Kids Are Sealed in Her Memory

Kevin Nnuro, 8, was on the prowl for Tracy Stearn, a volunteer at an Easter Seals after-school program at Emblem Elementary School.

“It’s 2:45! Where’s Tracy?” he said.

When she finally appeared, he beamed as she cruised up the walkway in her motorized wheelchair.

“My bus was late!” Stearn said. “Sorry, guys.”

Except for the occasional traffic delay, Stearn, 27, shows up every day like clockwork, heading to Room 1, where she helps Kevin, Josh and Jordan, three severely disabled boys enrolled in the program.

Stearn, who was born with cerebral palsy, was in a similar program when she was a child. Now she wants to help other disabled children.

Sometimes that means letting them push her wheelchair around the school’s blacktop. Other times, she’s a second pair of eyes on the playground where the boys frequently scatter in different directions. Her wheelchair gives her the mobility to reach them fast.

“She’s my everything,” said program coordinator Joi Pierce. “I totally depend on her.”

In the classroom, Stearn helps Pierce and another aide entertain the boys with everything from puzzles to peanut butter.

“He wants more,” she said of Kevin’s confusing nonverbal signals during snack time on a recent day. “That’s what he’s trying to tell you.”

Pierce spooned more peanut butter onto Kevin’s tortilla. He smiled, took a big bite and gave Stearn a knowing smile as if to say “Thank you.”

Last January, when 9-year-old Jordan, who is autistic, jumped in a mud puddle, Stearn made sure he had a clean pair of pants afterward. She was worried about the extra work the boy’s father would have at home if he wasn’t cleaned up in time for pickup.

Stearn is always thinking, her colleagues said, and her memory is sharp as a tack.

“She knows these kids like the back of her hand,” Pierce said. “Their likes, their dislikes . . . just like a mother.”

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One of Stearn’s charges--11-year-old Josh Stuart--requires extra attention. He was born with microcephaly--a neurological disorder in which the brain is underdeveloped and the child’s head is abnormally small. He can eat only food cut in small pieces. And if he eats too much, he can easily get sick. He loves carrots, Stearn said, but he is allergic to citrus.

“She’s really helped us,” said Josh’s mother, Shellyn Stuart. “She always remembers exactly what’s on his diet.”

Stearn said her excellent memory helps to make up for her disability.

“You have to have a good memory when your hands don’t work very well,” she said.

Because days at the after-school program can be unpredictable, depending on the boys’ individual moods, Stearn serves as a beating metronome, quietly keeping things running from snack time to craft time to time to go home. The consistency is important for the children and helps Pierce keep order.

“We are a great team,” she said.

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The Easter Seals after-school program provides recreational and social opportunities for special needs children, who are referred by specialists. Fees of a few dollars an hour are based on income.

Stearn, who has volunteered 2 1/2 years, said she enjoyed it so much that last January she enrolled at College of the Canyons in Valencia to work on a degree in child development.

She plans on graduating in two years and her many hours at Easter Seals will be applied toward her credits.

“Someday I’ll have a paying job,” she said. “I just like helping the children.”

For more information about Easter Seals after-school programs and volunteer opportunities, call (818) 996-9902.

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