Special Needs Resources - Which is the Chicken and Which is the Egg?

As RAPID has grown and evolved, we have experienced some interesting results.

For example, we established years ago, literally, that there is a shortage of services in English for kids with special needs in the South Shore Montreal area (as if there were ever any doubt).

After all, this was the whole reason for establishing RAPID (Resources for the Anglophone Population with Intellectual Disabilities) in the first place.

Meanwhile, we have gotten to a place where we are now able to offer some services that have not been available in the past, such as ped day day camps or summer day camps for English-speaking kids with special needs.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it seems like the programs we have offered or co-offered with other service providers so far have had limited enrollment.

Whether there have been price issues, scheduling conflicts, or people have just gotten used to their own homemade solutions, we have learned that there is a gap between offering a service and having it well utilized.

Another piece of the puzzle is that, after years of people just "getting by", we suddenly throw a service out there with a price, a registration deadline and a certain marketing approach, basically on a one-shot deal.

Perhaps it is a lot to ask to hope that all the ducks are going to line up right off the bat for a given service that we offer.

It's almost as if we started this whole thing with a clientele but no services and we've almost gone full circle to having services but wondering where the clients are!

Perhaps the secret is persistence and repetition?

Please feel free to post your thoughts in comment form.