CityView Magazine

for daycare, however, there are those times when more funding is needed. Fundraising outside of the school as well as smaller fundraising events within the school are also organized to keep the center flourishing. “We really need help from the community to keep some of the programs in place like More at Four and some of the early childhood programs that are really being threatened right now,” Little said. “We really need community support to keep programs that are like ours up and running as well.” Further down Bragg Boulevard and across the All American Freeway, Shannon Rogers, the director at the Cape Fear Children’s Center, along with Autism Coordinator Mackenzie Hale and Education Coordinator Monica Romyn, sat down to talk about the other half of the twin schools being sponsored by the Eastern Seals UCP. The center, one of the Easter Seals oldest centers in the Carolinas, is located in Spring Lake and serves children in both Harnett and Cumberland counties as well as some children from Fort Bragg who participate in the Army Childcare In Your Neighborhood program. About fifty percent of children who attend the center are from military families. “We have children that are typically developing as well as those who show that they do have some delays. Their delays could vary from speech to physical or occupational; from dealing with their hands, fine motor skills, behavior problems or autism, Rogers said. There are also children who have been diagnosed with cancer or living with cerebral palsy.” The same goal that drives the teachers at Dorothy Spainhour is also alive and well at the Cape Fear Children’s Center. Allowing children with and without special needs to interact, learning right alongside each other. “We want to teach them about inclusion and how important it is to treat everyone equally.” Romyn said “Also, helping them to function at whatever level they are at in the community,” Rogers added. “You try to get them to go into kindergarten with the concept to be able to do what other typically developing kids can do. Kids that couldn’t talk or walk or didn’t want to eat, we have seen them two or three years down the road doing all of that.” The center is also interested in volunteers who want to do something to help make a child’s future brighter. “Even little things like coming in to read to our kids during instruction time. They love seeing other people come in and read to them. We never turn down a volunteer,” Rogers said. There is something to be said about the concept that is being taught at Dorothy Spainhour and at Cape Fear Children Center. Acceptance, love, tolerance, responsibility, hope and confidence. These are not just words, but actions that are backed by a living model that works. “It’s an amazing program and the children always come with a smile on their face, Romyn said. There’s a difference in children that you teach early on about inclusion. There’s more compassion on both sides, if you can teach that compassion early on it’s going to stay with them forever.” “The kids they just interact so well together,” Hale added. “You see a child in a wheelchair that may not be able to get around and all the kids come around to play with her, and she just smiles and giggles. They will bring a child that can’t get around well a toy or something to play with. They don’t see anything different, they are just more accepting.”CV Need Speech? Inc. Need Speech? Inc. is a full service practice providing evaluation, diagnosis, and individualized treatment. We treat children of all ages and work from a family-centered philosophy. Therapy is tailored to meet the patient’s individual needs, in order to help them achieve their full potential. Need Speech? Inc. is a certified provider of cutting-edge computer-based therapies for children to improve cognition, language, and speech production. We are dedicated to providing speech and language therapy in an environment that is respectful of others, adaptive to change, evidence based, accountable for outcomes and demonstrates compassion. 910.488.4100 | www.needspeech.com 5330 Raeford Road | Fayetteville, NC 28304 CityViewNC.com | 63

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