The following article was first published by the Robins Foundation. To view the original version, click here.
Partner Spotlights are a platform for Robins Foundation grantees to highlight their important work and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners. This month, our Administrative and Operations Coordinator, Annaliese Santana, interviewed John Walker, President and CEO, and Stephanie Howley, Clinical Lead and Speech-Language Pathologist, at SOAR365 for our Partner Spotlight. Since 1954, SOAR365 has provided a wide range of resources for individuals with disabilities, from infants to seniors. In 2024 alone, SOAR365 served 1,058 children through its Pediatric Therapy program, of which 1,024 were under the age of three receiving Early Intervention services. Throughout their interview, John and Stephanie provided wonderful insights on the importance of Early Intervention and accessible parks for children of all ability levels.
Can you describe, at a high level, what SOAR365 does?
John Walker
At SOAR365, we create life fulfilling opportunities for individuals with disabilities, from infants to seniors. In addition to Pediatric Therapy services, we provide day programs for youth and adults, respite on weekends, when a family has an emergency as well as summer camp. SOAR365 also helps individuals with disabilities find employment either with SOAR365 or through our Supported Employment services.
SOAR365 does its work, in part, through Early Intervention. Can you please describe what that is?
John Walker
Early Intervention is a federal program funded in part via Medicaid. If a medical professional identifies that a child between birth to three has at least a 25% developmental delay or has a diagnosed condition with a high probability of developmental delay, that child is entitled to receive developmental services; and states are required by the federal law to provide those services. SOAR365 is by far the largest provider of Early Intervention services in Central Virginia. Nowadays, more kids are being diagnosed earlier and demand for Pediatric Therapy has been growing. So, since 2018, we’ve doubled the number of kids that we support every year.
Like you mentioned, when a child experiences at least a 25% developmental delay, they are referred to SOAR365’s pediatric therapists through Early Intervention. Can you walk me through what your Pediatric Therapy program does?
Stephanie Howley
Pediatric therapists at SOAR365 work with individuals with disabilities and their families. We go to the child’s home, childcare, or park (wherever they spend their day) and teach their family strategies to help their child reach certain developmental milestones like crawling, walking, or increasing their vocabulary. Based on the child’s needs, parents can access speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and developmental specialists. We work with a variety of localities – Richmond, Henrico, Charles City, New Kent, Chesterfield, and Hanover – that refer children to us. By the time the child is three, some are no longer delayed. For those who need ongoing services, the parent has a good understanding of their role in helping their child and how to work with a therapist.
These Pediatric Therapy visits occur in an environment that a child is familiar with, such as their home, a park, or even a grocery store. Can you talk about why that’s so important?
Stephanie Howley
Studies have shown that children learn best from their daily routines and in familiar surroundings. They also learn best from their parents, caregivers, and peers. SOAR365’s pediatric therapists guide parents and give them strategies to use within their daily environment. So, for example, if a child is having trouble going to the grocery store, we can give them and their parents guidance on how to work through certain behaviors in that setting.
How can someone become a pediatric therapist at SOAR365?
Stephanie Howley
Before someone is hired at SOAR365, all our therapists must be previously degreed, trained, and licensed in their specialty by the state. We also have students that complete field work with us before they’re licensed. Students from VCU’s occupational therapy program will typically work with us for an entire semester. We also have speech therapy students from UVA and JMU who will often do field work with us; some of them have even gotten full time jobs with us. When a student does field work here, they start off with some guidance and eventually provide most of the services by the end of the semester with little input from their supervisor. We also offer clinical fellowships to new speech therapy graduates. When we first hire new graduates in speech therapy, they are supervised for nine months before they get their full therapy license through our fellowship. Someone can easily apply to one of our open positions on SOAR365’s website.
Throughout your career, how has care for individuals with disabilities evolved?
Stephanie Howley
In the past as Early Interventionists, we brought supplies and toys into the children’s homes. Now, we’ve found that coaching and working with what’s in the child’s environment is much more effective. We can teach strategies through household activities and routines. So, if a parent is doing laundry, we figure out how to include their kiddo in this household task. Even for something like doing laundry, there are so many learning opportunities within folding the laundry and matching socks.
John Walker
Over 70% of the families we work with live within 200% of the federal poverty level. And having children with disabilities drives significantly higher expenses for families. So, it’s important pediatric therapists like Stephanie use toys and supplies that are already in the child’s house to ensure the child can learn and grow in their familiar environment.
In addition to Pediatric Therapy visits, SOAR365 offers a space called PARK365. This park features amenities such as an accessible treehouse, wheelchair chargers, and sensory play areas. Can you describe what motivated the creation of PARK365?
John Walker
PARK365 opened about 10 years ago. We heard from a lot of families that they had places where they could take their child with a disability to play and places where they could take their child who was fully able to play. They didn’t have a place where the entire family could play and have fun. So, SOAR365 built PARK365 to provide an accessible and free play area for entire families. The park is open from dawn to dusk, 365 days of the year and is completely open to the public. In 2024, PARK365 was voted best community playground by Richmond Magazine. I like to think of it as our gift to the community. It’s just such a great place for people to gather and enjoy themselves.
What do you wish more people understood about the community you work with?
John Walker
Every individual with a disability is exactly that: an individual. All people with disabilities aren’t alike. Every one of these individuals has unique hopes and dreams and goals. For every single person we support at SOAR365, we always understand them as individuals, respect them, and treat them with dignity because they deserve that. Although they may process things differently or may look a little different, they’re entitled to the same opportunities in life that everyone else has. I also wish people understood who we are and what we do. We’re Richmond’s best kept secret and we’re by far the largest provider of comprehensive disability services in Central Virginia. When people understand what we do, it always blows their minds.
Stephanie Howley
It’s important that parents feel empowered to seek help and access resources as soon as they realize their child isn’t reaching age-appropriate developmental milestones. Also, I wish more people realized that Early Intervention is a family-centered program where parents are an integral part of each therapy session.
What motivates you all to do the work you do?
Stephanie Howley
All our therapists are really passionate about empowering parents and helping parents work with their child. I think the biggest reward is in seeing the kids progress and advance in their development, which is a huge motivator for all of us.
John Walker
I spent most of my career in the corporate for-profit world. At the end of my working life, I felt it might be nice to work somewhere where I could give back to the community. So, just 10 years ago, I started working at SOAR365. It is just amazing to see what we do and interact with the people in our programs or who are employed by us. We’ve got about 300 employees, about a third of whom have a disability. You can’t interact with the people that we work with and not feel good about what you do. This is just a great place to be.
How has Robins Foundation’s support helped you all address needs within the community?
John Walker
In the last three years, Robins Foundation generously supported our Pediatric Therapy program. Like I mentioned earlier, demand for this program has been growing rapidly. There was a point in time where there were not enough pediatric therapists to keep up with the demand, not just with us but in Central Virginia as a whole. Families who applied for Early Intervention services had difficulties matching their schedules with an available therapist. SOAR365 chose to address this issue by expanding. The sooner a delay is addressed while so much brain development is occurring, the better the long-term outcomes for the child.
Over these past couple of years, Robins’ support allowed us to change the way we pay our therapists. Now, we are a more competitive employer in comparison to a clinical outpatient setting. In a clinical setting, a therapist may treat 10 children a day. Early Intervention in the natural environment is very expensive because of the travel time but we do it because research shows that it is the most effective. This year, we will spend almost $100,000 on mileage reimbursements for our therapists.