With Budget Up in the Air, Children with Developmental Delays Suffer the Consequences

Photo: Early Intervention Developmental Therapist Lorri Neeley and Early Intervention Physical Therapist Teena Santos pose for a photo with 8-year-old Samantha Yelenosky. Samantha received EI services from both Neeley and Santos. (Photo courtesy of Marissa Yelenosky)

With the state budget crisis in full effect, children suffering from developmental delays may continue to suffer even longer if the proposed budget passes.

According to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Gov. Rauner’s budget proposal would require a child to have a 50 percent developmental delay over the current 30 percent developmental delay requirement. That move would save the state $23 million, but would also leave children in need without help.

Early Intervention Developmental Therapist Lorri Neeley, who is employed through KatieBug Therapy in Naperville and Early Intervention Physical Therapist Teena Santos, a private practitioner who operates Small Wonders Therapy out of her Bolingbrook home, are both concerned about the state’s budget and the effects it may have on kids.

“We’re scared the early intervention program won’t be offered anymore if they’re not able to put a budget in place,” Santos said.

The EI program applies to newborns and kids up to three years old. It focuses on helping kids who have Down syndrome or other developmental delays get ready for school and other life events. A variety of therapies is provided, including physical, occupational, developmental, nutritional, hearing and vision. Without the program, those kids may find themselves having an even more difficult time in school since they were not given a level of preparedness.

“It’s crucial at that age to provide this intervention because it gives them the best chance to acquire optimal development,” Santos said. “That’s really what we’re concerned about — the early intervention program because of the budget crisis.”

Some kids, but not all, may find themselves unable to qualify for early childhood preschool, a next step for kids suffering from developmental delays, due to the EI services they received, which is a good thing.

“They do not qualify for early childhood preschool because they’ve met their outcomes in early intervention and their delays are not as significant which helps everyone to understand how important that birth to age 3 period is. Those are the same children who may have qualified for early childhood and be in the school system for special education,” Santos said.

Without the early intervention program, special education classes could become larger, lowering individual attention from educators.

Working for KatieBug Therapy, Neeley said she has still been paid for her job, but she’s been unable to take on any new clients until the budget is resolved.

“That worries me if there are children out there that might not be able to receive services as a result of things like that happening,” Neeley said.

Santos said she hasn’t received money from the state for her services, but said she expects to be paid once the budget is finalized. However, for both Neeley and Santos, the issue isn’t really the money, it’s the kids.

“I know that providers are worried about that at this point, but I think we’re more concerned about the actual services being taken away from the children more than anything,” Neeley said.

It’s not just the kids that receive help, though. Families as a whole benefit from these services, according to Bolingbrook resident Marissa Yelenosky, whose daughter Samantha was born with Down syndrome and received early intervention therapy from both Neeley and Santos. Yelenosky doesn’t believe her daughter, who is almost 9, would be where she is today if she hadn’t received those services.

“I was so scared when my daughter was born with Down syndrome,” Yelenosky said while holding back tears. “(The therapists) came in my house and they made me feel like I could do so much and conquer the world and that my daughter was going to be fine and be able to adapt and do so many things with her life. It’s made such a big difference.”

The entire Yelenosky family learned a lot, including her two older children, who helped and participated in the therapy sessions.

“It became a family adventure and together we got through this. We’re naturally a positive family and they helped us to really make it come true,” Yelenosky said. “Samantha is doing amazingly well. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, we would had not been prepared (without the therapists).”

Bolingbrook resident Kara Olimene is another person who has received EI services through Child and Family Connections for both her children, a boy and a girl. Her daughter has aged out of the EI program and now goes to special education preschool but her son, who is 2 years old, continues to receive services.

“It’s been instrumental in helping them both,” Olimene said. “With my daughter, having them around when she was born really helped her get off on the right foot.”

Olimene’s son has been in EI for about a year and said she’s seen “tremendous progress” with him.

“He’s doing so much better and if he didn’t have EI, him starting preschool without it would have been harder for him,” she said.

Olimene said she’s very concerned about the budget crisis and if her son hadn’t had the therapy he received, his social development would’ve been delayed. Her daughter received speech, physical, occupational and developmental therapy.

“Each therapist came to my house once a week,” Olimene said. Her daughter began those services when she was four months old until she was three.

Celebrate Differences is a nonprofit organization in Oswego that aims to create a place for families of children with disabilities to feel part of a larger, accepting community, according to its website. Funding for it comes through fundraising, donations and grants. So far, it has not been affected by the budget crisis.

Celebrate Differences Founder and Director Rebecca Christiansen said that down the road they might be hearing from more people who have been affected.

“Federal law requires that states have programs to identify children who need services and develop a plan to address those needs,” Christiansen said in an email. “I would like to know the back up plan Gov. Rauner has in place once all early intervention offices close. I think we will start to field more calls from parents looking for direction on where to go for help.”

Christiansen said the budget crisis will not only affect individuals with disabilities, but their families and therapists who work with them and will ultimately trickle down and affect the economy.

“And the budget crisis is not only affecting young children with disabilities, it is affecting individuals of all ages who have a disability,” she said.

CD has a partnership with Child and Family Connections, which has used the CD facility for events and CD has partnered with them before. But because of the budget crisis, that’s stopped for the time being.

“CFC has stopped the playgroups as of Monday,” Christiansen said. “This is our first introduction of how the budget is affecting CD directly. CD will continue to host the playgroups and a parent liaison is going to volunteer some time to be on hand for parents.”

If Christiansen were to run into Gov. Rauner tomorrow, she would ask him which state people can move to that offers better services for disabled children.

“In a state that is already ranked low for services for those with disabilities, you continue to make cuts against our most vulnerable, making our great state that much worse,” Christiansen said. “What would you like me to tell these families?”

If you’d like to encourage Gov. Rauner to keep funding for these programs, you can call his office at 217-782-0244.