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How Best Starts for Kids Funds Early Learning Programs

5/21/2021

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A baby sits on a mothers lap, stairring at the camera with bright blue eyes.
A baby sits on a mother’s lap, staring at the camera with bright blue eyes.
King County’s Best Starts for Kids (BSK) levy, which is up for voter renewal on August 3, funds two important Northwest Center programs:
  • Our IMPACT (Inclusion Mentorship Program for increasing Access in Childcare Team) program, which has brought inclusive early learning to 21,000 children since its launch in 2018, was created and funded thanks to a grant from BSK.
  • Northwest Center’s Early Supports program, which provides therapy and services to children with delays in the critical time from birth to age 3, is also supported in part by a BSK grant.

IMPACT provides consultation and professional development trainings to spread NWC’s mission and vision of inclusion to all of King County, with the ultimate goal of changing the landscape of early learning and childcare across the county to fully support children of all abilities.

Our Early Supports team, thanks to BSK funding, was able to meet our families’ needs throughout the pandemic by pivoting to a telehealth model and delivering needed resources directly to families. Funding from BSK also helped Early Supports launch equity initiatives including language access and racial equity projects to make materials and services accessible to more families.

Since King County voters passed the BSK levy in 2015, more than $368 million has been distributed to hundreds of other programs. These include:
  • The creation of School-Based Health Centers where students can receive free annual check-ups, vaccinations, and mental health counseling.
  • The Youth and Family Homelessness Prevention initiative, community programs that in In 2017 alone were able to prevent more than 3,000 people from experiencing homelessness.

Funded through a property tax, BSK was designed to help children realize their potential to be happy, healthy, safe, and thriving. The levy “Invests Early” by funding programs to support pregnant parents and children prenatal through five years old, and then “Sustains the Gain” through grants that support children, youth and young adults ages 5 through 24.

If BSK is not renewed on the August 3 ballot, funding is set to expire on December 31, 2021.

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Bridging Generations: With Northwest Center Early Intervention and the Seattle Developmental Bridge Program, both Grandparent and Grandchild get the Support they Need

10/5/2020

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Illustration of mother with child
Illustration by Anna Nelson
​It’s challenging for any parent to seek help for a child with special needs. It was even harder for Sandra, whose deep distrust of programs for kids with disabilities went back decades.

When Sandra was a child in a Seattle special needs program, she felt marginalized both for her cognitive difficulties and for being Black. Teachers would speak too quickly or use terms she did not know, making her feel like her understanding didn’t matter to them as much as that of her white classmates.

When Sandra had her first child, the cycle continued: her daughter was also placed in special education and experienced the same frustrations.
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By the time Sandra recognized that Destiny, the granddaughter she was raising, needed support with her cognition and communication, she was hesitant to once again put her trust in a system that had let her and her family down—especially as a single parent with a low income who had already raised multiple children. But she overcame her initial fears so that Destiny, who was born drug-exposed, could begin Early Supports (ES) therapy with Northwest Center Kids.

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Rising to the Challenge: Northwest Center Keeps Services Coming Even When We’re Apart

9/4/2020

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​We may have to stay socially distanced, but Northwest Center services can’t stop—kids with disabilities still need therapy to reach their milestones, preschoolers need interaction with classmates and teachers, adults with disabilities need to keep their work skills sharp, and the businesses we partner with need essential services. Here are some ways the Northwest Center community has been rising to the challenge of COVID-19.
Northwest Center Kids

​Learning in Circles: How Virtual Education Keeps Kids Connected
Collage of teachers on zoom

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From Heart Surgery to Hospital-to-Home Therapy, Early Supports to Early Learning, Northwest Center Supports Jackson Every Step of the Way

8/10/2020

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​At four days old, Jackson had heart surgery. But the real challenges were yet to come.

Jackson was born with heart complications and 22q-11 deletion syndrome, a condition that can cause nearly 200 health and developmental issues. He spent the first month of his life in the ICU. When his mom and dad finally brought him home from the hospital, he used a feeding tube.

“You almost forget how fragile your child is until you're putting him in the car seat and think, ‘I'm taking this child home and he's been in the ICU his entire life,” says Jackson’s mom Kamille. “He is our first child. He just had heart surgery. And his nutrition was 100% dependent on an NG tube [nasogastric intubation] through his nose.”
Jackson Playing
​During COVID-19, Jackson, shown with mom Kamille, is thriving thanks to telehealth Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) therapy with Northwest Center.
The moment the family walked through their front door, Northwest Center was there to help: the family signed up for Hospital-to-Home, Northwest Center’s Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) program that supports families when a baby comes home from a long hospital stay.

