Early Childhood Development: How Easterseals Rio Grande Valley Supports Children and Families

Early childhood development is crucial for parents, guardians, and children alike. From providing necessities like food and shelter, to imparting impactful lessons onto children, to ensuring children have quality healthcare, it can be difficult and stressful to consistently and confidently have the resources necessary and readily available. And for parents and guardians of disabled children especially, ensuring your child can have a safe and healthy start to their life can occasionally be a daunting task.

Thankfully, parents and guardians are not alone in their endeavors to care for children. Easterseals Rio Grande Valley offers families, parents, and guardians several resources and tools to help care for children during the early years of their life. Speaking with Easterseals, Executive Director of Easterseals Rio Grande Valley, Pattie Rosenlund, explores the services offered through Early Childhood programs, the importance of supporting children as they grow, and even shares a memorable success story of a client.

What Early Childhood Programs Offer

Caring for a child is often a complex and multifaceted task. Ensuring they have everything they need to successfully and confidently grow into young adults may seem easy on paper, but when factors like costs, available resources, and even disabilities are presented, outside assistance is understandably required. Rosenlund describes Early Childhood services that Easterseals Rio Grande Valley offers, noting that some families may only need one or two, but they have numerous options available.

“We do have an array of programs that really fall under the umbrella of early access and early childhood,” Rosenlund said. “I always consider the heart of our program is our Early Intervention program, the Part C program. In Texas, we do provide, in the natural environment, services. All our staff go into the home or other natural environments like childcare centers. That’s the heart of our programs.”

In Texas, Rosenlund explains that children can be denied Early Childhood Intervention services if the state deems them not eligible. To combat the lack of care when a denial occurs, Easterseals Rio Grande Valley created multiple services that fill the gap for families if needed. For Rosenlund, these programs are crucial to providing families, and more importantly, children, with the care and resources necessary for a healthy life.

“We looked to find other services and found funding through the state of Texas for Home Visiting programs,” Rosenlund said. “We have several model evidence-based programs. One is Parents as Teachers, and that services prenatal to the age of five, or when they start school. What we liked about that is it’s a safety net for [Early Childhood Intervention] if they’re not eligible, but still have concerns. We can use that as a program to continue to monitor [the child’s] development, but it’s also a way to engage families earlier.”

Support Along the Way

Prenatal care is undoubtably important, but a child’s development extends far beyond infancy. Milestones like beginning preschool and kindergarten can be overwhelming, and Rosenlund explains the importance of Easterseals Rio Grande Valley’s educational programs.

“We also have what’s called HIPPY program, it’s another evidence-based program that is Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters,” Rosenlund said. “That is a program that families [use to] just really focus on school readiness. Parents as Teachers has more developmental learning in a broader scope. HIPPY is really focusing on school readiness. [HIPPY] serves two-year-olds, because kids are starting school so much earlier, all the way up to age five when they start school.”

Beyond the need to prepare children for school, Easterseals Rio Grande Valley also offers programs for children coming from abusive situations. Rosenlund explains that when a child is placed within Child Protective Services, Easterseals Rio Grande Valley can enter the environment and work with guardians or even parents to ensure the child is still receiving proper life skills and education. Rosenlund notes that the creation of this program is fundamentally different to others because of the nature of the home environment.

“Our Parents as Teachers program, although serves the age range, doesn’t necessarily meet the need, because it’s meeting parents where they are, and it’s much more collaborative,” Rosenlund said. “We needed something much more direct. We started the Safe Care program, and that is another evidence-based program that has three modules and works very direct with the parent on health, safety, and parent-child interaction. With that program, you do a preassessment and you really must demonstrate competency to move out of that unit and complete it.”

Success Stories

The goals of each program within Easterseals Rio Grande Valley are to ultimately ensure a child is set up for success and safety. Whether it’s learning crucial life skills or teaching parents and guardians how to best support their growing child, the resources that Easterseals Rio Grande Valley provides are beneficial beyond the first five years of a child’s life. And for one former client, Rosenlund acknowledges the importance and value of watching these programs succeed, especially at the annual dinner event honoring the community and humanitarians.

“The success really comes in the evening, when Matteo, our [Early Childhood Intervention] graduate came onto the stage to really talk about [the evening’s] experience,” Rosenlund said. “He was in our program only weeks after he was born, and he was born, unbeknownst to his parents, with multiple heart anomalies – over 10 to 15 holes in his heart. His eye hadn’t developed, and he had problems breathing. We were there with him as a baby. He took the stage and very confidently told his story. He wrote a poem about ‘I’m Just a Boy,’ and won the crowd over.”

Easterseals Rio Grande Valley is a shining example of the importance of educating and caring for young children. As they grow and learn crucial life skills, Easterseals Rio Grande Valley is there to aid everyone involved. Ensuring future generations have quality care and tools to aid them in adulthood is something Rosenlund is proud to promote and support.

“I think it’s so important to have these early education programs,” Rosenlund said. “I can say through all our programs, supporting parents, and building on their protective factors, we really want to help them develop their skills. Just to make sure that we’re there in that critical time that’s so important, not only for the child, but for the parent.”

To learn more about Easterseals Rio Grande Valley, visit their website or search for an Easterseals location near you.