Article Christy Case Keirn | Photography Christy Case Keirn
If you ask Leah Coleman what her job is, she’s likely to tell you it’s “making people happy.”
By ‘people’ she doesn’t just mean her husband, Nick, and children, Jack and Tucker; she also means the 125 children who are her clients at Kidspiration, their parents, her 40 employees, and all of the state and federal regulatory agencies that oversee childcare and pediatric therapy services. Leah loves what she does every day and, just by watching her walk down the hall holding a child’s hand, you can tell this job is a labor of love.
Love and happiness are themes that run through any conversation with Leah. When you ask her about Nick, she says they fell in love at William Woods University, where she studied elementary education and played soccer while Nick studied political science. The two lived in Little Rock for a couple of years before jobs opened up back home, the place they love.
Things rolled along happily for 10 years: Leah had her first child, Jack; she coached soccer for the Mountain Home public schools; and taught third grade. One day her mother-in-law, Debbie Coleman, said, “I think I know what we need to do!”
Debbie owned a business called Childcare Resources & Consulting, and traveled all over Arkansas screening children for occupational, physical, speech and developmental therapy needs. She saw state-of-the-art facilities for children in her travels and knew that Mountain Home needed just such a place. Five years ago, Kidspiration was born. Debbie worked with Leah for a number of years and the team opened a second location in Melbourne. Today, Debbie serves as a consultant, and Leah serves as director of both centers.
Walking into Kidspiration is not like walking into a hospital or clinic where you might expect occupational, physical or speech therapies to be given. It’s more like walking into a super-cool gym and play space with monkey bars, slides, rock-climbing walls, huge swings, and a giant ball pit. The children walk into happy classrooms that are filled with sensory and therapy tools. It is 10,000 square feet of awesomeness, and the results that have been produced there are nothing short of amazing.
There are two RN’s on staff and four certified teachers who oversee the care of the children from birth to five years. The other thirty-or-so employees are para-professionals who care for children who might have autism, Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, or Fragile X syndrome, among other things that would cause them to need special care. Another 15 contracted therapists provide their services.
What makes Kidspiration different than a typical child care center is that all of the children are developmentally delayed in at least two of four areas—occupational, physical, speech, or cognitive. In class, they work on social and emotional skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and cognitive development and, at any time, a therapist can pull them out of the classroom for specialized therapies that are performed on-site. When accepted, a certified teacher tests the child and develops a master treatment plan with goals specific to the child’s needs. So instead of story time or arts and crafts that most children in daycare experience, the teachers at Kidspiration work with children on meeting their individualized goals. In addition, Dr. Adkins, a pediatrician in Mountain Home, serves as medical director of the facility and checks on the kids once or twice a week. Breakfast, lunch and a snack are served daily, and all of this is provided at no cost to the parents.
Leanna Martin’s son, Jamey, has been at Kidspiration since the day they opened, and graduated on the five-year anniversary of that opening. “This place came along just in time in our lives. Jamey was in the first set of kids to enroll here and we stayed as long as we could,” said Leanna. “We have watched it grow and thrive and meet the needs of so many families like ours. To say we will miss it wouldn’t even begin to express the emotions we have. Jamey begins a new chapter in his life now, and while I am so excited for my big kindergarten boy to be at school with me, this place, these people, they will always be incredibly special to us.”
If you ask Leah what her happiest moment at work is, she will tell you it is watching kids like Jamey grow and thrive under Kidspiration’s care. “This is a family business,” said Leah. “We love helping children and helping families. Our promise to our clients is this: We promise to watch over your children, to guide them safely from the ways of harm, to keep happy their hearts, brave their souls and rosy their cheeks; to guard with our life their hopes and dreams; for they are all that we have, all that we are, all that we will ever be.”
If you ask her what the most heartbreaking moment at work is, Leah will tell you it’s when children they serve are taken from their homes for abuse or neglect. It happens too often, and she has seen it first-hand. One of her physical therapy assistants is a foster mom and has taken in dozens of foster children through the years. It was through this connection that Leah learned about The Call and decided it was a charity she wanted to be a part of helping. She and Nick love hosting parties, and a couple of years ago they put together a Kentucky Derby party that has raised more than $10,000 for The Call.
“Having parties is one of the things we love to do, and to do that for something that can make someone else happy is awesome.” Love and happiness….it’s what Leah Coleman is all about. M! October/November 2016
Visit the following websites for more information:
Kidspiration
kidsmh.com
The Call
thecallinarkansas.org/the-call-in-baxter-county
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