Program Makes Day Care Accessible For Children With Dissabilities

Occupational therapist Katie Cutie works with Shane Hammond on spatial awareness and balance.

While there’s nothing remarkable about such a scene, ten years ago it may not have been observed in day care centers throughout South Carolina. Yet since 1994 a federally funded grant has opened up opportunities for children with disabilities and developmental delays who need day care services. The Advocates for Better Care (ABC) Special Needs Voucher Program is managed by the Center for Disability Resources, a division of the Department of Pediatrics. 

Through the program, vouchers are provided to low-income families to finance day care services for special needs children through the age of 18. Families must meet certain eligibility requirements, and a small co-payment is required on their part. The program also includes consultation, technical assistance and training furnished to day care providers by ABC Special Needs Program staff.

 “Our philosophy is that all children participate to the maximum extent they can,” said Gay Clement-Atkinson, Ph.D., Training Director for the ABC Special Needs Voucher Program. Oftentimes it takes a simple solution to bring a disabled child from the sidelines into the mainstream of activity. “In today’s world you can buy a lot of expensive equipment and materials, but there really is no need. We do an awful lot of make it ourselves, revise it ourselves, enlarge it ourselves,” said Clement-Atkinson.

Atkinson and her staff have learned that a lack of information is usually the biggest stumbling block with day care center personnel. “People have fear and uncertainty about things that are unknown to them. There are a lot of myths about disabilities,” she said. So an integral part of the ABC program involves preparing day care center staff to work with disabled children and addressing their concerns upfront. When a new child with a disability will be attending a day care center, an ABC staff member visits the center beforehand. “We talk to the child’s teacher and the director, look at the curriculum, and give an overview of the child’s disability to the staff,” she said.

Children at day care centers are also included in the education process. “Other kids may be overprotective or don’t include the disabled child because they just don’t understand. We really work on social inclusion so that the newcomer is accepted by everyone,” said Clement-Atkinson.

The program also promotes partnerships between day care centers and parents, an objective that involves Maria Tolbert, a psychology doctoral student. “We help centers reach out to parents and provide parents with information about their children,” Tolbert said. As she visits centers and helps implement the ABC program, Tolbert finds that “the staff learn that working with a disabled child is not as difficult as they thought it would be. The knowledge takes that fear away,” she said.

Reprinted from Connections newsletter, November 2002

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