Meyer Center cuts ribbon on its first inclusive 4K classroom — Where every child has something to teach and something to learn

The Meyer Center for Special Children celebrated the opening of its first inclusive 4K classroom with a ribbon cutting at its Rutherford Road campus, recognizing Pacolet Milliken, LLC, whose $200,000 grant made the program possible. Six weeks into its first school year, the 4K Inclusion Program is already proving something educators and families have long understood: children learn best from one another.

Since opening on August 10, typically developing four-year-olds and Meyer Center students with disabilities have spent their days learning, playing, eating, exploring, and growing together. The result is a classroom where differences are simply part of the community—and where every child benefits.

Students, families, board members, staff, donors, and community partners joined Pacolet Milliken representatives to celebrate the milestone. Jennifer Calabria, Director of Real Estate Development for Pacolet Milliken, joined John Runion, SVP of Pinnacle Financial Partners; Meta Hendricks, Executive Director of the Meyer Center; and Meyer Center parents Justin and Caroline Lambert in cutting the ceremonial ribbon and officially dedicating the new classroom.

INCLUSION BENEFITS EVERY CHILD

At four years old, children learn through play, observation, conversation, and shared experiences. In the Meyer Center’s new 4K Inclusion Program, those everyday interactions are helping every child grow.

Children with disabilities benefit from learning alongside typically developing peers who model language, social interaction, play, problem-solving, and independence. Their classmates develop empathy, patience, flexibility, and an early understanding that people learn and communicate in different ways.

But perhaps the greatest benefit is simpler: these children are growing up together.

They are learning early that a friend may communicate differently, need extra time, receive support, or approach a task in a different way—and that none of those things make that child any less capable of being a friend, a classmate, or an important part of the community.

“Inclusion is not simply about placing children in the same room,” said Meta Hendricks, Executive Director of the Meyer Center. “It is about creating a community where every child is known, valued, and given the opportunity to participate. Our children are not learning about inclusion from a lesson or a book. They are living it every single day.”

A UNIQUE EARLY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

For more than 70 years, the Meyer Center has helped children with disabilities reach their fullest potential through specialized education and intensive therapy. That expertise now creates a unique early learning opportunity for every child enrolled in the 4K Inclusion Program.

The two 4K classrooms operate as one learning community for most of the school day. Students share morning meeting, literacy and math centers, related arts, lunch, recess, outdoor play, field trips, and school-wide events. Structured instructional time is supported by both a certified early childhood educator and a certified special education teacher.

At the same time, Meyer Center students with disabilities continue receiving individualized instruction, IEP supports, and the speech, physical, occupational, and feeding therapies they need.

“Every parent wants their child to be prepared for kindergarten,” Hendricks said. “We want that too. But preparation for life is bigger than letters and numbers. Children also need to learn how to work with others, appreciate differences, show kindness, and recognize the strengths in people around them. Inclusion gives children the opportunity to begin learning those lessons at four years old.”

For children with disabilities, the program provides meaningful opportunities to practice communication, social, academic, and independence skills alongside peers in natural, everyday situations. For typically developing children, it provides a rich early learning environment where academic readiness, curiosity, independence, and social-emotional development are intentionally nurtured.

Both groups gain something that cannot easily be replicated: the opportunity to form genuine friendships and learn from children whose experiences may be different from their own. At its heart, the program is built on a simple belief: every child has something to teach, and every child has something to learn.

WHAT PARENTS ARE SEEING

For parents, the benefits extend far beyond kindergarten readiness.

“We were the first family to sign up for the 4K Inclusion Program because of how impressed we’ve been with our daughter’s education in her special needs classroom,” said Bart Zweigoron. “Seeing the genuine passion and care from the teachers and administration made us confident it would carry forward into this new program.”

For families of children with disabilities, the opportunity is equally meaningful. Their children are participating in the same childhood experiences as their peers—forming friendships, celebrating successes, navigating disagreements, and discovering the world together.

The program gives all children an opportunity to grow up seeing differences as a natural part of their community rather than something unfamiliar or separate.

MADE POSSIBLE BY PACOLET MILLIKEN, LLC

The classroom exists because of Pacolet Milliken, LLC. A $200,000 grant funded the conversion of existing Meyer Center space into a fully equipped 500-square-foot classroom, along with year-one staffing, curriculum, and start-up materials—

“We are profoundly grateful to Pacolet Milliken,” said Hendricks. “They believed in this idea before there was a classroom to visit or children to see. Because of their investment, there are children learning and growing together today who would not otherwise have had this opportunity.”

“Pacolet Milliken is proud to support the Meyer Center in its innovative approach to helping children develop a broad range of skills. Shared experiences and meaningful interactions with peers provide valuable opportunities for children to learn patience, empathy and respect for others. By creating a space for those shared experiences, the Meyer Center is helping to build a stronger, more connected community, and that is exactly the kind of community we are proud to support,” said William Crawford, CEO of Pacolet Milliken.

A NEW CHOICE FOR GREENVILLE FAMILIES

For more than seven decades, the Meyer Center has been known as a place where children with disabilities receive exceptional education and intensive therapeutic support. This year, for the first time in its history, the Center is welcoming typically developing children as part of its educational community.

The 4K Inclusion Program is a thoughtfully designed learning environment built on the belief that children benefit when they learn alongside one another.

“We understand that families may not immediately think of the Meyer Center when searching for a 4K program,” Hendricks said. “But we invite them to come see what is happening here. Spend time in the classroom. Watch the children play together. You quickly realize that inclusion is not something complicated or abstract to four-year-olds. To them, these are simply their friends.”

The tuition-based program operates Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. under the Meyer Center’s DSS childcare license. No diagnosis or special education services are required for enrollment. Three seats remain for the 2026–27 school year.

To learn more about the 4K Inclusion Program, visit meyercenter.org, email Jenny Lee Turner, Family Services Coordinator, at [email protected], or call 864-250-0005 ext. 265.

ABOUT THE MEYER CENTER FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN

Founded in 1954 by Dr. Leslie Meyer, the Meyer Center for Special Children is a nonprofit public charter school and the only facility in the Greenville region offering comprehensive early education and intensive, integrated therapy for children with disabilities. The Center serves approximately 120 students from infancy through age 8 and never turns a student away for inability to pay.

The Meyer Center is the only facility in the Greenville region to provide comprehensive special education and intensive, integrated therapy under one roof. The 4K Inclusion Program brings that depth of expertise into a classroom designed for children with and without disabilities to learn together.
Learn more at meyercenter.org