Children FIRST Therapy, a Spokane Valley-based nonprofit that provides early interventional therapy for children ages birth to 3 who have developmental delays, has moved its operations and expanded the services it offers. 

The organization has relocated therapy and preschool classes it offers from the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, at 3808 N. Sullivan Road, to 2515 N. Locust Road in Spokane Valley, where it’s sharing space with Spokane Gymnastics, says Carey Gibbons, its executive director.  Also, it has moved its administrative functions from the industrial park to a larger space at 2510 N. Pines, Gibbons says.

Of the classroom relocation, she says, “It was hard to move, but it’s worked out well.”

Gibbons says Children FIRST last year began to run out of space both for offices and classroom space. 

”We tripled the capacity of children that we serve,” she says. Gibbons says the need for more space and added children participating also prompted the organization to expand its services, offering both toddler and sensory groups this year.  

The toddler therapy group provides both one-on-one and group therapy to prepare children for entering an integrated preschool therapy group. The sensory group works with children who have difficulty processing intense sensory experiences, gradually adjusting them to those environments through play and interaction. Both groups include physical, speech and occupational therapy.  

 Gibbons says she approached Nadine Burgess, owner of Spokane Gymnastics, a recreational gymnastics facility, about renting two classroom spaces for Children’s FIRST therapy preschool because Burgess shares the organization’s goal of wanting to help special-needs children.

“She was excited to help us out,” says Gibbons. “Because the space is also a gym the kids can be involved in physical activities, too.”

Children FIRST previously shared space and integrated some of its toddler classrooms with children at the Spokane Child Development Center, a day care and child care facility for infants and youngsters ages 1 month to 12 years that operates in the industrial park. 

Of the organization’s new office space, Gibbons says, “It’s a larger space with a separate room for evaluations and storage areas.” She says the organization currently has nine employees, along with occasional student volunteers. Its professional staff members include therapists and early childhood specialists. 

Children FIRST offers what it claims are the Spokane area’s only integrated preschool and group therapy programs, meaning children learn from and receive therapy with their developing classmates rather than individual sessions or clinical environments.  The nonprofit refers to its programs as “family centered,” allowing for the child’s caregivers other helpful resources. 

The nonprofit works with children who have developmental delays in physical, sensory, speech, or cognitive development.

“As a developmental specialist I focus on helping children with their pre-academic, play and social skills,” says Gibbons. “Our physical therapist assists children with motor skills, and our speech therapist works with them on speech and communication skills.”

In addition to its preschool, the organization offers several other programs, including in-home therapy, toddler therapy group, preschool therapy group, physical education for tiny tots, sensory group, family resource coordination and evaluations.

“We now have about 60 children enrolled each year,” says Gibbons. “It’s a constant flow of students, as once they turn 3 years old they go on to the school district program.”

Gibbons says Children FIRST’s therapy preschool is its most utilized, as it works with children on pre-academics and includes multiple types of therapy at the same time.

“It’s very convenient for parents,” she says. 

The organization, whose full name is Children, Family, Intervention, Respite, Services and Therapy, has been providing therapy services to economically at-risk or disadvantaged families in the East, West, and Central Valley school districts for more than 20 years. Its preschool and sensory movement groups are also open to children within Spokane County. 

Children FIRST also provides families access to additional resources such as hearing, vision and behavioral services, which Gibbons says are contracted out to other agencies. 

“We put them in touch with other early childhood programs like Parents as Teachers and Early Head Start,” she says. “We offer what’s called Circle of Security International, a well-known behavioral attachment course for students and parents.” The organization also provides families information on resources that can help them with utilities, housing or food.  

Gibbons says the Children FIRST’s annual budget is approxiamately $350,000.

She says the organization doesn’t depend on fundraising. Its funding comes from direct contracts with East Valley School District, Spokane County Infant Toddler Network, and Spokane County Developmental Disabilities Association. It also can bill private insurance.  

Gibbons has been with Children FIRST for a little more than two years, having taken over the position from the organization’s founder, Cathy Blair.  She is a developmental specialist special education teacher, having earned her bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing sciences from Washington State University and a master’s degree in early intervention from the University of Oregon. 

Gibbons has worked as a developmental specialist with children birth to three years of age since 1999. A recipient of an Early Childhood Professional Excellence Award from the Spokane County Community Services Developmental Disabilities Division in 2008, she continues to regularly receive additional training in the field and recently completed new course work in school administration.

Gibbons says what she likes most about the organization is its efforts to give children with disabilities a place in the community. 

“Integrating special needs kids into groups with their peers, as well as the community is the most important aspect of our work,” she says. “In my work, these families become ours, and that’s a wonderful feeling to have.”