BELL COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — A Nolanville museum is among several local businesses partnering with a nonprofit to host weekly, sensory-friendly outings for families raising children with disabilities in Bell County.
The Texas All Abilities Network partners with local businesses to host the outings, which are designed to help neurodivergent children get used to regular environments. Michelle Lamers is the founder and president of the organization. She said she wanted to start the outings as a way to get used to regular environments with neurodivergent children.
"I am a mom of 4 kids with disabilities, and I had to learn like from the beginning it was either I was gonna stay home and never go out in public or I was gonna have to teach my kids to adjust to their surroundings," Lamers said.
The Smart Museum is one of the businesses hosting the outings. Lisa Youngblood is with the museum. She told me it's the slight changes that make all the difference.
"We had really good, open and honest conversations about what might be too much noise and in our case, we have decided that what works really well is to have different areas with different noise levels, different areas with different light levels," Youngblood said.
Briana Greene, a mother of 5 children all diagnosed with autism, has seen a real impact since getting involved with the organization. She told me when she received her youngest child's diagnosis, she had to adjust to her new reality.
"I'm getting ready to do the hard work. I'm getting ready to do all of those things, putting in the hard work, being dedicated, sacrificing. That's one of the toughest things," Greene said.
Since beginning to attend game days on Sundays, she has watched her daughter grow.
"We started coming to game days on Sundays and things. I want to say about around springtime. And it's October, school started in August. Since then, she's developed, she's, um, Perfect, not perfected, but grown in her social skills," Greene said.
"It's not a crippling disability. It does not mean that your kids can't do anything... They just may have a different way they process the information they're learning," Greene said.
Lamers also told me she plans to expand the program to other businesses across Bell County.
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