Inside the life-changing work of The Meyer Center
Having a child with a disability can be a difficult, isolating journey. The natural joy you feel is often overshadowed by darker emotions. The Meyer Center for Special Children, a Greenville icon of positive impact, shines a light.
“The Meyer Center is a nonprofit, public chartered school that exclusively serves children with disabilities, ranging from birth through second grade,” explains Executive Director Meta Hendricks. “We’re different from a traditional school system due to our therapy model, which means we’re not just looking at how a child can access the curriculum or the school environment. Rather, we’re looking at how we can set a child up to be successful in life: from feeding and communication to sensory regulation and all of the things that come with being able to manage ourselves.”
While there is never an ordinary day at the Meyer Center, the extraordinary care that this team puts into designing an adapted curriculum allows the children to share the same ‘school’ experience as their peers throughout the Upstate. To do that, TMC groups children by cognition and support needs instead of age, and adjusts preschool activities like circle time, learning letters and colors, recess, and naps to blend with focused therapies and real-world life skills.
A Curriculum of Compassion
While children are at the heart of TMC’s mission, parents benefit just as much from the school’s compassion. “The Meyer Center is really a gem in our community because while it exclusively serves kids in such a unique way, it also serves the family,” Hendricks says. “I feel very strongly that the families are part of what our mission involves—in helping them navigate this journey that they never thought they’d find themselves on. Anyone can be affected by a disability; it doesn’t discriminate.”
To do that, the Meyer Center team helps provide opportunities for parents to be vulnerable and build community, as well as equipping them with the tools they need to be successful advocates for their children for the rest of their lives. For parents that have been grappling with a stream of negatives, TMC is an enlightening and uplifting resource. “I think it’s very powerful when parents spend time with us, and their mindset starts to shift,” Hendricks says. “We start to talk about possibilities, and they can see real gains. They realize that while there might not be a cure, there is progress.”
That dedication doesn’t go unnoticed: The Meyer Center received this year’s Community Spirit Award, which is sponsored by First Horizon Bank.
Hendricks is grateful for the recognition and credits her team. “The magic here is in the people who choose to be a part of this mission and this organization. They meet our kids where they are, helping them through the hard days and encouraging them to see all that they’ll accomplish while they’re here,” she says. “Our ultimate goal is to close that gap between the child with a disability and their same-age typical peer. It’s all about that progress. Of course we want to keep our kids forever, but more than that, we want them to be successful—and that means that they have to graduate and take those skills with them out into the big world.”
– Sam Erwin, Mid-Atlantic Regional President, First Horizon Bank, sponsor of the Community Spirit Award
The Meyer Center by the Numbers
118: The number of children in the current student body of the TMC, which recently built its 12th classroom
50+: The number of children currently on the Meyers Center waiting list
