Making a first best friend, picking the right classes in junior high or landing an important job interview are anxiety-inducing milestones for any of us. But what if you’re also navigating through life with a disability or special needs? How do you learn to function at your best and prepare for life as an adult?

That’s where LaunchAbility would come in. Formerly known as Special Care and Career Services, the local non-profit organization uses award-winning programs and services to help families maximize care for their with newly-diagnosed children and train both companies and special needs adults to work together.

“After the diagnosis of the child, we take care of those with special needs along with their families,” LaunchAbility CEO Kathryn Parsons said by phone. “We help the family grieve that loss [of ‘normalcy’] and to create a new dream for that child. Intervening early makes all the difference in the world for their lifelong independence and by the end of their individual program, we speak to them about the dreams that they now have possible.”

Childhood intervention and employment assistance has been in place for about 30 years and rewards both employers and employees, Parson said. “We’ve had 51 people go through our Supported Employment program in three years, and every company that’s hired them said that those individuals wouldn’t still have those jobs if it weren’t for our help,” she said. “Some risk losing a job because they didn’t understand the boss being upset with them, or their co-workers don’t see why they didn’t understand the memo or the e-mail. What Supported Employment also does is help clients to learn corporate culture, train them before hiring and to understand their duties, social and otherwise.”

Receiving services from LaunchAbility starts with a referral from the child’s primary care physician. If a child from birth to age three is not developing as expected, the state-based Early Childhood Intervention Department evaluates them and works with the family to find the best particular plan of action. “Whether they have private insurance, Medicaid or no insurance, we’ll find a way to help families receive those services,” Parsons said.

Since LaunchAbility is a non-profit, private donations and fundraisers go a long way, especially when a legendary icon like Smokey Robinson can headline a benefit performance. “A Special Evening with Smokey Robinson” takes place at the Morton H. Myerson Symphony Center on March 31.

“We bill insurance companies and receive funds from state agencies,but we simply couldn’t provide everything needed without private donations,” Parsons said. “LaunchAbility attracts artists that care about what we do and will often give a donation, discount their rate or do other things to give us more ‘bang for the buck.’ We bring together like-minded people who understand the importance of the public becoming acquainted with disabilities, services and why people with special needs should be proactively integrated into our communities.”

Parsons’ belief in LaunchAbility goes beyond her job title, since she has friends and relatives that have shown major progress after partnering the organization. She also enjoys watching families learn to embrace the new normal in which clients learn to excel.

“Providing therapy to families and long-term employment change lives on a daily basis,” she says. “Families realize that their biggest challenge can become the greatest lesson in life and I feel like I have the best job in the world because I get to support that.”

To buy tickets for Monday’s benefit performance, click here. For more information about LaunchAbility, visit their direct website.