For visually impaired youngsters in the metro area, the Anchor Center for Blind Children is both a place to learn and a slice of kids’ heaven.
Founded in 1982, the facility is located at 2550 Roslyn St. in the Stapleton neighborhood. Two dozen paid staffers work with about 100 children each week, helping them learn to navigate their world and prepare these kids — from infants to 5-year-olds — for entry into mainstream schools.
“The building was designed to reflect how visually impaired kids learn,” said executive director Alice Applebaum on a recent morning. “Everything here is a physical or visual cue.”
Opened four years ago, the 15,600-square-foot building was designed by architect Maria Cole, then with Davis Partnership Architects in Denver.
Light wells help the children, a few of whom are deaf and most of whom have some degree of sight, navigate the hallways. The floors have different textures: The wooden hallways are interspersed with hard tile outside classrooms, so the sound of a white cane on them will sound different. Rooms are baffled so sounds are strictly directional, with no aural bounce or echo. Textures abound.
“Everything is as tactile as we can make it,” Applebaum said.
Students go to regular public schools when they reach first grade, many of them in mainstream classrooms. Some students move on to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs when they reach seventh grade, since adolescence brings special challenges.
Pre-school basics are included, everything from toilet training to math and reading programs. (A special printer allows teachers to translate the text of books into Braille, which is printed out on Mylar strips and placed on the salient pages.)
But much of the work is designed to help the kids get around in the seeing world.
Playrooms help children learn physical and mobility skills. There are tricycles and pedal cars. There’s even a small climbing area where older children can climb on handholds using a safety belay.
On a recent morning, Madison Mosher, 3, made her way to a low-slung sink. She wanted to feel water on her hands, and under the watchful eye of a teacher, turned on the cold water tap and slipped her hand under the spigot.
A high-plains garden on the school grounds emphasizes color and texture, from echinacea plants that attract butterflies to lambs-ear plants whose leaves feel just like their namesake.
This year the children planted a “salsa and pizza garden,” replete with tomatoes and herbs. They also planted a pumpkin patch.
Tuition costs are low. Fees are waived for infants. The nominal tuition for toddlers is $80 a month; preschoolers ages 3-5 can enroll for $120 a month. But 80 percent of the families get some sort of assistance.
This despite the fact that it costs $17,000 to $20,000 annually to teach preschoolers and $3,000 to $5,000 for infants and toddlers.
The difference is made up by grants and donations to the independent 501(c)3 facility.
All told, the Anchor Center serves 400 children a year throughout Colorado, including home visits in rural outreach programs on the Western Slope and Eastern Plains. The center is one of a number of local agencies applying for funds from this year’s Season to Share campaign.
“Our goal is to make a difference in the lives of children and their families by being the first step in helping them find their way in the world,” Applebaum said.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
Anchor Center for Blind Children
Address: 2550 Roslyn St., Denver
In operation since: 1982
Number served last year: 400
Staff: 25
Yearly budget: $1.7 million
Percentage of funds directly to clients/service: 80 percent
