Different Can Be Extraordinary

Imagine an organization that works to provide opportunities to individuals with developmental disabilities, from childhood, through the teen years, and on into adulthood in order to ensure they are afforded the tools to succeed and benefit from a rewarding career. Little Red Hen Nursery, Inc., a non-profit serving children and adults with developmental disabilities is that organization in the Northstate. Its approach focuses on access throughout the lifespan for persons with autism and developmental disabilities to be engaged, participating members of their communities. Through public awareness, education, research, and employment, Little Red Hen helps individuals and their families achieve their dreams and reach their goals.

The success of their mission cannot be more clearly demonstrated than with the story of Alex Wolk, the impetus behind the creation of Little Red Hen by his mother, Teresa Wolk Hayes. Alex was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, and at that time there was not the collective awareness around autism, nor the level of resources that are available today. So, Teresa set out to change that starting with a swim program in her backyard which has grown into a large organization employing more than 175 adults with developmental disabilities and serving over 100 children with autism each week. Alex, now an adult, graduated in 2022 with an MBA in business from Chico State University and is the financial manager of Little Red Hen overseeing a team of five gentlemen who also have autism. Alex is just one of the hundreds of individuals who have benefited from the organization’s dedication and empowering programs.

There are a myriad of specific characteristics representing autism and its effect on daily life, which is why it’s referred to as a spectrum. Dr. Stephen Shore, who is on the spectrum as well as being an autism advocate says, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Each individual will experience it differently and demonstrate their own strengths along with their own challenges. The human brain is constantly determining what things to pay attention to and what to ignore with all five of our senses. One example is to imagine sitting outside at a park, having a conversation with a friend. Now, imagine you have a soundboard in front of you with all the sounds present in the situation; people talking in the distance, birds singing, cars going by, dogs barking, and your friend’s speech. A neurotypical brain will amplify the friend’s voice, pushing up that volume on the soundboard while automatically decreasing the volume of all the other sounds in respect to the friend’ voice, pulling down those specific noise levels. For some individuals on the spectrum, those sounds are all pushed up to their loudest level with very little discrimination between them, thus fighting for attention from the brain. Now, imagine this same scenario but include sight and touch battling for attention as well. Everyone’s brain works differently and neurodivergent individuals may also have issues with social behavior, executive functioning, such as organizing, planning, paying attention, or self regulating and again, these difficulties fall across a broad spectrum.

Erika Birkholm, senior director of Little Red Hen, shares that while they assist everyone with all types of developmental disabilities, their children’s programs at the LifeSpan Center, as well as supportive employment programs serve individuals with autism starting at age four all the way up to the age of retirement. Rachel Hoyle, LifeSpan manager, says, “The beautiful thing about our programs is that we accept everybody; we don’t reject anyone based on their skill level because autism is a spectrum.” They may have participants who are extremely verbal on one end, and at the other end, someone who is completely nonverbal. The use of sign language and assisted communication devices enables those who are nonverbal to interact with their peers as they all learn and grow. The play and socialization programs run year round. These include Lil’ Sprouts, for children ages 4-7 which meets on Mondays and

Wednesdays after school, the Budding Sprouts program is for ages 8-12 and meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the Growing Together Teens program meets on Fridays. All of these center around play and socialization appropriate for their ages.

Rachel shares that their aim is to help them become more comfortable with social situations, teach strategies to address challenges they may face, and help them prepare for life after graduation. For instance, they teach the ins and outs of playing games functionally, taking turns and moving the pieces where they are supposed to go. They also work on coping skills, winning and losing, learning how to appropriately ask a friend to play with you, and learning how to compromise all while working on communication skills. The teen program also focuses on social skills, trading information by taking turns in the conversation, and recognizing social cues. Community integration is a large component as well; during year round programs, kids get to engage daily with neurotypical peers and during the summer, kids get to experience community integration every day by going bowling or mini golfing, oftentimes riding the bus in order to learn and practice how to read a bus schedule. Rachel says, “We want our kids to be able to use those social skills and then translate them into real situations as well as carry those skills throughout their lives.”

Erika speaks of the “astronomical amount

Meet alex

of people with autism graduating out of the school system and once they graduate out of that, what’s next for them?” Far Northern Regional Center, the organization which serves persons with developmental disabilities in the nine county area, has determined that over half of their clients with autism will be aging out of the educational system. Erika says, “With all these people graduating out, there’s going to be a real need to teach these job skills and help them move on in their careers. So, let’s teach these components and work with getting them jobs.” Little Red Hen has an entire department that helps participants with writing resumes, doing job interviews, and preparing for employment. They are attuned to the need that is coming up very soon for all of these individuals who will no longer have the support they had while growing up. As this need grows, they will be looking at how they can provide more of these types of services because they won’t be able to employ all of the individuals entering the workforce. The organization employs a large number of people with autism, many of whom have been with their programs as children and now, 20 years later, are employees at one of their many locations.

