Jackie has a mild level of mental retardation, which caused many developmental problems for her. However, today she is smiling, making friends and doing well in school. Her parents say a large part of that is thanks to the Physability and Inclusion Program at the Southwest YMCA in Saratoga.

Jackie was born in 1984 to Kathryn McKellar and Richard Barto of Cupertino. Kathryn says she had a problem-free pregnancy and delivery with Jackie, and there is no history of any mental or developmental problems in the family; in fact, Richard just earned his Ph.D. from Stanford. However, when Jackie was around 8 to 9 months old, they began noticing problems with her development.

"At 8 months, Jackie couldn't even reach for a toy; she didn't know what to do," McKellar says. She adds that, when someone picked her up, Jackie's body would remain limp.

They took Jackie to a pediatrician who sat her down in the center of a big circle of toys. Where most children would eagerly start reaching for the toys and playing, Jackie just sat there.

"She didn't do a thing," McKellar recalls.

The pediatrician said it was possible that Jackie was just progressing slowly and suggested they wait to see how she was doing at a year. However, by the time Jackie turned 1, she showed no signs of improvement. The family was referred to a neurologist at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital to rule out a possible tumor in her brain.

"The positive was there were no tumors," McKellar says, "but the negative was they didn't know what it was."

Today, Jackie's parents can look back with good understanding. McKellar explains that there are six basic skill areas in a child's development: cognitive, gross motor, fine motor, social, speech/language and self-help. She has learned that a delay in development in any one area is not too much of a concern. However, a delay in all areas points to mental retardation. The frustrating part, she says, is that they are unable to confirm this without an IQ test; yet, doctors won't test IQ until a child is 5 years old.

"So, we had no idea she had mental retardation until she was 5," she says.

Her parents enrolled Jackie in physical therapy two months after her first birthday. She eventually learned to crawl at around 16 months, and took her first steps at 22 months. She also required therapy for feeding, sensory perception and speech and language, and occupational therapy.

"Her brain wasn't able to tell her to crawl or do other things," McKellar says. "But the therapists were able to get her brain to do that."

As Jackie got older and continued showing improvement, her parents wanted her to have as normal a childhood as possible. They enrolled her in special education classes in school. Then they learned of the Southwest YMCA's Physability and Inclusion Program.

The Southwest YMCA, 13500 Quito Road, is currently the only YMCA in the Bay Area with this program, which was started in the late 1990s. The idea of inclusion is to include children with developmental disabilities or other special needs into equal social and recreational activities as typically developed children, and to occasionally include them in activities together. The program aims to encourage, foster and promote attitudes toward community inclusion for children with special needs and their families.

The program has activities for children of all ages. The program pairs special-needs children with a trainer who guides them through exercises to build cardio-respiratory fitness, strength and flexibility. The 10-week summer day camp program pairs children with and without disabilities for arts and crafts, socialization, swimming, games and field trips. The year-round, after-school childcare program also pairs typical and special-needs children. For the latter two programs, each special needs child is supervised one-on-one by a staff member.

McKellar and Barto say the changes they have seen in Jackie since she has been coming to the YMCA are amazing.

"This program is phenomenal. We are so blessed," McKellar says, adding how incredible it is that the program costs nothing more than their annual membership to the YMCA--all other costs come from YMCA fundraising and the dedication of many volunteers.

McKellar says she loves John Milstead, Jackie's fitness trainer, especially because he can relate to Jackie and her difficulties since he had an accident that left him partially disabled. Through working with Milstead, Jackie is now able to complete exercises on 10 different machines, including the treadmill, bike and weights.

"She loves coming here, and that is just so heartwarming. She makes friends here," McKellar says.

"Working with Jackie is wonderful," says Milstead. "She's very positive and always works hard. All of the members love her. She's an inspiration, because they get to see what she achieves."

Jackie now faithfully visits the YMCA twice a week.

"I like coming here with Mom. I like exercising. And John is nice; he introduces me to all the people here at the YMCA," says Jackie, describing all the friends she has made.

McKellar is happy to report that Jackie has recently moved into her grade's mainstream science class, one of her favorite subjects. She says Jackie has been doing well in school and always advances on to the next grade.

She says having a place such as the YMCA for her daughter makes all the difference.

"A lot of places give up on these kids. When they're young, they're cute. When they're older, talk of these conditions is scary and they can't deal with them," she says. "So having a place like this to come to is amazing."

Courtney Lang, director of the inclusion program, says she notices a more positive outlook from members.

"When people come here, we don't talk about what they can't do; it's what they can do," she explains. "People are taken aback, like, 'Wow, that's a different way of looking at it.' "

Lang says she is currently working with other YMCAs to help develop similar programs in other locations.

For more information on the Southwest YMCA's Physability and Inclusion Program, contact Courtney Lang at 408.608.6817 or clang@scvymca.org.