Cyrina couldn't roll over or lift her head as a toddler. A CPO program helped change that.

Raising a child is costly — in 2015, it was about $233,610 to raise a child born that year to age 17, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. 

And when a child has a developmental or physical disability, that can increase the financial cost, as well as the emotional cost, for parents. Community Partnership of the Ozarks' Capable Kids and Family Program looks to provide support to families on all fronts.

"Our Capable Kids program doesn’t have an income guideline for it — the eligibility is to have a kiddo with a disability under the age of 6," said Amanda Coleman, director of home and visiting services with Community Partnership of the Ozarks.

The program, which began in 2001 at the The Community Partnership in Rolla, helps children with a variety of challenges.

"It could just be a child that’s premature. There could be a point where they can catch up, but it’s going to take a while to get to that progression," said Dana Carroll, vice president of early childhood development with CPO. "If they’re not hitting those milestones, often times we can offer them support, for sure, but also materials they can use to help with that." 

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Missouri's First Steps coordinators often refer kids to the Capable Kids and Families, as well. First Steps is a program that connects parents or caregivers of children with developmental disabilities to extra support, services and resources to help children thrive.

One service Capable Kids and Families offers is a lending library of therapeutic items, from balance boards to assistive devices to feeding tools, allowing parents to use items that may otherwise not be financially possible.

"(Therapeutic) items are very expensive. Having a kiddo with a disability, you don’t know if they’re going to like or respond to it, so being able to check items out is very helpful and beneficial for families to be able to find out what meets the needs of their kiddo," Coleman said.

Other times, a therapist may bring an expensive piece of equipment to a home visit and ask the parents to work on a specific skill during the week. But when the therapist leaves, they may have to take the equipment with them.

"This allows (parents) to be able to use an appropriate piece of equipment to build those skills," Carroll said.

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The program also offers toys that have been specifically made for children who have trouble with fine motor skills, like pinching, twisting or hitting a small area. These toys include pads — called switches — in various sizes, colors and textures that allow kids a larger target than a small knob or button.

Capable Kids and Families' catalogue also includes regular toys that have been adapted to hook up to a switch.

In some cases, these items can make a world of difference, like for Courtney Leader's daughter Cyrina, who has cerebral palsy as well as developmental delays.

A caterpillar toy with various switches enticed Cyrina to move and interact with it — something that had not happened before. Now, almost 6 years old, it's still Cyrina's favorite toy.

"She can not only roll from side to side, she can also roll onto her belly, lift her head and shoulders off the ground. That’s huge," Leader said. "She loves it. She can turn it up, and we’ll tell her to turn it down, and we’ll say thank you and she’ll turn it up again. It’s a little bitty swivel knob on the back. She does not have good fine motor skills so that’s a big, big deal."

Capable Kids and Families ended up letting Leader and Cyrina keep the toy.

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Leader learned about the program about four years ago, after attending a parent café. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program provided kids an opportunity to socialize, as well.

But the support reaches beyond Cyrina, with home visits being as beneficial for parents as they are for adults.

"(Amanda Coleman) has been amazing for my mental health. She’s been a tie to adult conversation. I can ask her if I need help to find who I talk to for help with the swing (for her school), or who do I talk to for an (individualized education plan)?" Leader said. "So it’s just been really nice to have somebody consistently in my life who’s not like a physical therapist or an occupational therapist ...

"When you have a special needs child you don’t have all the free time. Yes, you have friends, but you don’t get to hang out several times a week, and they don’t get it. (Amanda) sees it and she gets it. You feel seen and heard.”

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Visits from Coleman and Family Specialist Hallie Nissen also help parents with isolation, Carroll explained.

"A lot of times, you have a family, a parent who is staying home with that child and there’s a lot of isolation. They don’t get out for a lot of reasons: Their child may catch something while they’re out, they may not be sure how people respond to their child when they’re out in public," Carroll said. "But having someone come in, it really helps them with the isolation; they can bounce ideas or thoughts — 'Here is what I’m feeling; is this normal?' — and then the specialist says it’s completely normal."

Coleman hopes in the future that they will be able to grow the program so more families can receive the help they need.

"We want to grow the program. It would be a goal of ours to have at least two home visitors that are serving families. We know there’s a need," Coleman said.

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Eventually, the program would like to serve kids who are older, as well.

"If we were going to go big-big, once the kids age out of our program we send them off and we don’t have the opportunity to see them as much," Carroll said. "It would be nice to be able to continue services for those older kids as well."

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.