On my first visit to Whatcom Center for Early Learning, (WCEL), I entered through the garden gate and surveyed the charming arrangement of play equipment that inhabits the side yard. Little did I understand that each eye-pleasing shape has more to offer than its visual appeal: the low red slide nestled in a hill affords a safe ride for small bodies unsure of their limits, and the wavy walkway to the gazebo offers a changing surface of hill and valley for little ones to test and improve their balance. Although stationary, it reminds me of the rope bridge I walked as a child that went up and down with each step. For a child struggling to navigate stairs, the three broad steps from the deck to the yard provide a safe yet challenging journey to explore a new world. The wiggly oval path, treated with a sandy, skid-proof surface, invites toddlers to venture out on a tricycle and experience the joy and freedom of “wheels” for the very first time.
I found the toddlers inside the Big Blue House on “H” Street. The children each have the benefit of a comprehensive, individualized program to address their specific learning needs. Basic motor, educational, and social skills are taught and reinforced through the medium of play, using art, music, movement, snack-time, and peer interaction. For some children, their educational plan may include occupational, physical, and speech therapy in the home. Including outreach sites, WCEL currently offers 7 weekly developmental classes for a total of 70 children (with and without special needs) and serves 43 children with special needs in Whatcom County.
Increased funding from state and county sources is at best uncertain. WCEL will need to attract a committed base of donors in the years to come to accommodate the growing number of children waiting to receive services.
Parent groups meet at the same time as the children’s play groups, affording a built-in time to share emotional and financial concerns, discuss medical treatment, and share knowledge of available community resources with others who understand. Parenting can be difficult under any circumstance, but add the uncertainties and challenges that come with raising a child with special needs, and the terrain is suddenly foreign and tricky to navigate.
For Kelli Bodin, a nurse who met weekly with other moms from her Lamaze class, daughter Megan’s global delays were evident at three months, but Kelli “didn’t know any mothers who had similar problems.” After Megan’s physical therapist referred her to WCEL, not only did Megan have a team of experts who “went over everything that was going on with Megan,” but now Kelli finally “got to know other people out there who have some things going on too.”
An additional benefit WCEL offers is the presence of infant to preschool siblings who share in the learning experience. With her first-born attending WCEL, Kelli Bodin was concerned how the birth of her second child would effect her participation in the program. She soon learned that her infant was welcome as well, just as promised in WCEL’s mission statement: Whatcom Center for Early Learning promotes the optimum development of all Whatcom County infants and toddlers and their families with a special focus on children with developmental delays. “WCEL is for the whole family and everyone takes part equally.” Kelli explains. “Megan likes to be around kids and that helps with social skills.”
Lisa Henniger’s support didn’t end when her son Evan, now five, graduated from WCEL two years ago. She and Evan still meet regularly and enjoy friendship and support with some of the other moms and children from their WCEL play group. “I left WCEL with nothing but good feelings,” Lisa shared. “They have hearts of gold and were so helpful and practical. They couldn’t solve every problem we had, but they were going to try.” Lisa now helps out weekly with Ferndale Toddler Time, a WCEL community outreach program offered through a partnership with the Ferndale Boys and Girls Club for children under five. The parents visit while they supervise their children at play, and WCEL staff specialists are available to assist.
Sometimes only another parent can understand the joy a parent experiences over their child’s triumphs or be able to listen to a tangle of conflicting emotions without offering either pity or trite platitudes. Katie Humes, Executive Director of WCEL, understands the need for parent support in coping with the bittersweet reality the parent of a child with a developmental delay faces. “If they go to the park with their child and other parents come up to them and say, ‘How neat. You’re using sign language,’ when the parent sometimes wishes they wouldn’t have to use it, the parent feels isolated,” Katie relates. “The parent experiences the difference between using sign language as an additional way to communicate versus using it because the child’s vocal chords are paralyzed.” (The parent of a child with special needs knows all too well that what others parents think of as enrichment is survival for their child. When there is no one who understands this paradox, the problem is not the pain, it is the isolation.)
At WCEL the isolation ends as parents find the training their child needs interwoven with rich relationships with other parents. Thank you, Whatcom Center for Early Learning, for providing this vital service for thirty years. We look forward to celebrating this milestone at the WCEL Fundraiser on May 8, 2004.
(Note: Lisa Henniger read the note about TV/VCR request and donated them, so here is a substitution!)
WCEL welcomes tax-deductible donations at WCEL, 2001 H Street, Bellingham, WA 98225
