St. David's Developmental & Therapeutic Services

Whether you’re petting baby goats, winding your way around our Youngstedts race track, or hopping in our corn pit. There’s something for everyone at our FREE Get Out and Grow event on Sept. 26. All ages and abilities welcome. Join us to celebrate fall where everyone belongs! https://www.facebook.com/share/19B8jdxgys/

Taylor Eide, Speech Language Pathologist, aims to find joy in the small moments each and every day. That’s a lesson she shares with both her clients and her coworkers.

Taylor completed her internship at St. David’s as she pursued a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota’s Speech Language and Hearing Sciences School. She currently works at St. David’s in the Pediatric Therapy program.

Learn more about Taylor's career journey here: https://www.stdavidsmn.org/intern-spotlight-taylor-eide

Happy 61st Birthday, Medicaid!

Before Medicaid, low-income Americans often had no reliable, affordable access to healthcare.

When signed into law, Medicaid became a key solution to close that gap, offering health coverage to low-income families, children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Today Medicaid serves nearly 78–80 million people—about 23–25% of the U.S. population, including nearly half St. David’s clients.

It is our honor to serve them and, in partnership with them, change their trajectories!

We’re honored to be featured in !
A big thank you to Maddie Robinson for sitting down with Julie Sjordal and Megan Weber to discuss the Nicollet Center and the vital services we’re bringing to downtown Minneapolis. We’re thrilled about the impact this new space will have for local children and families.
Read the full story here: https://www.minnpost.com/community-health/2026/07/amid-care-crisis-for-kids-with-special-needs-a-renovated-downtown-building-offers-hope/

2026 Herb Walk

We were visited by Ashley Elenbaas of Sky House Herb School + Apothecary a certified clinical herbalist, nature enthusiast, and devoted teacher to all ages about the wonders of the plant life around us.

Ashley shared with us: I am an herbalist; I am a friend of the plants and I use plants as
medicines. Plants have a lot to teach us. They grow from seeds just like us.

She taught us how to identify specific plants, what we can learn from plants, and how to see them as our friends. We learned about Motherwort (sometimes called Lion's Heart), Ground Ivy (otherwise known as Creeping Charlie), and Plantain. Did you know that Creeping Charlie is from the mint family? It is used in salad greens in some areas and can be beneficial for headaches. Did you know that plantain (found in lawns across the world) can be applied to neutralize bug bites?

We then went on a walk through some of the School Forest trails to help Buzzy the Bee find the plants we learned about. We learned how they talk to us and each other.

Advocating for children with autism is not a new experience for Bemnet Habtamu, an Occupational Therapist here at St. David’s. She interned with us while finishing her master’s degree in occupational therapy at St. Catherine’s University. She was hired as a full-time St. David’s staff member in Winter 2026.

Her advocacy for children with autism truly took root early in her life as she helped her parents, who are immigrants from East Africa, navigate a complicated medical system as a pre-teen to get the best care for her younger brother.

Learn more about Bemnet on our blog: https://ow.ly/ecrL50ZnXNL

Our CEO, Julie Sjordal, was honored to be featured on KARE 11 News at Noon yesterday to share more about our current renovation work at our 1130 Nicollet Mall location. Watch the clip here: https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/news-at-noon/st-davids-developmental-therapeutic-services-breaks-ground-on-new-facility/89-09749fcd-5fd0-4029-a124-cd1db7ef5e1a

Week two of Summer Explorers and things got marvelously messy! Our little explorers splashed, squished, and got creative with Marvelous Mud. They made mud animals, painted awesome textured art, played in the mud kitchen, and hunted for hidden treasures—they’ve done it all! And guess what? They even teamed up for a fun experiment to see how mud changes water flow. Spots are still open for our toddler program this fall—reach out if you want to know more!

Fizz, boom, pop💥 So much science fun this week as our ECE Summer Explorers made lemon volcanos, launched rockets, and watched reactions come to life🧪✨

We have toddler openings in our ECE program for this fall. Check out our website for more information- Link in bio!💙

When a community rallies around a shared purpose, the extraordinary becomes possible.

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday for our groundbreaking—and to all who continue to support St. David’s mission. Because of you, more children and families will have access to the care they need to thrive.

Our new Nicollet Center will:
✨ Quadruple our Minneapolis footprint
✨ Serve 2,000 children, parents, and caregivers annually
✨ Expand access to critical developmental and mental health services for children 0-8

This is how we meet the growing need—and change lives!