Member Spotlight
Limes Smiles for Miles Inc
Photo by: Limes Smiles for Miles Inc
Limes Smiles for Miles Inc (LSFM) is located in the heart of Chicago’s westside. In their early intervention outdoor preschool program, which is open to children ages 3-5 diagnosed with Autism and Down Syndrome, children learn through outdoor play and exploration in an intentionally curated, community-centered garden space. There are currently 10 children enrolled in their summer program, which begins this month. LSFM’s program also promotes cognitive, social, and emotional development using evidence-based teaching strategies and individualized teaching plans.
Natural Start spoke with Limes Smiles for Miles Inc Founder, Nicole Hunter, to learn more.
Can you share more about how you support your early learners and their caregivers through gardening and other greenspace engagement?
Within our garden, we have seven “traditional” academic learning areas: art, writing, music, discovery, library, manipulatives, and dramatic play. We also added gardening as an eighth academic learning area with the hopes of promoting optimal nutrition and healthy eating habits within our food-insecure community. We’ve found that if children and their families help with planting vegetable seeds, and then care for and watch the plants grow in a trusting environment, then they are more open to eating vegetables. In return, our program combats the prevalent food desert that plagues the community.
What kind of training does Limes Smiles for Miles staff receive in order to offer developmental assessments, individualized teaching plans, and ongoing support for families?
LSFM staff and board members participate in local paid trainings as part of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders symposiums, as well as expert-led discussions on updated research and clinical trials/studies for Autism and Down Syndrome diagnoses. Through attending community events and expos, we have established partnerships and connections with other communities supporting Autism or Down Syndrome. We feel it’s a priority to put ourselves in spaces where families with children diagnosed with Autism or Down Syndrome are, and we plan our program through observations and needs assessments.
What advice or insights would you share with programs that would like to engage low income families with special needs through nature-based early learning programming?
In my twenty years of providing child care services as a Head Start teacher, I have noticed that services for children with Autism or Down Syndrome are often not specifically tailored to their needs, and are inaccessible for low-income communities. There are a lot of federally-funded programs that support low-income families, but not so many that support low income families with special needs. We feel it’s important to support communities with disabilities from all socioeconomic backgrounds. LSFM saw this need in our community and felt confident to take on the task. I advise other leaders and educators to find ways to engage with their local low-income communities to listen to their early childhood education needs and let those needs inform and shape nature-based program offerings.
