New Barrington agency to focus on special-needs kids
A new not-for-profit group in the Barrington area aimed at helping families with special-needs kids has planned its first full winter of events and support groups.
Barrington Area Special Voices addresses the challenges of faced by families of children with physical or developmental disabilities.
Still on its to-do list is finding more volunteers and identifying more families in need of help in Barrington Unit School District 220 and beyond.
There are an estimated 1,300 district families with children in individualized education programs. But even students receiving smaller-scale classroom assistance are welcome, Special Voices President Jennifer Garrels said.
Programming is aimed at District 220 students but others are welcome. Students from areas including Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Village and Wauconda already participate, she said.
The group has a new Web site, baspecialvoices.org, and hopes this will be its best outreach tool, Vice President Jennifer Bulandr said. Group members feel there are still more families it could help but who still aren't aware of it.
Garrels said this is because Special Voices isn't officially affiliated with the District 220.
"It's against the law for the district to give us the names of those families," she said.
She hopes the Web site will be a guidepost to sources of help and to upcoming events.
The group also recently received a small corner in each school PTO's newsletter.
Special Voices founders first came together during the referendum campaign for District 220's proposed early learning center in April 2007.
Though voters rejected that plan, the referendum brought together families united by a common cause, Garrels said.
And just as Barrington Area Special Voices is getting started, the school district is preparing to begin construction on an early learning center that will be an addition to Barrington Middle School's Prairie Campus, rather than a separate building.
Among the upcoming Special Voices activities is a preschool play group that will meet every other week, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at Fox River Grove McDonald's, 840 Northwest Hwy.
Kids in Action Gymnastics Academy will host a monthly gathering for kids in Special Voices through at least June.
And Barb Tobias of Clearbrook Center in Rolling Meadows will speak to Special Voices about her own family's experiences at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy.