New program helps socially challenged kids

When a local speech-language pathologist decided children with social disabilities needed a place to learn after school, she sold her home and used the money to start a nonprofit business.

Six months later, the Kalispell woman has a waiting list for kids to get into the program, but finding the money to keep the program going is a challenge.

After more than 20 years of working with people with neurological disorders such as autism, Lori Briggs slowly developed a passion for kids who struggle to function in everyday activities.

“This is the population that makes the most sense to me, that’s caught my heart,” Briggs said. “These kids are given a lot of labels in society. I want them to be able to make their own labels, to understand each kid has the right to get what they need, to have fun and to feel good about themselves.”

At the beginning of February, Briggs put a question on Facebook. She asked if the community wanted a place that provided therapeutic programs for children with social-emotional and behavioral needs. She described a program that would focus on kids who often struggle to understand their own emotions, let alone pick up on the emotions of people around them. She wanted to hone in on cooperative problem solving, emotional regulation and building peer relationships. Briggs also said she wanted to offer caregiver support groups for people who often feel overwhelmed balancing their child’s needs with everyday activities.

She said responses came in the hundreds.

“I was getting messages from people I never knew, asking for their child to be accepted in a program I hadn’t started,” Briggs said. “It became emotional then, for the parents and me. I knew I had to try. And I knew I wanted to offer the service free of charge.”

At the time, Briggs worked at Hedges School in Kalispell. She asked her boss for a sabbatical leave to create Pay It Forward Child and Family Services, Inc.

In late February the school approved her unpaid time off and Briggs had sold her home. She used part of the roughly $80,000 she made from selling her home to hire two paraeducators, a teacher and a secretary. The rest of the funding went toward paying the lease for the program’s space through December and outfitting it to meet her future students’ needs.

But with a week left in summer camp and just a few weeks to adapt the space into an after-school program, funding is tight.

“I’m applying for grants left and right,” Briggs said. “This fills a major need, but at this point, I don’t know where the money to pay our staff next month will come from.”

Natalie Miller, the principal at Hedges school, said Pay It Forward gives specialized care to students who often struggle in school.

“It’s a dramatic loss for us to have Lori go, but a huge gain for every school,” Miller said.

Each child who goes through Briggs’ program goes back to school with a folder that outlines what a teacher can do to encourage that student.

Miller said Briggs also has agreed to occasionally step back into classrooms to host training days for teachers on social and behavioral disorders and positive de-escalating techniques.

“She uses behavioral therapy and specialties we don’t have, that gives kids tools to be successful socially, behaviorally and academically,” Miller said. “It’s really an extension of the classroom that spreads throughout our community.”

Karli Amundson is a parent with a son in Pay it Forward. Amundson said years before her son was diagnosed as autistic, she struggled to find places that could handle his unique needs.

Amundson said until this summer, day camps haven’t been an opportunity because they’ve either been too expensive or have been unable to respond to her son’s challenges.

“There’s nothing I’ve ever come across that will accept our kids like Lori and her staff,” Amundson said. “Sometimes I feel guilty dropping him off — some days he seems to be the toughest in the bunch and some days he seems to have a storm behind him. But there, Lori just takes him in and loves him.”

Briggs said stories like Amundson’s are what made her want to start Pay It Forward.

She said she has enough funding to wrap up summer camp, which ends Aug. 18, but not for the after-school program that is planned to start Sept. 9.

Briggs said like the camp, the after-school program is designed to focus on social and peer relationships, behavioral management and cooperative problem-solving.

She said while she’s not sure how the money will come together, she believes with community backing it has the chance to survive.

“Yes, I took a big leap of faith in this,” Briggs said. “But I know this is something the community needs. I’ve seen it. This is something that serves our kids and community in the long run, and I hope the people who have the ability to see it continue recognize that.”

Learn more about Pay It Forward at www.facebook.com/

How to help:

Upcoming fundraising events for Pay It Forward include:

• Aug. 24, Basler Family Chiropractic will host a grand re-opening and use the night to raise funds for the nonprofit.

• Aug. 30, Kalispell Brewing Company will give a portion of its sales to the after-school program from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• Sept. 13, Five Guys Burgers and Fries of Kalispell will give a portion of its profits between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to the program.

PayitForwardChildandFamilyServicesInc/?fref=nf or call (406)885-2285.

Upcoming fundraising events for Pay it Forward include:

• Aug. 24, Basler Family Chiropractic will host a grand re-opening and also use the night to raise funds for the nonprofit.

• Aug. 30, Kalispell Brewing Company will give a portion of its sales to the after-school program from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• Sept. 13, Five Guys Burgers and Fries of Kalispell will give a portion of its profits between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to the program.