News and Information
May 12, 2025
The Commonwealth of Virginia has proclaimed May 2025 as Early Intervention Awareness Month. Fairfax County Neighborhood Community Services is proud to recognize the month and to highlight the variety of resources available to young children.
Early intervention is one the most effective strategies to ensure that children up to age 3 who experience developmental delays, or have conditions that may lead to such delays, receive the necessary support and services.
The Infant and Toddler Connection of Fairfax-Falls Church (ITC) provides early intervention services to more than 4,400 infants and toddlers annually. ITC also works with the Infant Toddler Connection of Virginia to share resources, best practices and training, says Adriana Gallego Gomez, Director of ITC of Fairfax-Falls Church.
ITC’s Primary Service Provider Model ensures that families have a consistent point of contact while benefiting from the expertise of a multidisciplinary team. Teams work collaboratively to create Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs) that help children learn and develop through everyday activities and routines so they can participate fully in family and community activities.
In addition to individualized planning, ITC offers a comprehensive range of early intervention services designed to support a child's development across multiple domains. The team and the family work together, usually in the family's home and in the context of a family’s daily activities. Some early intervention services are provided at no cost to the family.
These services are provided in the child’s natural learning environment and may include:
Service coordination
Speech-language therapy
Occupational therapy
Physical therapy
Developmental services
Family Counseling and Support
Assistive technology
Vision services
Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Nutrition services
Through these services, Early Intervention can help children ages 0-3 progress in the following areas:
Cognitive development: Supporting the development of thinking, learning, and problem-solving skills.
Physical development: Addressing motor skills, physical growth, and health conditions.
Communication development: Fostering speech, language and communication abilities.
Social-emotional development: Nurturing social skills, emotional regulation and mental health.
Adaptive development: Building self-help skills and independence appropriate for age.
Gallego Gomez says she finds it incredibly gratifying to witness the progress toddlers make in partnership with ITC. Each year, ITC hosts a graduation ceremony as the 3-year-olds transition into the FCPS system or other community settings, marking the conclusion of their Early Intervention journey with ITC.
To learn more, please visit Fairfax County ITC’s website.
To see a developmental milestones checklist, see this Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website.
May 8, 2025
Front row: NCS Division Director Chris Scales, Jaiden Saran, Jasmine Ma, Sophie Zhang, Eesha Viswanathan, Varsha Ayala, Amanda Smedley, INTEGRITYOne's Pete Lamont. Back row: NCS' Robert O’Quinn, Ramin Ghodoumipour, Rolando Muradez, NCS' Karmentrina Kearse, Hunter Mill Supervisor Walter L. Alcorn, Franconia Supervisor Rodney L. Lusk, Dranesville Supervisor James N. Bierman, Alan Wang. Click photo on page for high-resolution version.
Finalists in the 2025 Fairfax Area High School Shark Tank Technology Challenge were honored at a breakfast ceremony at the Fairfax County Government Center on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
The Shark Tank Challenge is an annual competition for Fairfax County, Fairfax City and Falls Church City students. The participants are challenged to create an innovative device or app that will have a positive impact on the lives of older adults or adults with disabilities.
The place winners and finalists were recognized at the reception by Karmentrina Kearse, Shark Tank Challenge Coordinator; Walter Alcorn, Hunter Mill Supervisor; Lloyd Tucker, Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services Director; Cathy Cole, Fairfax County Committee on Aging Chair; and Pete Lamont, INTEGRITYOne Partners CEO (event sponsor).
The first-place innovators were Varsha Ayala and Eesha Viswanathan (The Madeira School) for innovating RapidX, a wearable device that allow paramedics to retrieve patient data instantly, cutting down retrieval time from eight minutes to eight seconds, reducing human error and language barriers.
Other place winners:
Second Place
Artisin - Alan Wang (McLean High School)
Third Place
Gaitway - Jasmine Ma (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology), Jaiden Saran and Sophie Zhang (McLean High School)
Honorable Mentions
First
BlindSight - Kriesh Tivare (Langley High School)
Second
Branch Out - Chethna Ganesh, Kamya Raman, Sreeya Sangaraju (Centreville High School)
Third
CHAT - Aryan Rathour (McLean High School), Chenxi Xu (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology), Sean Miles (Herndon High School)
Partners for the challenge include NCS, The Fairfax County Department of Family Services Fairfax Area Agency on Aging, the Commission on Aging, George Mason’s Kellar Institute and INTEGRITYOne Partners.
Judges were Pete Lamont (INTEGRITYOne Partners), Tiffany O’Neal (AIM-VA), NCS Tech Educators Ronaldo Muradez and Ramin Ghodoumipour; and Amanda Smedley (ServiceSource).
To learn more, visit the Fairfax Area High school Student Shark Tank Technology Challenge website.
To see a complete photo album of the ceremony, visit NCS' Flickr page.
May 7, 2025
NCS has teamed with The Mather, a new residential building for older adults in Tysons, to open Arbor Row Center for ages 50 and older.
NCS leaders participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, May 5, 2025, at Arbor Row, 7927B Westpark Dr. Arbor Row is available to residents of the The Mather, as well as community members. NCS is pleased to offer its instructors and programming for this space.
Programming suggestions came from community meetings held earlier this year. Among this month's free offerings: exercise (mat Pilates, chair yoga, dance workshop, Chi Kung), tech workshops (learn about wearables, learn what your iPhone can do), wellness (sound bath meditation, aromatherapy) and more (creative aging, bridge, mah jongg).
"We are proud to collaborate with The Mather to bring our exciting programming and expert instructors," NCS Director Lloyd Tucker said. "This is a win-win for all. We hope the Arbor Row Center is a place where participants find value in creating social connections and keeping an active mind and body."
Providence Supervisor Dalia A. Palchik said Arbor Row is an example of what the community can do together, and she is looking forward to additional opportunities for older adults.
Arbor Row is open 9 a.m. - noon, Monday to Friday. See the May programming schedule and register for programs via Eventbrite. For more information, call 571-617-0311, TTY 711.