Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Infant Toddler Services of Kansas Serving Riley County on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 268
We sit down with Micah Carl to unpack how Kansas Infant and Toddler Services delivers free, no-waitlist early intervention that meets families in their daily routines. Micah explains eligibility, play-based evaluation, and how family-guided goals turn small moments into big gains.
• Statewide early intervention for birth to three
• Free services with no waitlist and flexible insurance
• Eligibility via delay, risk factors, or professional judgment
• In-home, routine-based coaching across daily settings
• Family-guided goals that fit real priorities
• Micro practice over marathon sessions for toddlers
• Simple referral paths without a doctor’s order
• Structured transition to preschool special education
Visit our website at infant-tawdler.org, and we’d love to have more referrals
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN. It is the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. I'm Dave Lewis, most of me is anyway today. And um thrilled to learn more about infant toddler services of Kansas serving Riley County. And I understand it's a statewide organization. This is their first time here in the program. The director, Micah Carl, is in the studio. And Micah, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01:We are delighted to hear more about what it is you do. So I'm going to be asking very short questions.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. I'd love to talk about it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, well, that's that's when you when you when you're the head of something and you love to talk about what it is you do because it's important, it's impactful, then that's a pretty good sign. It uh you know this organization has uh a lot of life to it. So tell me what it is.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well, um infant toler services, we we um are statewide, like you said. We have 27 um programs across the state, and we serve each county of the state. Um uh I like to tell people think of it as uh special education for our birth to three population. Umce they turn three, they they enter uh special education with the school district, and we provide those services in the home with children who have potential delays in development. And so we are free. Our funding comes from uh federal and state funds and uh special education funds, and uh we do uh ask parents there there is uh insurance we can bill insurance to um access uh to help support our our salaries. However, if families choose not to want us to bill or if insurance declines it, it doesn't really matter. We still are free. Um we cannot have a wait list. So um You cannot.
SPEAKER_01:No. What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00:That means um so private clinic speech therapy. We we provide speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, um, early childhood special education, as well as um about 20 other different uh services that uh kids might need, um, such as vision specialists or hearing specialists, um, whatever they need to help with their development. However, um because we are state funded, if a child needs services, we cannot put them on a wait list. So um if we have a hundred kids needing services and we we would be serving a hundred kids. If we need 500 kids serving, we would have to figure out our logistics, but we would be serving, we would have to serve serve whoever, whatever child needs services, gets services.
SPEAKER_01:What's an average number of children you serve?
SPEAKER_00:Um currently we are serving about 160 kids. Um we may we have gone all the way up to about 175 kids in a in a time frame, and I have about nine staff members that uh serve those kids. Um some of our kids are uh qualify for our program. There's three ways to qualify for our program. So either you can show a delay and we would serve you based, we'd serve the family based on that delay. Um we a child could have um at-risk factors such as prematurity or low birth weight. Uh, if they've spent 45 days in the in the NICU, then they would automatically qualify for our program. So we do have um those stipulations. And then we also qualify kids based on professional judgment. Uh, Kansas likes to uh be proactive in supporting children with with special needs, and so they want us to uh catch kids early because we can change the trajectory if we can catch them early. And um and so those based on those qualifications, we are able to um serve kids. And it's um it is very much family guided. And so um we we like to say that we partner with families. Uh we we serve children in the natural environment. So we come, we go to their homes or their daycares, or uh we may have services if if the family is struggling with uh supporting their child when they go grocery short store shopping, we would provide those uh services. We would meet with the mom or dad or grandma at the grocery store to uh help with with uh supporting that child in in the locations that that they spend their time in. Um and so uh we we call it uh family guided practice. And so the family is really dry is in the car seat while we are in the passenger seat driving, uh so they're driving what what we're gonna be doing. Um but we and I like to tell parents that we have uh we know strategies that work to help support kids learning, but they are the expert of their child. And so between the two of us, when between the the group that their specialty in their child, understanding their child, and our specialty in child development, we can put our heads together to help support that child in the best way for them to learn. Um we what we know about learning and how early learning works is that kids learn best when they're participating in the routines that they're doing. They um they also, when they become more independent in those routines, they're learning. And then when they're engaged in the um with the people and the activities, they're also learning. And so we I I like to say that infant taller makes pie. We um we we're making, we're we're helping to get them increasing their participation in the routines, we're helping to increase their independence, and we're helping to increase their engagement. And when we have all of those factors in place, then we see um success in learning. Um, and so and anyone can do this. So we don't look at ourselves as experts, we look at ourselves as uh supports. And um and so we go into the homes and in the the routines of the the day with the families, and we um we are really partnering and get excited when when um kids are successful or and we're also making sure that the families feel confident in supporting their children. A lot of times parents go to places and um to help fix their children, and um, but they don't know what they're doing. They they can't explain, like I don't know, they're just they're they're learning how to talk with this person, and they don't they don't feel like they're the experts of their children. And so we want to make sure that they're confident in being able to support their child, and um, because they're the ones sort of making the difference, um, none of our therapists are making the difference. It's it's all the parents.
