Mar. 21—Katie Owen marvels at the development of her daughter, Belle.

The 2-year-old is talkative, plays with building blocks and is even learning the alphabet.

“She has blossomed,” Owen said of the daughter she describes as special needs. “She’s talking more. She’s able to play with more objects.”

She gives the credit to Baby Birds Learning Center.

“It is wonderful,” Owen said.

Baby Birds Learning Center is an early childhood intervention program for children ages 18 months-3 years. A cooperative program between Cumberland County Schools and the Tennessee Early Intervention System, staff work with children like Belle two days a week for three hours each day from the program’s facility in The Phoenix School on Crossville’s Taylor St.

Owen said she learned last week that the center will close in June.

“I am so heartbroken for my daughter,” she said. “This makes it so she can get intervention and get extra help that I couldn’t even begin to help her with.”

Cumberland County Director of Schools William Stepp confirmed the closure Thursday morning to the Chronicle. In a prepared statement, he said he made the decision “after careful consideration for all stakeholders in Cumberland County Schools” with the conclusion of the present TEIS grant June 30.

In his statement, Stepp emphasized that though the center is closing, no child will lose services.

“Each family has a TEIS Service Coordinator that works with the families to develop an Individualized Family Support Plan (IFSP) that outlines services and supports specific to the child and family with a maximum of five service house per week,” Stepp wrote in the statement sent to the Chronicle.

“TEIS will continue to provide services based on the child’s individual needs even though BBLC is closing,” he continued.

Baby Birds Learning Center was established in 2010 through a partnership between Cumberland County Schools and TEIS used stimulus money to build the center, and the school system has maintained the facility and program with the oversight of its special education director and The Phoenix School administration.

“What those people do — they’re miracle workers,” said Khrystral Vanwinkle, who told the Chronicle she noticed a marked improvement in her autistic son’s verbal and social skills after he attended Baby Birds for four or five months.

She’s among the many parents who praise Baby Birds’ staff’s dedication and say it offers services like occupational and physical therapy that their children would not otherwise receive.

Tara Goddard said her daughter, Rosemary, has severe cognitive delays.

“When she first went there, she could hardly speak,” she said. “She — how can I put this nicely? — she don’t know how to shut up now.”

Speech therapy was only one of the services Rosemary received. Goddard credits Baby Birds’ staff with helping her daughter correctly distinguish between hot and cold, something she could not do before going to the center. She fears Rosemary will regress.

Stepp said in his written statement to the Chronicle the voluntary TEIS program provides therapy and other services to families of infants and children with developmental delays or disabilities. TEIS will continue to provide those services, based on each child’s individual need, he added.

Cumberland County Schools will continue to provide special education and related services beginning with eligible 3-year-olds enrolled in the prekindergarten program, Stepp said.

“Each child has a Special Education manager that collaborates with the IEP Team to develop an Individualized Education Plan that outlines services and supports specific to the child,” the director of schools added.

Parents like Owen and Goddard say interaction with other children is something they’ll miss about Baby Birds.

“This is the only way my child gets to spend time with children her own age and her own disabilities,” Owen said.

Added Goddard, “I think the school board is making a massive mistake not renewing this grant.”