Toby Overton, 3 ½

Toby has been coming to Heartsong for a year and a half. He was born at 36 weeks with spina bifida, a birth defect when the spine fails to close during the first month of pregnancy. Children born with spina bifida live well into adulthood thanks to today's sophisticated medical techniques. Yet most of them experience some paralysis as a result of the spinal damage.

Toby, who goes to eight physical and occupational therapies a week and has undergone many surgeries in his young life, is lucky enough to be able to walk almost normally. To the untrained eye, he looks like any other child. There are gestures or postures, however, which are hard for him to maintain. If Toby falls, he cannot get up without holding on to something and he has just recently learned to squat.

Toby loves coming to Heartsong because of the strong bond he has developed with his therapist Kristen. He also gets a chance to socialize there, since he is an only child. He and his mother Margaret never seem in a hurry to leave.

Miki is a mischievous little girl with long dark hair. She likes to talk, even though her shyness sometimes takes over and she will bury her face in her mother's bosom.

Laura, whose husband is Japanese, explains that her daughter has changed a lot since she first came to Heartsong, a year and a half ago. Miki, who used to have trouble understanding basic questions, now gladly volunteers information. She even knows how to spell her name.

Apart from attending regular kindergarten, Miki also takes art therapy classes at Heartsong in addition to her weekly ballet class elsewhere. Her mother explains that it is at Heartsong that her daughter really blooms, because she is treated as any other kid there. At school, the other children don't always have the patience to listen to Miki. "Here, they accept her where she is right now," said Laura. "She doesn't feel judged by the other children."

Jessica Houser, 6

Jessica loves music so much that she listen to it everywhere-- even in her bath. Her mother, Marion, explains that music therapy, "gives her confidence," and "makes her feel important."

Jessica has been coming to Heartsong for about two years. She is one of the most attentive children in the class she takes with her therapist Elizabeth.

Holding the rainstick in one hand during one session, she was particularly good at remembering her classmates' names and never left her seat without permission. She enjoyed playing bells and knew to stop when the lyrics told her to do so. Then she just held the bell tightly in her cupped hands and smiled.