HER Career

Chief Operating Officer Linda Kemp has worked at First Step Hot Springs for 18 years, but her passion for working with people with disabilities extends beyond that. In an interview, Kemp revealed what keeps her going day to day, the challenges the institution faces on a daily basis, and how individuals enrolled at First Step blossom when given the opportunity.

Q: What is First Step?

“First Step is a day program founded in 1958 for children and adults with developmental disabilities. That means something happened before the age of 18 to hinder normal development. The sooner that’s identified, the sooner they can get into habilitation therapy, and the sooner they can hit their developmental milestones. Some of them go on to graduate from public school.

“Then we have early intervention; birth to 3 years. They can come into preschool at 3 to 5 years.

“After they graduate high school, they can come to our adult program. They learn cognitive skills, things like which bathroom to go into and where to mail a letter.”

Q: How did you get involved with First Step?

A: “The lady that lived next to me worked at Abilities Unlimited. She said, ‘Come to work with me at Abilities Unlimited, it’s great.’ So that’s where I learned about people with disabilities.”

Q: What drives you?

A: “There are so few of us that advocate. I don’t want advocates to die out. I want people to always remember that preschoolers grow up to be adults. They deserve independence. I don’t want people to forget them. And that’s what keeps me going. And truly, they are my friends. That’s what keeps me happy, hanging with the adults.”

Q: Are there any other aspects to the habilitation programs?

A: “Yes, social skills. We have occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy here. So they don’t have to go anywhere else to get those therapies. If they don’t qualify for a core service like habilitation, they can come here and just get stand alone therapy.”

Q: You mentioned schools that can’t serve some kids. How do schools decide that?

A: “There’s a screening process. Public schools usually don’t have O.T.s, P.T.s, and speech therapists on campus. So that’s one of the reasons why they would send a child to us. Another reason would be that a child has behavior prob- lems, that they’re very disruptive in class. And we have a certified teacher, and then we have multiple aides in the classroom.”

Q: There is a playground out front. Are there any other fun things for the kids?

A: “Oh, yes, downstairs we have a sensory room with a ball pit. Oh, it’s great. We’ve got the colored lights and dim the others. It particularly benefits children with autism.”

Q: What sort of programs do you have for adults?

A: “We built two group homes: one that houses nine men, and one that houses nine women. And a 20-unit apartment complex. They need to be independent as us, as well as us. They can earn letters of completion, too. We have a program, called Supported Employment, where we go to employers like Wendy’s, the hospital, and the employers will work with us. There’s a gentleman who has worked at Kroger for over 20 years, I think. And they go on vacation all together. Because that’s what friends do: they go on vacation. I took a group to Las Vegas one time. It was very stressful for me, but very fun for them.”

Q: About how many people would you say you have enrolled in First Step?

A: “We have about 250 preschoolers right

now, about 80 adults, and 41 school age folks.”

Q: Are these mostly local people?

A: “They are local. Garland County, Hot Spring County, Pike County, maybe some from Montgomery County.”

Q: How many employees are here in Hot Springs?

A: “This is the biggest location, and we probably have 400 employees.”

Q: Are there any future expansion plans in progress?

A: “Unfortunately, not right now. The past six months to a year, the government has done some rearranging with our eligibility and our funding. We are going to try to deal with what we’ve got going on and maintain.

Q: Do you take volunteers?

A: “Oh, yes, absolutely. We need them. We’re pretty low right now. We only have about five or six.”

Q: What qualifies an individual to come to First Step?

A: “If they’re not meeting a developmental milestone. It’s a 25 percent delay in two areas and they have to qualify for a therapy.”

Q: And for adults?

A: “An IQ of 70 or below.”

Q: Are there any success stories that you would like to share?

A: “Yes. We had a young autistic man. He loved coming to the program. If he missed the bus, he would walk to the center. Everyone thought he couldn’t talk, and he kept his head down and his eyes closed. Went to him and asked ‘Do you want your own apartment?’ and he whispered ‘yes.’ We got him an apartment, and he blossomed. We went on vacation, and as the waitress came around, he said: “I’ll have a rib eye, medium well, and a side salad.” And from then on he took off. He got a job at the center, he worked, and he would go around and visit with everyone in the classroom. And he held his head up and we found out he had cataracts. He got cataract surgery. He blossomed. It was absolutely marvelous.”

First Step is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Transportation to and from the program is available. Call 501-624-6468 for more information.