All in one place

At age 2, Mitchell Meisler’s parents noticed he wasn’t speaking or making eye contact. The diagnosis they received was autism. What they also found was that Mitchell could spell out words like “Sports Illustrated” and “Capri Sun.” Experts told his parents, Nancy and Allen, he had a photographic memory.

Following the diagnosis, the Meislers began to take Mitchell to a psychologist, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist for therapy in different locations across Birmingham. The more they learned about autism, they more they learned what services weren’t available in Alabama and how great a demand there was for a center for children on the spectrum. Public school systems are only responsible for children with special needs beginning at age 3, and even then they can often only qualify for 45 minutes of services a week.

“These kids need hours a day,” Nancy said. “It’s way beyond what any school system can provide.”

Even at age 3 when Mitchell was nonverbal, he didn’t qualify for services through the state, Nancy said.

Seeing the need in Birmingham, the Meislers founded a new center for children with autism just outside Mountain Brook. 

“I just felt like there was a need to create a center like this,” Allen said. “If I was going to help my child, I wanted to help other children too.”

Mitchell’s Place became a nonprofit in 2004 and opened the doors of its new building in August 2005 — 10 years ago this month.

At that time, Mitchell was 10. He would attend the after school program and summer camps for kids age 6-18, but he was then too old for its signature Early Learning Program (ELP) for preschoolers.

“When [the Meislers] started Mitchell’s Place, it was selfless because it wasn’t for Mitchell. It was for younger families,” said current executive director Sandy Naramore. Naramore came to Mitchell’s Place after teaching special education at Crestline Elementary and meeting the Meislers when she worked at a summer program Mitchell attended as a student at Cherokee Bend.

Dr. Matt Remick, Mitchell’s psychologist and now the center’s director, and Susan Mink, a Mountain Brook special education teacher who became its education director, were originally worried there wouldn’t be enough children for the initial three classrooms, but before long they had a waiting list. 

Today, there are six ELP classrooms and there’s still a waiting list. Families drive from as far as Wetumpka and Winfield to take their children to Mitchell’s Place, and some have relocated to Birmingham for its services. Tuition checks arrive from not just parents but also grandparents and cousins who want to help their family’s receive its services.

Language learning

The Early Learning Program for preschoolers is still Mitchell’s Place’s signature program. It targets children age 2-6 to prepare them for kindergarten.

“Children often walk in with no language, and when they leave here, they are speaking,” Naramore said. “It’s incredible.”

Each classroom has five children on the autism spectrum along with five “typical” children who serve as role models for the others. They learn just as Allen said Mitchell does — by imitation and repetition.

Jamie Cowin, current chairman of the organization’s board, experienced the ELP firsthand with his son Matthew.

“It was very effective in getting him ready for elementary school, and it couldn’t have been a better experience,” Cowin said. “Even when he went on to first grade [at Mountain Brook Elementary], Mitchell’s Place sent two staff members with him into an introductory meeting at the school to let the public school staff know what they knew about him.”

Children with autism function best on a schedule, but the program also teaches them what to do when they are not on a routine.

“Even before a child goes to a public school, Mitchell’s Place does a lot to get them accustomed to how class behavior works, how to wait your turn, or stand in line or walk together,” Cowin said. “Those are simple sounding things, but they are very helpful to get a spectrum child indoctrinated to get ready for school.”

Each classroom of 10 has a lead teacher with a master’s degree as well as two assistant teachers. Naramore said it’s the student-teacher ratio that is so instrumental to how the kids learn.

The typical children in the classroom flourish as well, Naramore said, learning about self confidence, differences and compassion. In fact, Birmingham-Southern students’ research found that their students’ language development is 10-12 months higher than students in other preschool programs.

The program has also evolved over the past decade.

“Autism is growing, but we have more research,” Naramore said. “We have learned so many more strategies and more of what works and what doesn’t.”

Outside the classrooms, the center also offers speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry and applied behavior analysis (ABA) outpatient services. A child can come in for a diagnosis at 18 months and receive services through age 18. Each child in the classroom benefits from these programs, as well as teachers collaborate with different therapists to treat each child.

“You shouldn’t have to have a psychologist across town and have a speech therapist in another area,” Nancy said. “Everything is here.”

They have also added a one-on-one program based on the needs of the students. Its goal is to prepare a child for the center’s ELP program.

“Everything we do is individualized,” Naramore said. “We don’t use cookie cutters.”

Both the Meislers and Naramore emphasized what a “happy place” Mitchell’s Place is. The children are constantly learning, but they don’t even know it. 

Into the future

Today, Mitchell, age 20, has graduated from Mountain Brook High School. Like everyone else he has met for the past 15 years, he remembers each of his classmates’ names and birthdays. His photographic memory captures dates just as it does names of songs and their corresponding track on a CD. He’s also sharp with directions; his older sister would take him with her when she first started driving to serve as her built-in GPS.

People remember him too, Nancy said. 

This school year will be Mitchell’s final in Turning Points, a program on Samford University’s campus for high school graduates 21 and younger with special needs who have finished high school.

The Meislers are still actively involved with Mitchell’s Place and serve on its board. Nancy still helps with fundraising, and Allen helps with janitorial services and finances.

Students only pay about half of the actual cost of Mitchell’s Place’s programs, so the center relies on fundraising and grants to keep the classrooms staffed with professionals 8 a.m.-3 p.m. year-round.

In the early days before they hired a development director, Nancy would write grants rather than pay someone to do it and relied on their family’s connections in the community. 

“There are a lot of people affected by autism who have supported us,” Nancy said.

Back in 2006, they had their first Night at the Oscars event, a fundraiser that still continues today. 

Today Mitchell’s Place is now hoping to expand its building to add six more classrooms, a project that will cost around $1 million. It would allow children on their waiting list a spot in the program to learn from Mitchell’s Place’s teachers and therapists.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the staff and the love they give,” Nancy said. “That’s what keeps us going — seeing the results.” 

To learn more about Mitchell’s Place, visit mitchells-place.com.