Support is Only a City Away
By: Bevin Baskin
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Disability Assistance in Northwest Arkansas
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SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (Jan 2024) - A colorful building radiating with love upon entry. A place for community and inclusion. A home away from home. Ability Tree, a non-profit in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, is home to a family of students and teachers dedicated to bettering the lives of children and parents. Through summer camps, community events and getting involved with local colleges and cities, Ability Tree provides children with disabilities a place to learn and grow.
The National Institute of Health reports through a survey of parents that nearly 22% of divorces are due to the stress of raising a child with developmental disabilities. Ability Tree is dedicated to changing this statistic through providing parents a place to know their child is safe while giving them time to check-off their to-do lists! The organization acknowledges that the needs of the parents are just as important as those of the students, and makes this a big part of their overall mission by providing families with after school services and weekend sessions to give parents the opportunity to decompress.
Executive Director, Maddy Schultz, spends her days fulfilling the team's mission of what she says is “equip[ing] organizations through recreation, education, support, and training.” The organization works with communities all around Northwest Arkansas to teach their students fundamental building blocks of being successful in the world. Unlike your average Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy, Ability Tree is a non-profit offering college courses, K-12 care and after-school care programs.
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Jan 30, 2024– Maddie Schultz, Executive Director of Ability Tree
in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. The front desk relays a quote from
The Bible to relay their mission to families.
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After teaching special education for four years in Siloam Springs School District, Shultz felt compelled to take her passion further. Finding Ability Tree in 2018 quickly opened up a new door for her to thrive. While Shultz is able to acknowledge that what she does is very important for the development of these children, she says she is the one who “gets more of a benefit from knowing these children. The relationships that I’ve made feel like family to me." Her job doesn’t feel like an obligation. Her job feels like another home, and she makes it part of her mission for it to feel that same exact way for the parents and students involved.
Schultz started up and ran the college education program offered to their students. A few times a week, she was able to take her students to local community colleges and enroll them in a course or two. The program caught the attention of the community quickly and parents all over Northwest Arkansas brought their young adults to participate. “It’s been a huge success. We even have a couple of students go off to get jobs!” she says.
While the 18+ program students work on college courses and job skills, the team holds K-12 care for their younger students. Where there are sparkly little hands creating personal art, gyms with rock climbing causing laughs to echo through out the building, and low-stimulation relaxation rooms where peace is the only feeling that one can experience, Ability Tree is able to accommodate any one who walks through their doors. “We started in a building with one room and one office, and with grants and support from the community, this is where we are now,” Shultz explains.
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Jan 30, 2024– Ability Tree entrance wall of local donors and
collaborators in the community.
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Community Involvement
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Karla Singer, Ability Tree’s recreational director, works within the community to host events for anyone interested- students or not. Horseback riding, sensory-friendly movies, sporting games and summer camps are few of the many fundraiser events put on by Ability Tree every year, offering “a great way to connect with new families,” she says. In 2023, the organization collaborated with many local restaurants to hold fundraiser nights as a way to network between industries and support businesses.
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The local colleges not only provide education to Ability Tree students, but offer camps where the students can play on sports teams! Some of the organization’s students are simply unable to perform at levels expected from league teams, and these sporting events provide the kids a fun, effective and accommodative way to experience competition and remain active.
The Springdale, Arkansas baseball team, The Naturals, hold a public event every year where the students go out on field and play a game. This game has become a tradition for the community, where Ability Tree is able to introduce their organization and their mission. Singer says these types of public events are her favorite thing Ability Tree does within the community. “It’s a lot of fun to see our students play and interact with their peers."
Ability Tree teaches love and acceptance and believes the change begins in the church’s ability to accommodate and address the needs of disabled attendees. Local churches are frequently key foundations of and the most influential part of many communities, especially in a state like Arkansas, where nearly half of the population is active in their local churches and the influence of church is strong within surrounding communities.
The Butlers, founders of Ability Tree, began the organization in 2010 with the goal of connecting, equipping and teaching disability inclusivity within churches. Small things such as learning how to deescalate an upset child, adding a disability swing on the playground and providing headphones for attendees sensitive to sound are just a few examples of ways the organization equips Northwest Arkansas’ churches with the tools to accommodate.
“Church should be the most inclusive place in the world…and I don’t think we’re there yet," Shultz says. “If leadership is on board, the rest will fall in place.”
With the “love and accept all” messages carried by the churches, the only part missing is the accommodation tools. Students being loved and accepted is step one, but without the tools to accommodate them, making church a comfortable place for disabled students can be a challenge.
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The organization’s rapid growth and involvement in the community has caused churches and schools to reach out to the organization itself with questions and requests. “We’re more than happy to help serve them," Shultz says.
Through fundraisers, public events and national networking, the organization has helped countless families across the country learn how to keep their families strong and better adapt to the needs of their loved ones. Providing real world experiences and teaching coping mechanisms to students, Ability Tree strives to inform the public in every way possible.
As someone who was raised through Applied Behavior Analysis therapy programs, I can confidently say that Ability Tree is something I wish for every single family with a disabled loved one. The first 18 years of my life were spent trying to teach myself coping mechanisms and bouncing from therapy center to therapy center. Ability Tree and all of its incredible staff was magical! It is a place full of love and light, a place where a child can be free, a center for change and evolution, growth and life skills and a home away from home.
Ability Tree takes inclusivity to a new level. Something as small as teaching a pastor what to do when a child has a fit during church service or bringing a student in for one college course a week sparks revolution in the making! Hundreds of Northwest Arkansas families, businesses and organizations collaborate on actively revolutionizing ABA therapy. Missions such as Ability Trees are key to a universal understanding of love and support, and it is incredibly important to know that organizations and resources like this are available- maybe just one city over!
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MADDY SCHULTZ - Executive Director
KARLA SINGER - Recreation Director
