By Sheila G. Kelley, Development Coordinator, Harvey County United Way
Raising a child in today’s world is a challenge on the very best of days. Childhood vaccinations, dental and optical health, haircuts, dietary obstacles, growth and weight guidelines – just a few of the many things parents deal with their children.
Getting all those activities done provides a strong base for children to start school. But what if you notice your little one seems to be having a bit of trouble crawling or walking; not using words; not transitioning from bottle to table food or throwing tantrums?
In steps the Harvey County Infant Toddler Services group. When a family brings forward a concern in development, the team – consisting of two early childhood teachers, a speech language pathologist, a physical therapist and an occupational therapist – moves into action.
“Our area of specialty is early childhood special education,” said director Jonni Brown of herself and fellow early childhood teacher Ashley Snodgrass. “Then the whole team focuses on development of the child and family. We focus on a child’s learning, play and thinking skills.”
The program is free for children birth to three years old. The team uses the primary provider model in their work with families. That means all early interventionist team members work closely with the family to conduct the assessment and design the child’s plan.
However, each family will thereafter see a primary person who will support the family in the daily routines and activities that are important to them. Research backs up the primary provider model, saying if a family has one person to connect with, results are easier and longer lasting.
“We believe building a relationship with one person on our team will provide the family better support,” Jonni said. “The primary provider will bring in other team members as needed.”
Assessments, program development and services are given at the family’s home, where infants and toddlers learn best through everyday experiences with familiar people in familiar places.
“We look at the whole family, not just the development of the child. What resources do the family’s need to be successful?” Jonni said. For instance, is there safe housing, a parent with a driver’s license, a mom who wants to get a degree or go to college?
Being part of the process and planning empowers them to know they can make those choices for their kid,” Jonni said. After the assessment and plan are completed, primary providers start seeing kids weekly to once a month, just depending on age, severity, family’s needs and their abilities to do what they need to do to be successful.
Since the majority of meetings are held in the child’s home, they involve a lot of drive time and travel expenses to make sure all children in the outlying areas of the county are served. Because grant funding from Harvey County United Way isn’t restricted to a certain category such as supplies, capital improvements or program support, the Infant Toddler program is able to supplement the dollars they receive from the state for travel for all the home visits.
With around a hundred children in the program, there is a lot of travel involved. Not all those kids are on a plan at the same time because there are children who transition off or kids that move. Average active cases at any given time are close to 70.
Jonni has been with the program for 18 years, coordinator for the past three years. She has seen an increase in the number of referrals coming in. But with only five staff, of which three are part time, it weighs heavily on them.
“We are trying to see our current case load and we get the new referrals. How do we balance all that?” she said. With continued support from Harvey County United Way, they are able to support families in all areas of the county.
“If the staff demonstrates a need to get more employees, we feel like maybe we are in a good position to ask for another part-time person,” Jonni said.
The United Way 