Put simply, yes! We are an inclusive early childhood center. Most people are surprised to find out that we serve more young children without disabilities than with them. The reason for this is because we adhere to evidence-based high-quality inclusion ratios, which means that for every young child we enroll at Rise with a disability, we enroll 2 to 3 young children without disabilities. These ratios parallel the natural proportions of society, and they also offer everyone the opportunity to do their best from kids with and without disabilities to our teaching and therapy teams. Put simply, yes! We are an inclusive early childhood center. Most people are surprised to find out that we serve more young children without disabilities than with them. The reason for this is because we adhere to evidence-based high-quality inclusion ratios, which means that for every young child we enroll at Rise with a disability, we enroll 2 to 3 young children without disabilities. These ratios parallel the natural proportions of society, and they also offer everyone the opportunity to do their best from kids with and without disabilities to our teaching and therapy teams. 

At Rise, we have a team of experts who can offer an individualized education for every young child in the classroom, with and without disabilities. When children enroll for the first time in our Kangaroos (2-3 year olds), Ladybugs (3-4 year olds), or Caterpillars (4-5 year olds) classrooms or during the year in any of our classrooms (including our Bears classroom; 1-2 year olds), it is common for us to request that families attend a play date in their child’s potential classroom. Play dates allow us the ability to ensure that Rise is a good fit for your child and family and that we are able to support your child within the existing community of the classroom. We are likely to request a play date for ALL young children, with and without disabilities. 

We recommend completing our waitlist questionnaire and submitting your deposit as soon as possible. Many families put their children on the waitlist as soon as they find out about a pregnancy. 

We apply for grants each year in order to offer tuition support for families. The amount we are able to offer to families depends on the amount we are able to secure in grant funding. This year we were able to offer support to all families who applied and in an amount that they all said they needed in order to be able to come to Rise.

Rise believes in the importance of accessible, high-quality early care and education experiences for all young children and families. We are currently gathering as much information as we can in order to determine how Rise can participate in the Universal Pre-Kindergarten program and are awaiting determination across a number of clarifying questions. As of right now, Rise is not a Universal Pre-Kindergarten provider and we are unable to offer any information about when and if we will be in the future.

There sure are! We have an outpatient therapy program that serves families who attend and also families who do not attend our school program. We also offer a community music and movement groups throughout the school year. Please email office@risedenver.org to inquire about groups or our outpatient therapy services. Additionally, Rise is a non-profit organization, so we have multiple fundraising events throughout the year. 

Unfortunately, we don’t have data to offer a specific answer to this question. We can say, though, that to provide high-quality inclusion, a limited number of classroom spots are available for young children with and without disabilities in each classroom. As children progress across our classrooms, generally, we can enroll new children each year. Though, we do not enroll more than 12 young children in a classroom at one time even in our PreK classrooms, which does keep classroom spaces limited.

While we cannot make this guarantee, we do sometimes make accommodations for young children who turn 1 in August and September by allowing them to start at Rise once they turn 1. Young children who turn 1 later than this will be eligible to join our youngest classroom the following year.

We enroll young children in classrooms based on their age. There are no required skills (e.g., potty trained) for a child to be enrolled in any of our classrooms. We meet each child and family where they are.

ALL young children (those with and without disabilities) who attend Rise are supported by our full-time and also our adjunct therapy team. Each child receives the level of support they need to be successfully included and to meaningfully engage in the classroom. Our full time therapy team includes a speech and language pathologist, occupational therapist, inclusion coach, and social and emotional specialist. Our adjunct therapy team includes a physical therapist and music therapist.