When a local day care center tried to accommodate children with special needs, it ended up struggling to get staff to assist them, and some children got turned away.
That didn’t sit right with Elaine Poe, a former Neighborhood Christian Learning Center employee.
Registration
To register, call Elaine Poe at 423-355-2126 or visit Neighborhood Christian Learning Center from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The center is located at 3661 Brainerd Road, Suite 201.
This year, she took ownership of the day care and designed a curriculum to assist typically developing children as well as those with special needs. The learning center, scheduled to open March 2, now will have staff to aid children with physical and intellectual disabilities.
“We know it’s needed and the service is not available,” Poe said.
For example, as many as 6,000 children in the greater Chattanooga area, including Ooltewah, Soddy-Daisy and North Georgia, are on the autism spectrum, said Dave Buck, executive director of the Chattanooga Autism Center. Many day care centers don’t accept those children because of behavior issues, he said.
“When I hear there is a day care center that accommodates these children, that’s exactly what this community needs,” Buck said.
The challenge with providing care for special-needs children is the attention needed to make sure they are safe, authorities say. They’re at risk for having tantrums, and unless people are properly trained, they send the children home.
Poe has 15 years’ experience working with special needs children. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organization management, a child development associate’s certification in early childhood education, and has training in nutrition practices.
The Neighborhood Christian Learning Center, which operates 24 hours a day Monday-Friday, accepts children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. The center is certified with the Tennessee Department of Human Services.
It seeks to provide a 4-to-1 child-to-staff ratio, and student fees start at $120 a week per child. Financial assistance is available.
Tiphannie Wordlaw Koon, a 21-year-old mother of two typically developing children, is already signed up to bring her children when the doors open.
Koon said she’s attracted to the day care’s goal of accommodating all children.
“I want my children to understand they can play and learn together,” she said. “I don’t want them to feel that children with special needs are outsiders.”
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6431.