Children's Services

Two programs are available through The Arc for infants, toddlers, and young children and their families. The first is an early intervention program providing services to infants, toddlers, and young children with developmental delays and their families. Services provided include early intervention, occupational, physical, and speech therapy. Services are provided depending on the specific individual needs of each family served. The second component of the program is an inclusive day care setting which is available to infants, toddlers, and young children with handicaps and also to those without.

The goal of Children’s Services is to help each infant, toddler, and young child served get the best possible start in life.

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

Annually, Children’s Services conducts a CQI Plan to evaluate its services and programs to infants, toddlers, and young children served and their families. Results are used to examine the effectiveness of the program and as a guide for efforts over the next year. During 2007, family members of infants, toddlers, and young children served gave the program an overall rating of 6.1 on a scale of 1-7, with 7 representing excellent.

Individualized objectives were reviewed for each infant, toddler, and young child enrolled in the early intervention program for a minimum of six months. 45% of targeted objectives were completed in 2007 and 55% were continued. This exceeded the program’s goal for 2007, indicating services provided through this program are effective in meeting the needs of those enrolled, thus better preparing them to transition to school systems upon turning age three.

Some young children made such progress in our program that they no longer qualified for early intervention services. During 2007, 8 young children served made such significant improvement that they no longer qualified for early intervention services by the time they turned age three. These children best represent the effectiveness of early childhood services provided through The Arc.

Adrienne Has So Many Possibilities...

Little Adrienne enrolled in the early intervention program about one year ago when her family noticed she was not progressing developmentally like most two year olds. She was not speaking or walking by that time. After further evaluation, Adrienne was diagnosed with Partial Trisomy 8. To help her progress developmentally, she started receiving speech, occupational, and physical therapy, and also special instruction through the Children’s Services Program. In just a short time, Adrienne has made significant progress. She now knows some words and uses simple sign language to communicate. She is even walking independently and feeding herself. With this kind of progress, the future holds many more possibilities for little Adrienne!

What Families Said about Children’s Services

“My child’s therapist is very caring and compassionate about each of the kids. She is doing a good job of preparing them for big school’.”

“You can tell our teacher really enjoys her job. She always goes the extra mile with her kids!”

“Receiving therapy in my home has been great. My child feels more at ease and gains more from the sessions than if he were in an unfamiliar environment.”