Parents of children with special needs in the Keystone Heights, Florida area no longer have to commute long distances to get help for their children, because Lighthouse Learning Center in Orange Park opened a Satellite Center in Keystone Heights at the Trinity Baptist Church.

Lighthouse Learning Center, a not for profit agency in Orange Park, serves children ages birth to five years old.

Until now, children with special needs in the Keystone Heights area of Clay County have traveled to Gainesville, Orange Park, or have not received therapy and treatment serivces at all.

The Satellite serves children from Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Putnam Counties and offers physical, occupational, and speech therapies, and individual early intervention. The staff at the new satellite consists of Lighthouse's Community Coordinator Robin St. Peter, physical therapist, Cristina Jaramilo, occupational therapist, Tanya Fisher, speech therapist, Susan Roach, and early interventionist Natasha Rich.

The staff treat children with a team approach, working closely with one another and with each child's parents. The therapists play with the children encouraging movement, communication, independence, and cognitive development.

"Soon we hope to have a pre-school program at the satellite similar to the one at at the Center in Orange Park," said Lighthouse Director Paige Degryse.

The Keystone Heights Lighthouse Satellite is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. until noon. For further information call the center in Orange Park at 904-264-7392.