They say find a job doing something you love, and you will never work a day in your life. That encapsulates Rayna Austin. Driven by a passion for helping others and a love for learning, she started her teaching career in Randle in 1976 teaching preschool ages 3 to 5, before going to work for the Chehalis-Centralia Special Education Cooperative in the Logan Elementary School building in Centralia. Specializing in special education, she had a multi-handicapped classroom for two years teaching ages 5 to 16.
After school, Rayna and her fellow teachers would work with birth to 3-year-old children needing extra help to meet their milestones. After seeing a desperate need for these services in the community, Reliable Enterprises stepped in, and with Rayna’s help, created In-Tot Developmental Center in 1981.
In-Tot Developmental Center is a birth to 3 program which offers speech, occupational and physical therapy services to children with disabilities or developmental delays. This program offers pediatric screening and therapy services, play-based parent coaching, weekly playgroups, a baby clothing bank for families in need, nutrition support and family resource coordination. In the same office resides Lewis County Parent to Parent, which is a program geared toward parents of a child with special needs. In-Tot’s therapists specialize in working with children who are medically fragile, who have or are awaiting a diagnosis, and children who are having trouble meeting their age-appropriate milestones in rural Lewis County.
In-Tot started with Rayna working with children in their homes with their first physical location at the old St. Helens hospital. After reviewing other birth to 3 programs in the state and receiving funding from other community partners, such as the Centralia/Chehalis Learning Co-op, and Lewis County Special Education Cooperative, they started hiring speech, occupational and physical therapists. With a team assembled, they moved their location around Centralia and Chehalis. Over 42 years and multiple locations to keep up with growth, In-Tot is currently located in the Sports Hub next to Lewis County Head Start, another program of Reliable Enterprises.
Throughout the years, Rayna and her team of therapists worked hard to help the children of Lewis County reach their full potential, implementing a combination of office and home visits, and working with the school districts to transition children to developmental preschool if needed. During her tenure, Rayna was a founding member of the Lewis County Autism Coalition and helped create the SMART program (School-Medical Autism Review Team), which has been replicated in 11 counties in Washington state and various locations nationwide.
It’s impossible to say just how many children’s lives were impacted by Rayna and her team. Countless families seek out the program needing resources and therapy services, and they leave with the knowledge to better understand their child’s needs. When asked why early intervention is so important, Rayna says, “Early intervention gives children the tools they need to be successful, especially later in school. If you feel your child is not meeting their milestones don’t ‘wait and see’ the early years are crucial for learning and gives them their best chance for a brighter future.”
Rayna officially retired from In-Tot Developmental Center but still finds time to volunteer, working closely with her daughter Becca Wickert, who is now the program manager. Making the decision to retire was bittersweet but seeing In-Tot thriving, Rayna knew it was time. Much can be said about Rayna’s commitment, watching her program grow from a closet in a hospital board room to what it is today. Showing others that with compassion, patience and a big heart, you can change lives.
Andy Skinner
Tumwater
