No one is really sure what a real fairy godmother looks like, but to the staff and parents of children at KinderFrogs School, she looks a lot like Jean Roach.
KinderFrogs is the only early educational facility in Tarrant County that specializes in dealing with Down syndrome children, and it owes its very existence to Roach, or maybe to some friends of Roach's daughters.
In 1999, two young women with Down syndrome babies came to Roach to ask where they might be able to send their children to school. Roach says they told her that "these kids need preschool, because everybody they're going to start school with will have been in preschool, and they're going to be even further behind." There was no preschool available in Fort Worth.
Academia is not known for speedy action, but things happen when there is a fairy godmother involved. The women approached Roach in 1999, and the school opened on the TCU campus in 2000.
April and Patrick Bierle are parents to Paxton, born July 25, 2008. Elation about finally having a boy to join their two daughters quickly turned to concern when they were told he had Down syndrome.
"I can't even imagine life without KinderFrogs School," April Bierle said. "Paxton would not be as high functioning without KinderFrogs. We might have had to move to an area that did offer services for Paxton. I would hate to leave Fort Worth."
All the therapies her son needs are available in one place, she said. "Paxton's future is limitless. With the hands-on approach KinderFrogs has provided, it allows our family time to be more fun," she said. "If we didn't have all the KinderFrogs help, then we would have had to have a more school setting in our own home. We want Paxton to have as much of a head start as possible."
Dr. Marilyn Tolbert, director, and Jean W. Roach, chair of Laboratory Schools, have always had a heart for special education.
"I tell people that it's really what I was born to do," Tolbert said. "This is my purpose in life. It's very rewarding and very fulfilling, very exciting to let people see the possibilities rather than the disabilities."
Both Roach and Tolbert pointed out the advantages of the campus location where students in education and other departments can assist, and both further their academic training and help with the school. "We log about 5,300 community service hours a year from TCU," Tolbert said.
The Bierles and Roach say that the progress the children make in the program is amazing.
"Most of our kids come not walking, not being able to feed themselves, drinking from a bottle," Tolbert said. "Within a few weeks and months, they're toddling, they're feeding themselves, they are stabbing with a fork - the things that you and I take for granted. These are things that have to be learned for our children."
It is very satisfying to Roach, she said, especially when "I see the improvement in children just within a couple of months after they've been there. They're talking and they are able to do things that that they weren't able to do. They make remarkable progress very quickly at KinderFrogs."
