1 of 6 | Kindering speech and language pathologist Kaitlyn McClain, left, helps Steve, almost 3, learn letters in the family’s Issaquah home. At right is his mother, Ana Nuñez, who is holding his sister, Kamilah, 18 months. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)Less
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Parenting in a pandemic is hard. Here’s how a struggling WA family found help
Nov. 24, 2022 at 6:00 am Updated Nov. 24, 2022 at 7:33 am
Kindering speech and language pathologist Kaitlyn McClain, left, helps Steve, almost 3, learn letters in the family’s Issaquah home. At right is his mother, Ana Nuñez, who is holding his sister, Kamilah, 18 months. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
As her 18-month-old daughter, Kamilah, picks up books, Ana Nuñez plays on a laptop with son Steve. Kindering therapist Kaitlyn McClain said moments like these, when she can step back and let parent and child interact, are important.
(Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
1 of 6 | Kindering speech and language pathologist Kaitlyn McClain, left, helps Steve, almost 3, learn letters in the family’s Issaquah home.
At right is his mother, Ana Nuñez, who is holding his sister, Kamilah, 18 months. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)Less
Nina Shapiro By Nina Shapiro
Seattle Times staff reporter
ISSAQUAH — Ana Nuñez was relieved when she found out Kindering would come to her Issaquah home to work with her toddler, Steve, who has been slow to speak. She thought she might have to bundle up the three kids she’s raising on her own and take them somewhere, or ask her mom to drive from Auburn to babysit.
Life could already feel overwhelming. Newly separated from her partner, Nuñez had recently moved to Washington from California and had to find housing, child care and a school for her oldest, 10-year-old Jason. On top of that were the worries about Steve, now almost 3, who not only wasn’t talking but also was crying for prolonged periods and, at times, pushing around his baby sister, 18-month-old Kamilah.
“He would get so mad,” said Nuñez, 33.
“I don’t know if he was getting frustrated because he couldn’t communicate.”
Helping families where they are is a priority for Bellevue-based Kindering, the largest nonprofit in the Pacific Northwest providing therapy and related services for young children with disabilities and developmental delays, and among 13 beneficiaries of The Seattle Times Fund for Those in Need.
Families the organization serves, including those who are homeless, have enough to worry about without adding transportation to the list, said Kindering CEO Lisa Greenwald.
The nonprofit’s therapists have carried out sessions at parks, community centers, transitional housing and even in a family’s car.
Kindering also holds preschool and group classes at its four campuses, in Bellevue, Bothell, Redmond and Renton.
It’s best known for services for children from birth to age 3, funded largely by the state as part of its special education system.
The early investment pays off, Greenwald said. About half of kids Kindering serves close the development gap by age 3 and no longer need special education, saving Eastside school districts about $14 million a year, according to Greenwald.
For those who continue to need therapy, Kindering offers services through age 10. It’s one of the rare organizations that accepts Medicaid for those services, covering about half of insurance reimbursement, according to Greenwald.
Donations help make up the difference and go toward other costs not covered by government funding.
As her 18-month-old daughter, Kamilah, picks up books, Ana Nuñez plays on a laptop with son Steve. Kindering therapist Kaitlyn McClain said moments like these, when she can step back and let parent and child interact, are important.
(Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
As her 18-month-old daughter, Kamilah, picks up books, Ana... (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)More
Demand for Kindering’s services is rapidly growing, fueled by the Eastside’s population boom, and by possibly yet another consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic: Beginning research suggests children born during the pandemic are more likely to fall behind on motor, problem-solving and social skills.
Why isn’t yet certain. The first group of researchers to come up with this finding started out comparing babies exposed to COVID in utero versus those who were not, explained Morgan Firestein, a Columbia University postdoctoral research fellow who worked on the study. The researchers found no developmental differences.
But then they looked at the developmental scores of babies born before the pandemic.
They scored an average three to six points higher, out of 60, than babies born during the pandemic.
“We were frankly quite surprised,” Firestein said. Given the earlier finding, something besides COVID exposure was going on.
The Instead, researchers are considering the role of pandemic-related stress and isolation. Many babies born in the last few years spent the beginning of their lives at home, with just a few family members and caregivers, limiting their social development and ability to learn from peers.
“Pre-pandemic, if you think about going to the grocery store, some of those normal experiences … we used to see kids in those settings a lot,” Greenwald said.
Each year, The Seattle Times Fund for Those in Need raises money for charities that help children, families and senior citizens. Throughout the season, we’re telling the stories of people and organizations who make a difference in the lives of thousands, and the impact donors can have.
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Sarah Huntley, a Kindering special educator, now sees part of her job as introducing kids to the outside world.
“We do a lot previewing: showing pictures of a place we’re going to go visit or people we’re going to interact with,” she said. She’ll also have kids role-play with stuffed animals, or she’ll have a session in a park to facilitate interactions with other children.
Kindering’s therapists help families deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic too, delivering necessities like diapers and formula through a partnership with Eastside Baby Corner.
On a larger scale, Kindering is gearing up to meet the increased demand.
The nonprofit reached a major milestone in 2021 by serving more than 10,000 families, up from 6,500 in 2019. It expects to serve roughly 50% more by expanding its Bothell campus, completed this year, and opening a new, larger campus in Redmond next summer that will be part of a “Together Center” housing more than 20 social service agencies.
Kindering speech and language pathologist Kaitlyn McClain helps Steve build a structure with magnets. She holds his sister, Kamilah, who is also receiving therapy from Kindering. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)
Kindering speech and language pathologist Kaitlyn McClain... (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)More
Helping with so many things
When Huntley, Kindering’s special educator, initially arrived at the Nuñez household in April, she focused on Steve’s speech.
The 2-year-old was saying just a few words, and inconsistently using them. In weekly sessions, Huntley worked on building his vocabulary by having him imitate her.
“So if he was eating and I noticed he was out of tortillas, I might say: ‘Do you want more tortillas?’
And I would pause for a second. If he didn’t say anything, I might say ‘más’ ” — Spanish for “more,” a word used in the bilingual household — “and wait for him to imitate saying ‘más’ before giving him more pieces.”
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