About The Britain Center

The Lee Ann Britain Infant Development Center is an important outreach program of Shawnee Mission Medical Center, touching the lives of over 4,000 challenged children since 1972.

Dedicated to serving children with developmental disabilities from birth to six years of age, the Center provides a unique program that involves parents and siblings in the process of therapeutic treatment and education. Individualized programs are shaped for each child and family by a team of physical, occupational and speech therapists, early childhood special education teachers and music therapists. Through an emotionally supportive environment, the Britain Center staff helps parents, siblings, grandparents and friends adjust their expectations and way of life as they learn to raise and nurture a child with disabilities.

Serving The Kansas City Community

Receiving children from the entire Kansas City area, the Center provides services to any child in need of the program regardless of their family’s ability to pay. Children in the Britain Center are challenged by a wide range of developmental disabilities including Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, autism and many others. A scholarship fund has been established by The Foundation for Shawnee Mission Medical Center to assist families in the education and therapy of their special children.

Our Approach

Children of the Britain Center have needs that are not addressed by typical health care systems. Simply offering hours of therapy in a clinical environment does not heal parents of their fears and anxiety, or prepare them for the challenges of nurturing a special child. The approach of the Britain Center for its entire history is one of viewing the family and the child as inseparable in the treatment and educational process. With parents, siblings, grandparents and friends as partners, there is a strength, built on love, which enables each child to reach his or her greatest potential.