to what he was used to in Pre-K so it was a smooth transitions,” Jeanette said. “He also has support there to. He finds things that are similar and it makes him feel comfortable.”
His therapists talked about some of the things they work on with Jace.
“In occupational therapy, what we work on-especially with Jace-is what occupies their time,” PBRC Occupational Therapist Laura Venesky said. “At this age, it’s dressing and feeding and crafts skills. When he first came here, he wasn’t able to pick up a writing utensil. Now, he’s writing his name and drawing his squares and he’s super energetic and social so just working on all those daily social skills is what we’ve been working on.”
Venesky says Jace’s progress has been phenomenal.
“When he first came to us, he had difficulties in separating from his mom and was not interested in doing any of the activities,” Venesky said. “He didn’t want to do the crafts and didn’t want to play. Now, he’s in to all the different crafts and do them from start to finish. Now, he interacts with everyone. He’s a social butterfly and has made a lot of progress.”
Jeanette says that Jace’s hobbies include music and sports.
“He is a music lover,” Jeanette said. “He loves music (including) kid music, regular music, radio music. He loves music and it puts him at ease. Even as a baby, it was the only thing that put him at ease. He loves music and loves sports. He loves watching sports and playing outdoors. Recently, he’s been more interested in playing with other children.”
One thing Jeanette is grateful for is Jace’s therapists using his interests during sessions saying that it helps motivate him.
“He doesn’t know that they’re actually working on things that he needs to work on,” Jeanette said. “He’s just having a good time. but the good thing about this place is that they’re challenging him enough to keep that progress going.”
Earlier this year, Jace attended the center’s Great American Steakout fundraiser which was back in September where he played an active role.
“He did one of our patient paintings and was there doing the live auction and was kind of the superstar on the microphone,” Adams said. “We decided that with his energy and his spirit that he’s a great representative to represent the center on how important it is about what we do and how far these kids can come along.”
Jeanette has been grateful with the progress Jace has made and the help the PBRC has provided.
“It takes a village to raise any child but for a special needs kid, that’s especially true so I’m thankful that this place has been his village,” Jeanette said.
She said being a part of different events at the PBRC has brought out the best in him.
“It has been really gratifying because he had a rough start,” Jeanette said. “Being at these events, he really shines and he’s really in his element. It’s actually brought out positive things in him. I just really grateful for him.”
For more information about the PBRC and to help donate, visit https://tinyurl.com/ybawd2eu.