SPEAKER_01:When you talk about parents, and you know, when you're when your kid exits the program or maybe even during while they're involved in the program, what do the parents tell you is the most rewarding aspect or some of the most rewarding aspects?
SPEAKER_00:So um a lot of our responses have been that uh they feel better, they know how to help their child better. They they um feel confident in being able to advocate for their child and that they um feel like they their child, they're able to do they know the strat they're they're they know strategies that are easy and that they that they can do to help support their child. They also say that um a lot of the things that we're presenting are things that they they didn't realize that they were doing already.
SPEAKER_01:That can be quite impactful. Yes, yeah, it it really opens up things in a lot of respects for parents.
SPEAKER_00:We get um we're very close to our families because we we are they're they're bringing us into their homes and um and and so we we get to see the ins and outs of of how their their lives are. And so not only are we helping support the child, but sometimes families have a lot of other uh things that are going on in their lives, and we're we're helping them with we're support, we're there to support them. Um and so they they'll text us and send us pictures. Um, I have kids that are graduated, and parents will still send me text messages on their child just got into nursing school or or um they just had a I mean I've been doing this for a long time now that they there's there are kids that are starting to get married now. Um and so it's uh it's not just we see a a child a family and then we're not a number. They're not a number. They they're they stick with us for a long time and um in and so we get to see them a lot. Um and and so we do appreciate the families that we have that those relationships with. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Micah Carl is her name. She's with Infant and Toddler Services of Kansas. And let's talk a little bit about what it looks like to get started with the program, and then what the program is like once they're involved.
SPEAKER_00:So uh anyone can make a referral. Um a parent can call us, uh, a neighbor can call us, a grandma, um, a friend. Um you can reach us through our um our phone number. You can also go to our our website at um infant-tawdler.org, and there is a referral uh uh icon that you can click on to get yeah, a little button that you can click on um to send a referral. We do not have to have a doctor's referral for our services. Um, and so anyone can do it. And uh doctor, we tend to get a lot of doctors that make the referrals because they go to their well child check and then they send them to us. Uh or NICU's uh hospitals will get um, but anyone, even foster families can um send a referral to us. And um, and so we see quite a few uh uh children who are in foster care and um and because we're we're here to serve um serve everybody. And uh so once once we receive a referral or get a phone call, um my my secretary Darla and I will talk to the the parent and get the information that we need to kind of get started. Um we'll take that referral to our team. We meet we meet for about two and a half hours every every week in team meeting, and I'll present that referral to the team and assign a provider to reach out. Uh at that, the provider will call, uh, two team members will go, will schedule an evaluation to go to the home to uh to do that a play-based assessment. And so we usually ask the parents to have toys, um, activities that the child's doing so that we can do observation, and then we'll also ask lots of questions. And then if the child does feel comfortable, we'll we'll probably have the child do a few things for us too. Um toddlers sometimes are a little not keen on strangers, so uh so being in the environment that they feel comfortable in is really uh really impactful because we can see how they're doing in their environment and not in a in a scary place that they're not sure if they're gonna get shots or not. Um once the child is evaluated and we determine eligibility, we we do sit down with the parents to do what we call a my child story. That's where we get the full idea of the child's day. So we can look at all the routines and then we also ask the questions in this routine, is there anything you want to change? And so if the parent says, yeah, I I during snack time, my son just cries all the time and does and I never know what he wants to eat. I would love for him to be able to tell me what he wants to eat. Then we would star that as maybe would say, Well, is that a goal that you want to work on? And so our goals are written as routines, but in that routine, so for snack time, it'd be in snack time, Jimmy will ask for, um will use his words to ask for things he wants to eat, um, which would the idea would be it would reduce the crying, and then use uh the talking, the communication part we'd be increasing the the talking. And so that would be the goal. And then the underlying strategies would be getting him to talk more and and and the therapist would work with the partner with the family to figure out those strategies.
SPEAKER_01:There's a lot of interaction here. Yes, between you and and how many staff do you have?
SPEAKER_00:I have total 10. Darla doesn't see kids, but she she's the backbone of of the the program.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds like she's got her hands full.
