About Developmental Connections
Developmental Connections is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of students with developmental disabilities and the communities that surround them. The organization was established in 2010 by Michael and Keri Schoenbrun as a way to support schools that serve the complex needs of students with developmental disorders. Its primary focus is to support a critical, but dangerously underfunded need — social skills development.
Our world is an incredibly diverse place in terms of ethnicity, religion and ability (physical, intellectual, social, etc.). Regardless of how your student is performing academically, they will inevitably be working in some kind of team or group environment along their journey in life.
At Developmental Connections, we believe students will be more likely to thrive if they are able to effectively collaborate with others. Too often, we focus exclusively on teaching academics and assume effective interactions will happen naturally. For some people, social interaction develops innately. Others might need to be taught how to "think socially." What we know for sure is that in school, and in life, our success depends on our ability to interact with people with varying levels of social ability.
The mission of Developmental Connections is to connect families dealing with developmental delays and the providers of early childhood developmental services, so that affected children can receive needed interventions in an expeditious manner.
The services provided by Developmental Connections will include:
- Educational support for families regarding possible interventions
- Intensive interventions and programs in the area of social skills development
- Generation of scholarship dollars to help families pay for the services required
- Development and maintenance of database of parent- and teacher-recommended resources