‘Even though he’s my child, I still need a little bit of help’: Turn Center helps those with special needs

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Turn Center serves those with special needs in the top 26 counties in the Texas Panhandle.

It is the only non-profit in our region providing physical, occupational and speech therapy to children from birth to 20 years old.

The goal of the center is to help families navigate through autism and make their lives easier.

Brock, who is 7-years-old, attends the Turn Center and his mother says she would be lost without the center.

“Even though he’s my child, I still need a little bit of help, you know, just to understand him and to really help them and to thrive and to see him succeed, I need professionals to kind of help me out there,” said Ashley Lewis, Brock’s mother.

Each family and child’s needs are different, some may only need counseling, while others need speech, occupational therapy and counseling.

Every treatment at the Turn Center is tailored to a child’s specific needs.

“We really try to take a family approach. So asking them, what are the things that we can do to make your life easier? And then once we know that we can tailor a treatment to what their needs are and then we try to make it as fun as possible,” Kelisha Murray, director of occupational therapy, Turn Center.

Brock’s mom says she has seen much success with Brock, such as him becoming more social.

Not only has the Turn Center helped Brock, but it’s given his mom a new passion in life.

“I’m actually in school now for occupational therapy, so it’s become it’s our life and a big passion of mine now, having Brock you learned so many things and realize that this is what I want to do with my life too now because I’m so passionate about it and I can really help my child too,” said Lewis.

The center says although the Panhandle does a great job serving the special needs community, some families do not know what resources are available to them.

“We want the families to have a place where they can go and they can feel community and they can feel like they are getting help finding what those resources are, I feel like autism is becoming more and more known, but knowing how to navigate those resources is not as known,” said Murray.

To learn more about the center and its services, click here.

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