BCHU assignment sparks dream to serve special needs children at Weekday Education

Children attending Baptist Children’s Homes’ Weekday Education classes in Thomasville spend a few special moments with Director Brooke Child. The program offers developmentally-appropriate classes for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children including three inclusion classes for special needs boys and girls.

Zoe and younger sister Lily thrived in their Weekday Education classes while parents Brad and Cheraton worked. The Baptist Children’s Homes’ (BCH) program in Thomasville was perfect for the preschool-age siblings, however, it was not an option for the girls’ infant sister, Rosie.

Rosie was born with cerebral palsy. There was no place around the family’s hometown that provided the care and attention Brad and Cheraton’s youngest daughter needed.

“When you have a child with cerebral palsy, she can often get sick,” explains Brooke Child, the director of Weekday Education and childhood friend of Brad. “Being in a class with another child who comes down with something as simple as a runny nose could really hurt her.”

For the first couple of years, Brad stayed home with Rosie while Cheraton continued her career. Then in 2017, when she turned two and a half and was stronger, Weekday Education worked with the family so Rosie could begin attending their toddler program. It was a need met and the precursor to a bigger dream––an inclusion class customized to meet the specific needs of each intellectually and/or developmentally disabled child.

“Little did we know that meeting Rosie’s need would become the stepping stone,” shares Child.