Developmentally disabled youth thrive at Kaleidoscope Developmentally disabled youth thrive at Kaleidoscope (December 30, 2005)

Pleasanton Weekly Holiday Fund helps after-school center offer social, safe environment
by Rebecca Guyon

When Max Eckert's son Scott was diagnosed with Down syndrome and Tourette's, he knew raising his second child was going to be different, and he and his wife would need help.

"When you have a kid with developmental disabilities, you figure out how to do things on the fly," Eckert said. "We had a lot of expectations, and one thing we thought we'd find is after-school care or preschool--something to help parents be able to work and continue a normal life. But as we started looking for these options, they just weren't there."

That was until he and his wife heard about Kaleidoscope. The after-school center located in Dublin provides activities and care for students ages 5 to 22 with developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and mental retardation. After hearing about Kaleidoscope, Eckert and Scott visited the center to see if it was a right match for Scott and to make sure the staff could handle taking care of him. That was when Scott was 6 years old. Now, he's 21 and still attends the center.

"Kaleidoscope is a home away from home for Scotty," Eckert said. "The days when he goes to Kaleidoscope, he's ready with his backpack. He doesn't talk, but he signs, 'I'm going to go be with my friends.'"

For more than 20 years, Kaleidoscope has provided after-school services for students with developmental disabilities, despite its recent struggles to stay adequately funded. Although the program is funded by the Easter Seals organization, it faced serious cutbacks three years ago due to an economic downturn. Community fundraisers and donations helped bring it back from the brink of closure, but that doesn't mean it is completely in the clear.

"We can really benefit from the Holiday Fund," said Kaleidoscope Site Supervisor Erin Dolan. "We need a lot help right now."

Kaleidoscope, located next to the Dublin school district offices, currently cares for 33 students, providing students with stimulating activities on-site and also taking them off-site for field trips such as going to the movies, shopping and going out to eat. The students are broken into three groups--youth, teen and adult--and each group is lead by an activity coordinator and aide. In fact, the staff is one of the highlights of the program. With a 5-to-1 student-teacher ratio, each student is sure to get personal attention.

"The people at Kaleidoscope have been here a long time and are devoted to making a quality program," Dolan said. "We really like serving the kids and this population."

Last year, funds raised from the Holiday Fund went to support activities, buy arts and crafts supplies and cover transportation costs associated with field trips, Dolan said. In addition to the everyday costs of running the facility, Dolan said Kaleidoscope is in need of an outdoor canopy to shade the facility's blacktop and provide a rest area for the students. They currently have a canopy, but it is torn apart, she said. Other needs include a new basketball hoop and storage shed. The facility does not have any on-site storage at the moment, meaning Kaleidoscope is paying for storage space at a public storage facility, Dolan said.

Providing developmentally disabled students with a stimulating and caring social environment is essential to moving along their development. Dolan remembers one student who came to Kaleidoscope with severe behavioral problems. After being involved in the program, he made a complete turn around and everyone was amazed at the dramatic improvement.

"Students benefit from social recreation because that is where they gain social skills," she said. Eckert agreed that the social environment helped Scott's development.

"The tendency is, when you don't fit anywhere, you just stay home and get no socialization," he said. "You eat, watch TV and go to bed, so you don't develop any social skills."

Kaleidoscope's services are also a benefit to the students' parents who can take a break from their caretaker duties and rest assured their children are being cared for by knowledgeable staff in a safe environment.

"We had a place where we knew Scotty was happy and safe," Eckert said. "We could hold down a job, have a normal life and balance things out in ways that, if we didn't have Kaleidoscope, we couldn't have."

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