These adult employees look forward to participating in Little Red Hen’s Autism Fair and Children’s Carnival. The carnival will be held at Sycamore Field in Bidwell Park on April 16th from 10am to 1pm. Rachel shares, “It’s all about wanting our kids to feel like part of the community. A lot of times, when you go to these big giant community events, our kiddos can get kind of lost and overwhelmed.” A unique aspect of their carnival will be the sensory stations dotted throughout the space. These stations provide an outlet for the kids to self regulate while they are out mingling and exploring with everyone. For instance, the mermaid wall is covered in sequined fabric for kids to experience tactile stimulation while ‘drawing’ on the wall with their fingers. A sensory walk will present different textures to walk through to give the kids a break from the carnival atmosphere and help them to reset, while music walls constructed from PVC pipes provide an outlet to experiment with sound. In addition to these sensory islands, there will be games, community vendors, and community service resource booths. Princesses from Princess Parties LTD and Star Wars’ 501st legion cosplayers will be there along with a giant bounce house and face painting. It’s sponsored by Edward Jones who covers the cost of all the tickets enabling a totally free carnival experience for the entire community. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to attend and gain a better understanding about autism while enjoying a springtime festival.

Alex Wolk is the talented, charismatic man running the finance department of a company with more than 200 employees. He was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and was the inspiration for the multi-faceted organization that is Little Red Hen. His mother, Teresa Wolk Hayes (also pictured) was passionate about bringing opportunity to others with developmental disabilities, including autism. Alex has worked in the Little Red Hen organization since 2008. He was an early participant in Little Red Hen’s children’s programs and began his career working in the Gift and Kitchen Stores before working as a teen instructor, helping teens with autism interact with others. He graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in 2009.

Continuing in his education, Alex earned his bachelors in entrepreneurial and small business operations in 2016 and his MBA in business administration and management 2022, both at Chico State. Alex is proud to admit he’s good with numbers, which is great for the organization where he has so many financial responsibilities.. But beyond all that hard work, there's so much more to be in awe of. Alex is a world traveler, having visited many parts of eastern and western Europe. His favorite destinations are Amsterdam, where he has family, and Cabo San Lucas, where he will be visiting again this April. When he’s not globetrotting or helping run the company, he loves taking his nephews around on errands and shopping trips and adding to his VHS collection.

We all see, hear, and feel the world in different ways. Autism can present with different traits, and individuals demonstrate varying challenges, strengths, and abilities related to where they fall on the spectrum. They experience the world differently than neurotypical individuals. According to Haley Moss, the first known Florida attorney on the spectrum, “Different isn’t less. It isn’t bad. It’s just different, and different can be extraordinary.”

To support Little Red Hen you can shop at any 6 of their retail locations, as well as shop or donate online at www.littleredhen. org. You can also learn more about the children’s services offered at the LifeSpan Center by contacting Rachel Hoyle at 530897-0900. Visitors are invited to drop in to their Resource Library, Mondays through Fridays from 10am to 2pm, to pick up pamphlets on area resources, borrow from their lending library, or browse available sensory items available to purchase.

The lights begin to dim, and immediately the chaotic fervor of Mulberry Station Brewing Company, one of Chico’s favorite pizza joints, is reduced to excited whispers. The elderly couple in their 80s, seated in the corner at a table for two, turn their gaze from each other intently toward the stage, pausing their conversation entirely. So too do the group of six all-inblack twenty-somethings who had been debating the merits of a recent punk rock album release, so audibly you would struggle to miss it. A farmer and his wife, sitting center stage and enjoying a romantic dinner, neatly follow suit with the click of their cowboy boots. It’s an eclectic group of individuals to say the least, and the remaining 140 souls packed shoulder-toshoulder in the small dining room are no different. From a cursory glance, one would be hard-pressed to find a unifying thread among them, but they are all here for one reason—to see Hypnotique Production’s newest show: A Nightmare on Mulberry Street, and just as the troupe’s name would suggest, the promise of what’s to come has their audience in a trance. It is the realization of Kelsi Judge’s dream—one that has been decades in the making.

A Chico native, Kelsi grew up performing in musical theater from an early age. As a student of performing arts at Chico High and musical theater at Chico State, she pursued her passion, following it to Los Angeles where she quickly found a bit of success in both acting and modeling. Though the allure of the bright lights were enticing, she longed for the connection she experienced performing in front of a live audience and the camaraderie gained from participating in community theater. “There’s something incredibly satisfying and special about making an audience laugh,” Kelsi smiled.

“It’s unlike almost anything else.” As luck would have it, Phil Ruttenburg, of the now closed Chico Cabaret, had an opportunity brewing that would allow her to do just that. “He called me out of the blue in 2007 and said, ‘I have the perfect role for you in our new show. Would you consider coming back for a bit to take it on?’” She laughed, “I didn’t even let him finish. I decided then and there that I was moving back for good.”

Kelsi returned to Chico and took her spot on stage as TaTaTa, a campy and charismatic cavewoman in Phil’s new musical. “It was so much fun to be back in my element.”

Kelsi remembered, “We had such a good time putting the show together that Phil invited me to stay onboard and hired me as Chico Cabaret’s choreographer. It was honestly a dream come true to be paid to do community theater.” She stayed with the company for 10 years, choreographing, performing, and even doing a little directing in over 50 unique shows. “I learned to trust my instincts as an actor and a dancer.” She said of her time at the Cabaret, “I’ve always wanted to be a comedian, and I’m as campy as they come—it’s what I do best. My time there encouraged me to believe in myself, learn from the people around me, study the audience, and always be a sponge. I took in everything I possibly could during those years, and it helped shape who I am today.”

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and the Chico Cabaret closed shop in theatrical fashion. Though Phil was ready to move on from the Cabaret, he wasn’t prepared to leave the world of performing arts behind, and through that enthusiasm he decided to continue on with a Chico Cabaret theatre favorite, Chico’s Holiday Burlesque and Vaudeville Show. Having worked together for over a decade, Phil again approached Kelsi to be his star performer and choreographer.