CARBONDALE - A shortfall of qualified physical and occupational therapists is threatening to leave some needy toddlers without care, officials from a local therapy support center said Tuesday.

Brandi Williamson of Child and Family Connections in Carbondale helps place children up to three years old with early intervention therapists. The treatment covers a range of ailments including developmental disabilities like autism and physical, speech, vision, hearing and language problems.

But Williamson says demand for therapists who offer early intervention care is currently outstripping the supply.

"In the past and over the last several years, we've had just enough therapists and we tend to stretch them thin, but we've always been able to meet the need," she said. "Now we are building up a backlog. It seems like everyday I am hearing about a kid going without services."

Child and Family Connections is currently helping about 210 children, compared to about 140 last year said Williamson. The agency relies on federal and state dollars and offers free testing and a sliding scale billing that is based, in part, on family size.

Williamson said that, unlike many issues facing state and federal services, the problem here is not budgetary in nature.

"One thing is, there is no therapy or occupational therapy degrees offered in the area so those folks have to come from somewhere else," she said. "And it's not like they (therapists are choosing not to work with us, they just aren't out there."

Williamson said she's not sure what possible solutions exist though she said awareness of the problem can only serve to help.

Carbondale resident Sandy Brown has a granddaughter who uses therapists through Child and Family Connections and said the service is invaluable.

"They are invaluable and very pertinent to the rehabilitation of the patient," she said. "There is only so much a parent or grandparent can do because we haven't been trained."

Barbara Harris, who works with Johnson, Alexander, Massac and Pulaski, or JAMP, Special Education Services, said Child and Family Connections has proven to be a benefit to the region.

Early intervention services provide a strong foundation for development, said Harris.

"The earlier they get services the better off the kids are," she said. "It's very important to have that foundation. You can prevent certain disabilities from getting worse. It's like taking medicine as you are getting your cold."

blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com

351-5823