TLC Learning Center, or TLC, formally known as The Tiny Tim Learning Center, has been a gem of the Longmont community for 65 years. This early childhood care center continues its legacy of learning for children of all abilities.
Tucked behind The Flower Bin, TLC opens its doors to children ages 0-6. No matter what the abilities of the child, an enthusiastic teacher is waiting to welcome them in.
The organization that would later evolve into TLC, was created in 1956 when a group of parents with special needs saw a different kind of future for their children. In that time, children who didn’t fall within the normal expectations of society were either kept at home or institutionalized.
From the beginning, these four families wanted their children to learn next to their peers.
“To do what they did, in the mid-50s was well before their time,” Matt Eldred, executive director of TLC said. “That was long before we knew what we know now about inclusion and integration and diversity. To be on the foundation of that, I think is pretty amazing.”
Students who had cognitive or emotional disabilities, deafness, blindness or needed speech therapy did not receive a public education before 1961, according to an article published by Arkansas State University. Parents were expected to educate their children at home or pay for private education.
In 1975, the work of parent advocacy groups paid off when the United States “voted to ensure that all children, regardless of their differences, should have access to free public school education,” the article states.
These pioneers not only refused to accept the social norms at the time but created a foundation that the learning center has built its legacy on.
Today, TLC offers education for special needs and typical children blended in classrooms together, Eldred said. Although that has not changed over the years, Eldred said the types of services and how they are offered has.
TLC offers on-site physical, occupational and speech pediatric therapies for children up to age 12. For students attending the school, therapists will work with children alongside typically developing children during the course of a normal school day.
“Those therapies happen in the natural environment, which is in the kids’ classroom … The nice thing, for families, is for one the convenience of it … but even more than that it is a much more inclusive and a consistency … and their teachers can also use those same therapies or techniques in their every day (learning),” Eldred said.
Children who do not attend school at the center or who may have aged out of the classrooms, after age 6, can still return for therapies with licensed therapists at the center. This center-based therapy has also extended to include home and telehealth options, especially during the pandemic, Eldred said.
“We’ve been able to see kids in their home, which is a lot safer for them, it might be a lot more normalizing in their natural environment of home,” he added.
The center also offers curriculum in dual languages, Spanish and English, to engage children when their brains best soak up language, Eldred said.
Above all things though the center prides itself on helping all children learn social-emotional skills that will stay with them throughout their lives.
“Every two-year-old has a tantrum, every four-year-old is very independent, so how we work around social-emotional needs of children, behavioral differences … is a positive reinforcement approach,” Eldred said. “All kids benefit from that … if we are teaching those skills at two-, three- and four-years-old, they will be better 19- and 20-year-old employees or working with people who are different … (These skills) really go a long way for our children now and in the future.”
In TLC’s nine classrooms, the focus is to create a community for children that will last beyond their time at the learning center by grouping them based on when they will attend Kindergarten and the individual child’s age and developmental needs, Eldred said.
When Eldred joined the TLC team in Nov. 2013, he quickly learned that it was a gem in the community. “For a business to survive for 60 plus years is saying that that is a good business. For a nonprofit to survive 65 years tells you that the community has been invested in this place for longer than my time,” he said.
On Wednesday, the center received a very surprising gift from the Stewart Family Foundation when Jim Newcomb, president of the Stewart Family Foundation handed over a $1 million check to the TLC.
“It felt like we won the lottery or something, the lottery you didn’t know you were playing,” Eldred said. “The Stewart Family has been a long-time supporter, they have done small projects … I guess I am not surprised that the contribution came, just the amount was very overwhelming.”
This kind of support, whether large or small, from the community, is how TLC has been able to offer its services to children over the years, Eldred said.
“We want to be on the cutting edge of early childhood, to give parents what they need, especially working families who need a place for their kiddo,” he said.
TLC officially turns 65 today, however, students celebrated Thursday with cupcakes and a school-wide birthday party. Teachers took advantage of the milestone and incorporated the idea of turning 65-years-old into the curriculum.
Through interviews with students on the playground, Eldred learned that students believe he is older than 65-years-old — he is actually in his 40s. Some students think their parents are older than 65 and their grandparents are way older.
“It is really interesting to hear some of their answers,” Eldred said. “I think it is pretty neat what kids’ perspectives are of ‘what is 65.’”
Beyond the day of celebration, Eldred said “I hope that when they leave here, they take away that they were a place that was a milestone. I hope that they recognize … when they have their own milestones that they will realize that they were part of something special.”
