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The Little Light House prepares to expand its existing facility to offer services for even more children with special needs in Tulsa.
When Sullivan Barbour began attending school at the Little Light House, he was just 13 months old. Diagnosed with Down syndrome, he couldn’t hold up his head on his own, sit up without assistance or crawl. He also had eating, swallowing and nutritional challenges.
But this did not stop the teachers and his therapist from working with him.
Since day one, they challenged him to increase his communication skills and develop his strength.
They taught him sign language, which enabled him to communicate with his family until he had better control of his verbal speech. The therapist also knew Sullivan needed to get up on his feet and bear weight on his hips to build strength for walking. But because he was too small for a walking and standing device, they built one for him out of a trash can and foam.
Today, Sullivan is a joyful 4-year-old boy who talks often and loves to sing. He’s also running, jumping and working on riding a bike, says his mother, Monica Barbour.
“The milestones he’s hit are too numerous to mention, but as a parent, I think one of the greatest gifts the school has given him is his self-confidence and self-reliance,” Barbour says. “He knows he can do anything else the other kids do and he does not mind working a little harder to get there.”
Sullivan is one of 64 students currently enrolled at the Little Light House’s Christian developmental center, which offers free tuition and is funded entirely by community donations without government assistance. Although the school provides a highly individualized education and therapeutic services for less than 100 students — including about 20 children on a program waiting list who attend monthly meetings to prepare for school — there is an entrance waiting list of 130 additional children. That’s more students than the school can accommodate in its current facility, and waiting time is usually two and a half years, or half of the child’s education, as the school teaches students only to age 6.
To serve more children with special needs like Sullivan, the Little Light House facility will be renovated and expanded. Early last year, officials acquired property at the southeast corner of East 36th Street and South Yale Avenue after reaching an agreement with St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church to purchase the church property. The Little Light House arranged for the church to be torn down after the parish consolidated with three other congregations. The land was leveled in late spring 2008.
To assure a top-quality building, Marcia Mitchell, CEO and founder of the Little Light House, traveled with a staff member and a board member to look at model facilities across the nation. With their findings, outside opinions from medical experts and ideas from the Little Light House staff and families, a blueprint was born.
Local architect Mike Hughes designed a one-of-a-kind facility that promises a hands-on environment suiting the students’ needs. New amenities in the design draft include an indoor and outdoor splash park, more playground equipment and a sensory garden.
Jay Dee Brumbaugh, director of development at Little Light House, says the sensory garden will be a focal point of the facility with designated sections to focus on a child’s sensory needs. For example, the garden will address the senses with hands-on areas for sound, sight, smell and touch.
Brumbaugh says many children are tactilely defensive, and one area may focus on plants of various textures.
Eight new classrooms will be built, while the current facility’s eight classrooms will be renovated, creating more space for children with specialized equipment to move around.
“One child may require four pieces of equipment,” Brumbaugh says. “When a child is not able to stand or walk, we utilize various specialized pieces of equipment that will help support them doing these activities. This allows children to be positioned differently throughout the day, to sit, stand or be placed on their sides, backs or tummies.
“ … We have experienced an increased number of needs over the years with the children we serve. If half or more of the children in one class have special equipment, that takes up a lot of square feet in the room and in the hallways. We are just out of space and need larger rooms that better accommodate everything the children require.”
The school is currently entering the early phase of its capital campaign, Brumbaugh says.
Barbour also looks forward to the opening of the expanded school because it “warms my heart and fills my soul with joy to know that so many more children like Sullivan will get the help they need and deserve in such a loving environment.
“If just one more child can benefit from this expansion, then it is truly a gift,” she says. “I look forward to when folks from all around not only the Tulsa area but from the world can see what a jewel the Little Light House is and how they have been serving God’s most precious gifts so well for so long.”
A Garden Party
On May 2, guests attending the Little Light House’s sixth Garden Party will brunch in their grandest hats in support of the Christian developmental center and therapeutic services for children from birth to age 6 who have special needs.
As this year’s committee chair, Julia Ann Lawson says she hopes the mission of the Little Light House will be conveyed to everyone at the Garden Party, which is “to glorify God by improving the quality of life for children with special needs, their families and communities.”
In addition to participating in a silent auction and live auction led by auctioneer Jay Litchfield, guests also will find out more about the children at the Little Light House, as each table will highlight their personalities and milestones.
Marcia Mitchell, founder and CEO of the Little Light House, will speak, and her daughter Missy Mitchell, for whom the school was founded in 1972, will be the vocalist.
The Garden Party will take place from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center, 6808 S. 107th E. Ave. To register for tickets, visit littlelighthouse.org or call 664-6746 for more information.