“Immediately upon leaving the hospital, we started doing motor and feeding therapy with our speech-language pathologist Natalie Miller,” says Jackson’s dad Nathan. (Miller, who is also a Hospital-to-Home Clinical Supervisor, remains Jackson’s therapist to this day.)

“It would have been unbelievably difficult to not have that support,” Kamille says. “It’s so overwhelming to be hooking your child up to a machine to be fed. It was really important to have someone dedicated to infant feeding. Natalie had worked with kids with tubes, she'd done swallow studies before. It was not her first rodeo and it was definitely ours.”

“Without that support, I think we would have clogged up our doctor’s phone lines,” Nathan says. “Or we might have pushed Jackson a little bit too hard on trying oral feeding if we hadn't had experts helping us understand his limitations.”

“Your first year feeding and taking care of a child is vital to their wellbeing for the rest of their life,” Kamille says. “The most important part of our day was getting Jackson fed. Natalie would talk to us, give a second opinion of ‘That’s normal or not normal’ or, ‘Yes, you should talk to a doctor about that’ or, ‘Here’s some referrals and resources; let me connect you with this person that might give you some more guidance.’ It was a support system.”

Part of the Family
Jackson, who turns 3 in November, has since reached some major milestones.

“We’ve been with Early Supports services from the get-go. On top of that, Jackson started going to Northwest Center Kids Early Learning at around 6 months old,” Nathan says. “We knew we couldn’t go to just any daycare because of Jackson’s feeding tube.”
“We wanted to make sure that Jackson had the biggest and most supportive community possible,” says Kamille. “Diversity and inclusion were really important to us because we knew Jackson might have issues that we needed a community to support.”

“The first thing my wife told me about Northwest Center Early Learning was their inclusion policy that every child, no matter what their situation, does every activity with every other child,” Nathan says. “Jackson is part of the family there.”
​

Nathan and Kamille credit that inclusion for Jackson’s recent progress.

“Jackson has been a 100% oral eater since last September and now has no feeding tube,” Nathan says. “I think inclusion helped push him because it wasn’t just Mom and Dad at mealtimes showing him to eat; it was peers.”

“From the very beginning, we started seeing big changes,” Kamille says. “It was amazing.”
Baby Yoda Jackson
Jackson was born with 22q-11 deletion syndrome. Northwest Center Hospital-to-Home knew just how to help.
“At Chinook, they support his Early Supports therapy,” Nathan says. “They’ve always really supported any changes we needed to make. They never complained, always asked if there was more they could be doing.”

Still Connected, Still Thriving
The family is grateful for the consistent support from Early Supports and Early Learning, especially their long relationship with their speech-language pathologist.

“I consider Natalie a wonderful resource and a close friend,” says Kamille. “I think of her as somebody who I trust with my child's care. Northwest Center was able to facilitate me having support and Nathan having support, and his grandparents having support, by coming into our homes, and that was key to his success.”

Because of COVID-19, in-home visits are suspended for now, but Jackson continues to expand his vocabulary thanks to weekly telehealth therapy. These days, he is practicing saying words and phrases typical for a two-year-old like "I want juice" and "I love you."
“Jackson shows Natalie toys on the screen and they talk about them," says Kamille. ”Natalie is still very supportive of our family. None of that has changed. Northwest Center is still making him a priority,”

Kamille and Nathan want that inclusion to continue as Jackson continues to thrive.
Jackson Signs Thank You
Kamille and Jackson sign “Thank you.”
“My hopes for Jackson’s future are just like any other parent,” Kamille says.

​“I want him to have a normal childhood with normal ups and downs,” says Nathan.


“I want him to be loved by everyone, because he is absolutely worthy of it, as any child is,” says Kamille. “It’s so important to us that Northwest Center’s work continues—for Jackson to have good care and other kids to have an inclusive place to go.”
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Early Supports Steps In at a Critical Time for Noemie

3/20/2019

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​At just four months old, Noemie was having trouble getting enough nutrition. Her diagnosis was complex: tongue-tie (ankyloglossia), a condition that restricts the tongue's range of motion; acid reflux; food allergies; and sensory processing disorder.
 
Noemie’s pediatrician referred her to a special clinic for children who have trouble getting enough nutrition. As the months passed, she saw other specialists in gastroenterology and nutrition, and began outpatient feeding therapy. And yet, Noemie made little progress.
 
