Forming an Opportunity Belief

My belief is that an opportunity exists for a facility to offer therapy services, extra-curricular activities, and teach life skills in one location for children and adults with special needs. 

Being a part of the special needs community you find how secluded and sparse activities and services are for your particular child/adult.  The number of children and adults on the autism spectrum alone has increased to 1 in 59 according to the CDC.  Total numbers for those with special needs including intellectual, genetic and behavioral disabilities is 1 in 6 kids has some form of disability.  Most require additional services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy and ABA behavioral therapy multiple times a week in addition to the school day.  It is a struggle for families to find appropriate schools and therapies, most driving long distances to and from each day.  What about fun? Some activities are available in select locations and these are mostly for the younger population with special needs.  This need exists as the special needs community has grown steadily over the years. I am 65% sure this opportunity exists.

Prototypical customer – All families, adults and children with special needs or disabilities.

Interview #1 – Mother of two daughters, one on the autism spectrum

When speaking with this mother she mentioned how much time she spends driving to multiple doctor and therapy appointments on a weekly basis, bringing both daughters as she is a stay at home mom.  She then has to keep her younger daughter entertained while her sister is in her specified therapy of the day.  With taking so much time to provide necessary services for her daughter on the spectrum, her younger daughter misses out on activities she could be doing.  It is a struggle to do what is right for both children.  This mother indicated that she would be interested in a service that had something for both of her children.

Interview #2 – Mother of a boy, age 9 on the autism spectrum

This mother states it is a struggle for her to find appropriate programs for her son, which is why she chooses to home school along with his additional therapies.  They have found limited extra-curricular activities such as soccer programs and gymnastics but as he has gotten older the level of skillset required has increased and the programs are not as understanding as they were when he was younger.  She finds that it is important for him to get the peer interaction and to learn new activities but as he matures the expectations for his age are too great for him to keep up.  Her struggle is putting her son in situations where he feels left out or made fun of.   This mom was very enthusiastic about the suggestion of a facility that supported those with special needs.

Interview #3 – Mother of a 19 year old daughter with Downs Syndrome

Since her daughter is older, her focus is on what life skills and job opportunities are provided to adults that have limitations.  She does not want her daughter sitting around all day not being productive but she does not feel that the school program did enough to teach her appropriate lessons to apply to regular daily life.  She is taking adaptive gymnastics and helps out with the younger kids on a weekly basis, however there have been very few other opportunities for her. This mom would be interested in something that could be a place where her daughter can go to expand her interests and possibly earn a living.

Reflection

After speaking with each mother, I was pleased to hear that others find there is a need for this opportunity.   The most surprising thing I learned was that the opportunity could expand to include activities for all members of the family as long as the center focused on those with special needs.  It could also benefit from hiring those with special needs to help with activities and possibly sell goods made or grown there by them.  

Summary

I find that the opportunity does exist and possibly more than I first anticipated.   Interviewing potential customers expanded on the original opportunity and assisted me with seeing how it could attract even more customers.  I truly see how necessary it is to gather this information before moving forward.  This would be a large undertaking that would require much more planning, however living in a large city with the population so diverse it is necessary to meet the needs and focus on the special needs population.