Graduating During a Pandemic
Every year, as the Program Coordinator for Rainbows’ Early Care and Education, I’m asked to write a blog about the Pre-K Graduation Ceremony. Every year, I’m privileged to talk about how great my teaching staff are and how much the little ones have grown over the year(s) I’ve had the pleasure of knowing them. And […]
Lynlea Southards
Published Friday, July 24, 2020, Wichita Business Journal Lynlea Southards Family Support Services Coordinator, Rainbows United Inc. Why did you choose a career in health care? I have a cousin named Wendy who has Down Syndrome. She is a non-verbal, deaf and has low vision. Being around Wendy and seeing how she enjoys life and impacts those around […]
Maddi will WALK across the Stage
Spina Bifida. Club feet. Neurogenic bladder and bowels. Chari 2 Syndrome. Daunting? Not for 5-year-old Maddilyn “Maddi” Riemann. Maddi is a determined little girl and is not defined by these conditions. Maddi is the life of the classroom. She brings joy, a sassy personality, a booming voice and even louder laughs. She acts like a […]
Learning and Growing Through Pandemic Challenges
The precautions against COVID-19 have come with many challenges as well as many added joys to both my personal and work lives. Looking back over the last almost four months, I realize how much I have learned and grown as a therapist while working from home. Working from home has presented several unique challenges. The […]
Children’s Mental Health
Most of us who work with children, whether as a mental health professional, teacher, volunteer, etc., have worked with, or heard of that “one kid” who cannot control their anger, whines all the time, cannot sit still, runs around knocking things over. Or maybe it is the one child who does not speak much, sits […]
SPECIAL REPORT: EDUCATION
By Kirk Seminoff Associate Editor, Wichita Business Journal You think you have had it tough working remotely during Covid-19? Think about the challenge of working with babies and toddlers who are developmentally delayed as part of Rainbows United’s early intervention program. Where before mid-March those educators were sitting on the floor, teaching and laughing with […]
Serving children with special needs for 48 years
On June 8, 2020, Rainbows United celebrated its 48th Birthday. We took time out during this challenging time to celebrate the history of Rainbows. As many of you may know, Rainbows was started in 1972 by Linda Weir Enegren a young Wichita State University graduate who had a passion for helping children with disabilities. Linda […]
Camp Woodchuck Re-Imagined
Madison Jacobs has been working as a Rainbows’ Direct Service Provider for a little over 2 years and has navigated the challenges of providing After-School Latchkey and Camp Woodchuck at Kids’ Cove to now serving as a Lead DSP providing services for this year’s Rainbows’ Summer Services Program. “Before this job, I had no previous experience working […]
Bringing the Rainbows’ mission to life — (Copy)
Launch Sample Popup Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is to have succeeded.” Though the world is pretty topsy-turvy these days, to […]
Coleen Jennison, Board Member
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – that is to have succeeded.” Though the world is pretty topsy-turvy these days, to say the least, […]