The Bell Center offers a number of programs and services to children with special needs and their families.

Bright Beginnings

Infants come to The Bell Center twice a week for an hour at a time and receive services in a one-on-one format with members of the professional staff. Because it is critical for parents to become active partners in their children’s learning, parents and other family members are encouraged to stay during the session to receive training so that they are able to continue essential therapies at home.

A separate, high risk infant therapy room is available to infants whose premature birth and/or medical conditions put them at increased risk to illness. While parents are encouraged to sit in on the session for training purposes, other family members are requested to stay in a nearby waiting area to reduce needless exposure to the medically fragile child.

Little Leaps

Children with special needs grow and flourish in group settings, learning from their peers, just as their typical counterparts do. For that reason, as an infant grows toward toddler-hood, the child is transitioned into the group format he or she will likely experience in later preschool and elementary school years. In Little Leaps, small groups of five to six children meet for one hour twice a week and receive early intervention services in a one-on-one setting with members of the professional staff and with volunteers from The Service Guild.

All About Me

Toddlers in All About Me groups come to The Bell Center either twice or four times a week.  Each toddler is assigned a specific volunteer who provides one-on-one direction as the toddler works on his or her individual goals. Led by a professional team which includes a special education teacher, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist, All About Me groups have circle time with stories and songs, snack time to concentrate on feeding and language skills, group art projects and time for work on individual gross and fine motor skills. In addition to the professional team, a physical therapist and classroom aide are assigned to the group, and a nutritionist is available on a consultative basis.  The four-day All About Me groups also have a weekly creative movement class led by Children's Dance Foundation.  And every All About Me group participates in animal assisted therapy with Hand in Paw.

Twice a month, The Bell Center offers a feeding clinic twice a month to children in the program who have feeding and/or nutritional issues. Here, the children and their families receive one-on-one assistance from an occupational therapist and nutritionist. This is the only program in the Birmingham area where families can receive assistance for feeding issues from an occupational therapist and a nutritionist at the same time.

Learn to Learn

Offered during the summer months, Learn to Learn gives parents the opportunity to attend small groups with their children which are led by a team of Bell Center professionals.  The parents help set the tone of the sessions by prioritizing the goals they want to work with their child to achieve.  The parents then attend the sessions with their children and provide the hands-on assistance for their children under the direction of the teacher.  Parents learn how to help their children learn through this unique program. 

My Friends

Also new to The Bell Center is the My Friends program for children with sensory, social and communication challenges.  The small My Friends group will have a one-to-one ration of peer model children to children with challenges.  Under the direction of The Bell Center staff, the children wll work together on overcoming these sensory, social and communication challenges.