SF Photography: R-Town: Playworks; Kelli's Vision for Helping Children.

When I first met Kelli Willms, she was a mo-ped drivin', drum playin', General Public listenin' girl! Yep, we were in Junior High and hadn't a care in the world. We spent one summer cruising around Redlands on her mo-ped, visiting friends, and being typical teenage girls. We had the same taste in music and my first concert was supposed to be General Public with her, but my parents ended up not letting me go! :( (LOL) As we got older, we drifted a part, and then after High School I didn't see her for years! Then one day, about 8 years ago, ours paths crossed again…at Cuca's, here in town! Thanks to that day, and Facebook, we've been able to remain in contact. I was very excited that she agreed to be a part of R-Town because I think that what she does for a living is extraordinary! Kelli is a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist and is the owner of Playworks here in Redlands (www.Playworks.cc) .
As I walked into Playworks, I immediately noticed 2 things; the place was REALLY clean and it smelled REALLY good! Everything is very neat and orderly and everything has it's own place. As I sat in the lobby, I observed children coming and going, and all very confident and happy with being at Playworks.
When I arrived, I was immediately greeted and hugged by Carol, her office manager and mom. Soon after, Kelli came out and greeted me, after she hugged a little girl goodbye. The little girl was very excited to show her mom her Disney Princess pages she colored!

Kelli's next client was a boy named Zach, who had been diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2. (He is now 10) When he came to Playworks he was non-verbal, he didn't respond to his name, would flap his hands, and would lay in the fetal position on the floor, lining up cars. Kelli told me that if anyone would try and move the cars and join him in play, he would scream and cry and get upset, and even panic. He would have to immediately put the car back into position. I asked her if this was a typical sign of autism. "It can be," she replied. "Kids with autism can have repetitive behaviors, and so for him, this was one of his repetitive behaviors. But the reason he would do it was because he couldn't plan the motor sequence to take a car and push it, and he would just control the play where he would hyper-focus on it visually so if you joined him in play, you are disrupting that visual pattern he is making." She continued to explain to me how he, at first, had trouble regulating his emotions and behavior, and he was difficult to engage, so that was what she really focused on. Kelli would create a line of her own cars and maybe ever so slightly move one of them. "It's a process" she explained. "A long process of helping him become less rigid and more engaged." Kelli, along with his mother, focused on following his lead, engaging him in purposeful interaction, and supporting him to communicate his intentions.
"When families come to you, are they at a loss, or feeling very frustrated?" I asked. "Depends on the family, but a lot of them are in crisis, especially when the kids are young and this is their first therapy experience," she explains. She tells me the story about when this boy came to her, his parents, aunt and grandma all came, and mom was trying to engage him in the ball pit and had tears in her eyes because he was so difficult to engage. As she is telling me this story, I can't help but think of the heartache the mom was going through because here she has this precious toddler who she wants to love on and play with, and is getting no response from. She doesn't know how to connect with him.

I asked about how long did it take for him to begin responding and she explained how it's a process and it varies for each child and family. "Some kids show a positive response to intervention fairly quickly. Others take longer. You have to find the right fit between the child, family, and intervention program. Zach was diagnosed early. He responded exceptionally well to intervention and his mom really embraced the process. He has achieved so many milestones in the last few years - learning to read, riding a bicycle, jumping off the diving board, writing and illustrating a journal, attending his first concert (front row!), completing his first science fair project, and being invited to his first sleep over. He is an amazing kid. He’s engaged and conversational, quite charming really. He has so many plans for himself and inspires me by setting goals for himself (e.g., swimming in the deep end) and achieving those goals. Zach really is the sweetest kid I’ve ever known - with or without autism. He still comes to Playworks 4 days a week to work on areas including comprehension, articulation, conversational skills, and social thinking. He wants to be a rockstar when he grows up. In my mind, he already is… He always asks me, “Kelli, when I am a grown up, will you go to my concert/monster truck race/art show? Will you say ‘whoohoo' and clap and cheer me on?” He loves to ask me these questions because he can predict my response, “Sweet boy I have been cheering you on since you were just two years old. You know I will always cheer you on.”

It is stories like this that get me teary-eyed or give me chills. She has many "feel-good" stories like this one that just reaffirms that what she does is extraordinary.
"When you were in college, did you have a vision of Playworks?"
"I did…it was by my Senior year in college. My advisor at the U of R started the same year I started at Redlands, and she and I clicked immediately. She had a private practice and worked with kids with Autism…I was interested in kids with Autism anyway, and she started teaching me."
Kelli sought out every internship that she could find to start learning more about kids with typical development, kids with Autism, kids with different special needs, would tutor kids with Autism, and worked with babies and toddlers with Down Syndrome. Once she graduated, she began working at Children's Hospital in L.A. and she told me "the day I got my license I started my practice." She rented a tiny office on Cajon St. here in Redlands and had two clients. Over time, her practice grew and in 2001 she was able to expand to her current location, which is a 1700 sq. foot free-standing building on a quiet residential street just off State St. in downtown Redlands. "It's very important to me that the clinic is both professional and child-friendly," she stated. Playworks features a sensorimotor gym (which includes a ball pit!) along with two other large therapy rooms. One therapy room is designed around a custom "Cat in the Hat" mural, while the other room is designed with younger children in mind and is designed around Eric Carle's classic, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." "Our services include speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, developmental intervention, social communication groups, and parent training/consultation." In the 13 years of being in this location I wondered if she felt like she's outgrown it. "I would love to expand to about 4000 sq. feet with higher ceilings for suspended equipment!" Playworks is located at 112 Eleventh St., Redlands, Ca 92374 and they can be reached at 909-792-0543.