For kids in need of Early Intervention, every day matters. And every day, hundreds of kids are waiting for services.
For more than 30 years, New York State has been underinvesting in our kids, and we are asking you to make today matter by making a gift to support Early Intervention and Preschool Developmental Services for kids at Rochester Hearing & Speech Center.
Rochester Hearing & Speech Center serves individuals across a lifetime with audiology services, speech language, occupational and physical therapies, and special education, including Early Intervention and Preschool Developmental Services for kids under the age of five.
We are the only nonprofit organization providing this unique set of services, and we desperately need your help so that we can continue to meet the needs of the youngest and most vulnerable members of our community – children under the age of five with developmental delays and disabilities.
Research tells us that 85% of brain development occurs before the age of five. By the time children sit down in a kindergarten classroom, most of their brain development is complete. If a child has a delay that hasn’t been addressed, they will start kindergarten behind their peers developmentally, and it is likely they will never catch up.
In 2023, RHSC provided Early Intervention and Preschool Developmental Services to more than 900 children under the age of five in the greater Rochester area. Services included Early Intervention for children under the age of three, as well as pre-K evaluations, GROW screenings, and Preschool Developmental Services for children aged three to five.
In total, more 37,800 distinct services were provided, but it wasn’t enough.
At any given time in Monroe County, there are as many as 500 children waiting for critical Early Intervention Services. New York State reimbursement rates have not increased in more than 30 years, leaving RHSC as the only remaining nonprofit provider with a footprint in Monroe County.
We have increased grant funding for these services, and we continue to work with community partners and Monroe County to advocate for rate increases and other sources of funding for these services, but we need your help.
Make today matter with a gift to Rochester Hearing & Speech Center to help us meet the needs of the children in our community. Your support helps children learn to walk and talk, to feed themselves, and to play and interact with the world.
These things matter, and your gifts make it possible. Visit our giving page to make your end of year giving matter to the kids served by Rochester Hearing & Speech Center.
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