Thomas Henderson, 3, plays in a sandbox in the backyard of his west Lawrence home. Thomas boosted his communication skills after his parents turned to Tiny-K to determine why his language development seemed delayed.

Charlie Simpson, 3, plays with his mother, Pamela Simpson, outside their Eudora home. Charlie has benefited from the Tiny-K Early Intervention service, a statewide system that provides early intervention services to children ages birth to 3 and their families.

Two-year-old Charlie Simpson seemed to be an ordinary child. He had developed motor skills ahead of schedule, but his parents noticed that he didn’t appear to be on par verbally.

“People told us not to worry about it,” says Charlie’s mother, Pamela.

But eventually, the Simpsons were concerned enough about his speech and language delay that they called up Tiny-K Early Intervention, a Douglas County agency that helps families with children aged birth to 3 years old with special needs.

Charlie, now 3, did have a language delay. He was also diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, which hinders his ability to take in the five senses and organize them with meaning.

“The whole family life has improved because we’ve been able to get help,” Simpson says.

Charlie was assigned one of Tiny-K’s occupational therapists, who came to the Simpson home to help him with the skills he needed.

“The real emphasis is on helping support the family so that then they can help their child,” says Dena Bracciano, Tiny-K’s coordinator. “We want to focus on things where that child has multiple opportunities to practice those skills throughout the day.”

For the Simpsons, mealtime was difficult. Charlie would throw food and couldn’t tell his parents why. When a Tiny-K therapist suggested an “all done bowl” for Charlie to put food in when he was done eating, it seemed like a miracle solution, working on the first try.

“It was so simple, and we totally never would have thought of it, but it gave him a way to communicate with us,” Simpson says. “It was just this genius thing. We were so hooked.”

But Charlie isn’t the only child with a remarkable turnaround. Parents and caregivers all over Douglas County have success stories from their interactions with Tiny-K, a federally mandated program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Tiny-K sees about 260 children a year, serving about 130 at any given time, with kids moving in and out of the program. They see anything and everything, including Down syndrome, chromosomal abnormalities, autism, torticollis and any other problem a child may have.

Susan Henderson’s son, Thomas, used Tiny-K from age 2 to 3. He had an articulation problem, meaning he could speak but he was very difficult to understand.

While he’s since aged out of the program, Henderson says her son made amazing strides within the year he was under Tiny-K’s service and is now quite the chatterbox.

“Instead of drilling him with flashcards or working through certain exercises with him, (they) taught us ways to help him without him even knowing it,” Henderson says.

Tiny-K helped Thomas at home and in school, which Henderson says closed the loop and really helped him move forward.

Once children age out of the program, they are re-evaluated to see if they qualify for social services through the Lawrence school district. Thomas didn’t make the cut and Henderson couldn’t be happier.

“I think that’s due fully to the work that Tiny-K did to help us get him there,” she says.

Anne Reeves’ grandson, 2 1/2-year-old Oscar Soto-Reeves, seemed to always have ear infections. With Tiny-K’s help, Reeves learned sign language to communicate with Oscar. Now he is speaking and adding to his vocabulary.

“Without them, when he could not communicate, I wouldn’t have known what was wrong or what he needed,” Reeves says. “Without their input … my life would be 10 times more stressful.”

Henderson says her work with Tiny-K was a wonderful experience. “We can understand everything he says now,” she says.

And the Simpsons are now living in a happy family environment with Charlie and their younger child.

“Our lives are so much better because of it,” she says. “He’s able to be this sweet, smart boy that we knew he was.”