Boyer Children's Clinic

Boyer improves the quality of life for children with special healthcare needs and developmental delays by providing the best possible solutions for each child and family. Services take advantage of the critical early childhood stage of brain development and help children with special healthcare needs acquire knowledge and skills, and avoid falling behind in their development before kindergarten. Parents gain skills to become the best possible advocates for their child, while equipping them with the resources necessary to support their child.

Boyer delivers Early Support for Infants and Toddlers services (also known as early intervention services) designed to increase functioning at age level for young children under age 5. Services help children to mitigate the challenges of daily living and improve their level of functioning, by providing physical / occupational / speech-language therapy, early childhood special education, medical consultation and nursing services, and family support services. We provide uncompensated care/financial support for families whose insurance benefits have been depleted or coverage for services. Services are provided inclusive of cultural diversity and linguistic differences, and regardless of their family’s geographic limitations.

Boyer also provides specialized programming to support children with special healthcare needs that are further marginalized from educational and health equity. This includes special programs such as the CHERISH Program (for children and families in the foster care system), the CONNECT Program (for children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness), and the BRIDGE Program (for children at risk of developmental delays). Programs and services are designed to help improve early childhood outcomes for young children with special healthcare needs and equally, to improve systems collaboration between early intervention and other social services (such as the foster care system, homelessness system, and early childhood education systems). Boyer also ensures equitable transitions to their next educational environment.

For more than 75 years, Boyer has provided high-quality services for children with special healthcare needs in our community. We are the largest provider of early intervention services in Seattle for infants and toddlers with disabilities and developmental delays, and we are the most uniquely qualified organization to provide services for medically fragile children. Boyer is committed to hiring and retaining highly qualified and dedicated staff. Ninety-three percent of our direct service staff hold a master’s degree or higher in early childhood special education, therapy, social work, or management. Boyer’s staff retention is strong, with 19% of staff working at Boyer for 10-15 years while 50% of Boyer’s leadership team has worked at Boyer for 20 years or more. Our average tenure for staff is 8 years.

Equally, Boyer is committed to improving the system of services available to children with special healthcare needs and their families. Boyer is the administrative home of the Early Childhood Development Association of Washington (ECDAW) and lead the statewide annual Infant and Early Childhood Conference (IECC), an annual conference that welcomes more than 300 early intervention professionals, parents, and leaders to a 3-day annual conference. Boyer’s Executive Director serves as the Chair of the 19 Neurodevelopmental Centers (NDCs) of Washington state, serves on Washington State’s Interagency Coordinating Council Funding Committee for Early Intervention, and is a member of the Directors of Disabilities Organizations in Washington state. We also host nursing students, therapy interns, pediatric residents, and special educators to gain valuable on-the-job training.

Boyer’s recent programmatic results are as follows:

 98% of children receiving services made improvements in their functional daily living skills.
 51% of children exiting Boyer do not require further additional special education or related services; this compares to a 32% statewide average among all similar providers.
 Boyer received the highest performance rating from Seattle Public Schools on our Early Childhood Special Education Program. This indicates our commitment to partnering with school districts, community partners and other entities to successfully serve the children and families in our community.

Additionally, over the past five years, Boyer has provided more than $2.3 million in uncompensated care. Fees are assessed only through private health insurance or Medicaid to cover the cost of the early intervention services, and once those benefits have been exhausted, Boyer covers the cost of providing additional services through uncompensated care coverage.