SPEAKER_00:She she's the best person ever. Um, and so I hope she never leaves, but she is the the glue that sticks ever keeps everyone together. So um, but yeah, we we um we like to look at this, it's relationships. Relationships build build builds everything. And so um when we go into the home and we evaluate and the and we find out what the parent is wanting, because motivation is the key. So if the parent, if I think the child needs to learn how to use a fork, but the parents like, I don't really care if he uses his hands, they're never going to really work on those things. And it's not an important thing in in their life right now. But being able to say, I want, I want a an apple is is is really what they want. Or I had a mom that wanted her son to call her mom, mommy. And so that was the goal, is that we were gonna work on and we work on all these communication strategies, but the ultimate goal was for her son to call her mommy. And um, today I I saw her before I came here, and she said that he is now saying mommy, and he'll even call her mommy shark because he really likes baby shark. Yeah, yeah, he's putting, he's putting lots of words together, and um, and so she's that was her goal though. Um, I had another family that their goal was that they wanted to be able to go to the Renaissance festival and um have food items that their son could eat because he had um he was have he had a tube, a feeding tube. So they wanted to be able to find something that he could eat instead of having to carry stuff. And so um they really wanted him to, I asked him what kind of food they wanted. He said, they said a turkey leg, but we um we we settled for finding trying to to work him to the to the goal of being able to eat something that was probably soft. Um and so uh, and we did. We we we got to we had a whole eight months to work on this, and we did get them to to that. We had another family that um they wanted their their their children to participate in the um the toddler walk uh at Kansas State uh basketball game.
SPEAKER_01:Oh the the are you talking about the baby race? The baby race.
SPEAKER_00:They wanted uh their children were and their child wasn't walking, and so they wanted that was their goal was um that they would get to that point where they would be able to uh do the baby race. And so um, and I think the PT, I think um she was working with them, and I think they I think they got to that that point. So they they made their goal. But again, if you look at it, um it was motor skills, but within a routine of that's meaningful to that family that um that we were working toward, which is a little bit different than um than regular uh clinic-based type um approaches, because all of us have worked in clinics, but this is just a it's just a different changing the mindset and um and then really kind of working toward what the parents' goal is.
SPEAKER_01:How much time do you have for staff to spend with a particular child?
SPEAKER_00:So staff, it's based on what the parents want. So uh some parents may want us to come out every week, some parents might want us to come out every other week. Uh, I kind of frown on once-a-month visits just because it's more of just um kind of checking on things. Um and and it also depends. So typically the idea is that we're supposed to be finding the strategies that parents can implement while they're with their child. And so if the therapist has to go in multiple times every week, then we're not we're not providing that confidence and that um the supports that the parent needs to be able to also implement things to help the parent, the child practice. A child, a child under three, their attention span is very short. And so having them spend an hour or 30 minutes trying to practice on on um specific techniques is not as helpful as having that strategy and then making sure we implement it throughout the day through all the things that they're doing. Um, because uh I like to say micro practice is more powerful than having trying to bombard a child with something and then not seeing them for another for a couple of days to try to bombard them again. Uh, we're really putting this into their natural environment, making it fun and meaningful, and then having multiple micro practices of it throughout the day.
SPEAKER_01:Give us a perspective on what the process is again to start getting involved in or to get in. And some sort of an advanced time to say, hey, I'm I feel like I need your services. How can I, how can I get some help?
SPEAKER_00:So um, even if they don't, and even if a parent doesn't think they need services, they can call us. We can do an evaluation no matter what, it's free. Um and if the and so we have families that do call us and say, hey, I'm concerned, or I'd like, I would like just to get a checkup, and so we can do an evaluation no matter what. Um, we can also do screenings, and it's a matter of picking up the phone or getting on on our website and sending the information so that we can get started. We have 45 days from the time we we um receive the referral to determine eligibility and write goals. And then um, once they're in our program, we see them until they're three, or we if they are meeting their goals, we might talk to parents and say, you know, they're meeting their goals, they don't really qualify for us anymore. Would you like to exit the program? Um parents sometimes say they don't want to. Um, and so we just we we do support them until they turn three. Um, and then what about nine nine months before a child turns three, if they're in our program, we do start the transition process to do a smooth transition to preschool services. And um that any child in our program is potentially eligible for preschool special education services. And any child in our program with an IFSP, the school district would need to determine if they are eligible for those services and they would have to start on or before their third birthday. So if they turn three January 30th, we will have been working to do that transition starting in August. And the school district would be evaluating and determining that if that child is eligible. And if that child is, then they would start preschool services in January. They have different criteria than us. We are a lot more easy to qualify for because children can we can do a professional judgment. But the school district has a little more qualifications that are a little a little bit more than what ours are. So some of our kids qualify for us, but they don't qualify for for school district preschool special education.
SPEAKER_01:Micah Carl is her name. She's the director of Mifit Doddland Services of Kansas serving Riley County. Thanks for really just telling me what's going on. Because I uh just, you know, it's pretty obvious I'm struggling just breathing, let alone talking today.
SPEAKER_00:But uh get better.
SPEAKER_01:Uh and the next time you come in, I hope that I will be quite a bit better. But you just went through this with your husband, I understand. So you you you've seen all this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That it is. Good luck with all the work that you do. And thank you for the work that you do too for the community. There are a lot of people that are in need, no doubt about that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Joy look at our website, w um infantler.org, and and we'd love to have more referrals.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Sounds great. Jayna Kurzenko is waiting outside. She is going to be stepping in next to bring us some community calendar updates on the GMCF community hour here on News Radio K M A N.