Budget Cuts Hit Early Intervention Programs in South Mississippi Hard

Rene Du Plessis with Stacy Harris and Daniel at a therapy session.

The Governor’s state agency budget cuts hit home for hundreds of developmentally disabled children in South Mississippi. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on the loss of one early intervention program.

In Mississippi the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Health share the responsibility of providing services for individuals with developmentally disabilities. Earlier this year when the Governor announced a mandatory 5% budget cut to all state agencies the South Mississippi Regional Center, a contractor of sorts, with the Department of Mental Health had to make a hard decision, where to cut. The decision was an early intervention program serving over 250 children in south Mississippi called Project Prints. Project Prints works with kids from birth to age three who have a development delay. Lad Chandler is an instructor with Project Prints,

“Either they were premature at birth, they’ve got some genetic disorder. We work with children who have mental retardation, Down syndrome, anything like to try and get them up to speed by the time they get to kindergarten.”

Project Prints brings therapists into the natural environment of the child, and also special instructors to help coach the parents on how they can help their own children. Dr. Pamela Baker, the director of the South Mississippi Regional Center says the program has a 90% success rate.

“In helping children move from this program into regular kindergarten not special education.”

But the South Mississippi Regional Center is not mandated by law to serve 0-3 year olds through early intervention programs, that falls under the Department of Health’s jurisdiction and with the budget cuts there is no money to continue on with Project Prints. Every child that is born in the state with a development disability can be referred for an evaluation through First Steps, the Department of Health’s state wide early intervention program. Project Prints served under First Steps.

“This is a significant loss of support.”

Michael Cruthird is the District Nine coordinator for First Steps Early Intervention Program.

“Now that they are terminating their programs it means that I’ve got to help families 250 families find services to replace those that they are losing through Project Prints. It does fall upon me with no increase in budget, no increase in personnel to try and serve those children.”

Cruthird readily admits that this is a real problem, and that he doesn’t know what the solution is. Just to get through July 1st when the new state fiscal year begins, he is going to need an additional 334,000 dollars to meet the increased caseload. The immediate reality is that children will probably have to be seen in clinics by therapists now to accommodate the growing caseload, and there won’t be any more special instructors, there isn’t enough money in the budget for them.

Ten-month-old Daniel Harris is sitting between his mother and occupational therapist at his home in Orange Grove for his weekly therapy session. Daniel was born blind, and Rene Du Plessis has been coming in every week to work with Daniel and his mother. Rene Du Plessis will be out of a job when Project Prints finally comes to an end in a few weeks. She says the whole goal is of early intervention is to provide a child stimulation in their natural environment.

“We want babies to play with the pots and pans, and the bowls and the sit outside on the grass and experience what their home is like. You can never simulate that in a clinic situation.”

Daniel’s mother Stacy Harris says that having Daniel learn in his own environment was priceless, and having someone teach her and her husband how they could help their own son was empowering.

“It just gave us the confidence and the knowledge and power to know that we were doing, what we needed to be doing for him. We wanted the best life for him and we wanted to make sure that as parents we were moving in the right direction, and that there were things that we could be doing to make him develop the way he needed to.”

Michael Cruthird has been holding planning meetings for parents and staff members to try and get ideas about what to do now, how to fill the gap. He says the one bright spot in the future is the President’s new stimulus plan, which will provide over 3 million dollars for early intervention programs in the state, but that won’t come through until July. He still needs to 334,000 dollars to make it until then. For MPB News, I’m Phoebe Judge in Gulfport.