Finally, the pediatrician referred Noemie’s family to Northwest Center Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers’ (ESIT) feeding therapy program, and they began working with occupational therapist Molly Nolan-Jones. The in-home visits were valuable, but after a few months, Nolan-Jones felt that Noemie’s diagnosis was not complete.
 
"At that point, Molly told us what turned out to be some of the most important words: ‘I feel like something else is wrong; you need to take her back to the gastroenterologist,” says Noemie’s mom Nichole.
 
“Molly became more than a feeding therapist,” Nichole continues. “She became a family advocate. She spoke with doctors on our family's behalf, and she was instrumental in helping the doctors find a proper diagnosis: eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease.”
 
Eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease (EGID) makes it painful and difficult to swallow and digest food. Because Noemie’s EGID diagnosis was delayed, she had developed a pediatric feeding disorder. So Nolan-Jones continued to work with the family.
 
“I provided education about how to present food, how to engage in sensory play throughout her day, sensory approaches to food, and mealtime routines at their home,” says Nolan-Jones.
 
When Noemie turned 2, Early Supports transitioned her occupational therapy services from her home to the Early Learning classrooms at Northwest Center Kids at Greenwood.
 
"Noemie, her mom, and I would join the classroom at lunchtime,” says Nolan-Jones. “Our goal was for Noemie to spend time around other kids who were eating and enjoying food. This was motivating for Noemie, and she would eat more food during these meals.”
 
This past fall, Noemie officially transitioned to Early Learning as a student.
 
“Words can’t even explain how thankful I am to Molly and everyone at Northwest Center,” Nichole says. “It made a big difference in Noemie’s life and saved her from further complications. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
 
Learn about EGID at Apfed (American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders). Visit Northwest Center Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers to learn more about services for children from birth to age 3.
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Northwest Center Kids to launch EPIC, Critical Therapy for Children with Autism

5/30/2018

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Picture
Kam grabs a slice of “watermelon” from the play food on his family’s coffee table. He pretends to eat it, then offers some to Ricky, his dad.
 
It’s more than a happy family moment, says Susannah Major, a Speech Language Pathologist with Northwest Center Kids. “This is huge,” she enthuses. “Pretend play is such a prerequisite for language.”

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Hospital-to-Home Project Blazes Trails for Premature Babies

12/4/2017

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Picture
​The program that Northwest Center Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) has pioneered in collaboration with the University of Washington Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (UW NICU) is not only making a huge impact on families whose babies are beginning life in the UW NICU; it’s also making one statewide.

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With Early Supports, Tiago and Aviana Meet Milestones Through the Power of Play

12/4/2016

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Picture of Family at Northwest Center Early Intervention
Amy and Andres received services from Northwest Center’s Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) team
When Tiago and Aviana were born two months prematurely, doctors told their parents that they would need to adjust expectations for the twins’ development. Developmental milestones including walking and speaking would likely develop on a different timeline than that of full term babies. Sitting for the average baby is usually around six to nine months. For Tiago and Aviana, it was much later.

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A Team for Alex: Early Supports Works Together for Solutions

11/24/2016

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Picture
By Katia, Northwest Center Mom

Northwest Center Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) has helped me understand Alex. Everybody is so on top of things, helping me and helping Alex learn to eat. Before, I would chase after him if he left the table. Now I talk to him to engage him at the table so that he stays and eats more. Early Supports has made changes happen.

Northwest Center is different from other programs I work with because there are several resources in your network like a nutritionist and feeding team, so I don’t have to wait for referrals to different places. We have meetings with his childcare, Early Head Start, Alex’s doctor and his nutritionist, which means that we are all on the same page, so there is connection and support. We are all trying to find a way together for Alex to work on the things that are hard for him right now.

Northwest Center is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization. We envision a day when all people have the same opportunity to learn, work and enjoy a fulfilling life. From birth to retirement, we support people with disabilities.
This story was originally published as part of Northwest Center's 50th anniversary project: 50 Stories Worth Sharing
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Helena's Journey: A Little Girl with Down Syndrome Teaches Big Lessons

5/3/2016

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Picture
When they learned their daughter Helena would be born with Down syndrome, Lisa and Joe Wasikowski knew they’d face some difficult choices. The one easy choice was to work with Northwest Center Early Supports for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT).
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“Helena was in the NICU, and a social worker handed me a business card with Northwest Center info on it,” Lisa says. “By the time Helena came home from the hospital, we'd already met with our new team in our home and had formed a plan. She started therapy at three weeks old.”

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