The cluster of tiny walkers at the playground slide offers a clue that the DuPage Easter Seal day-care center in Villa Park is a special place. Gleeful chatter fills the playground as pint-sized bodies slide belly down, feet first. Some of the kids have had to struggle harder than the rest to make it to the top, but it’s difficult to tell the difference when everyone is having a good time.
“This is the way life should be,” said Liz Stahler, director of the pioneering Rosalie Dold Center for Children, which serves children with developmental disabilities as well as normally developing kids.
With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Stahler and her staff are now advising other DuPage day-care center operators about how to incorporate a similar policy of inclusion into their program.
She believes that everyone gains. “Children don’t think twice if another child is in a walker,” she said.
The center offers a wealth of other innovative services for children with developmental disabilities.
Donations and volunteers are badly needed. To help, contact the DuPage Easter Seal Rosalie Dold Center for Children, 708-620-4433.
