BUFFALO, N.Y. — A growing number of children with disabilities need a growing number of resources, but those kids are not receiving the benefits allotted at the rate parents need.

What may not sound like the most exciting day to some is full of promise and hard work.

"This is a lot of the day we play on the floor and then we nap and then we play on the floor," said Nick Schmidt, who is now a stay-at-home dad after having a state job with a Buffalo-area hospital.

He's just glad that he and his daughter Hazel Schmidt are together.

"It was a long pregnancy and a lot of tests where they had a monitor," he said. "They wanted to monitor the fluid on her brain and everything else but thankfully she she was born OK and she has a little tiny hole in her heart that they're not worried about but everything else is good."

It's something familiar to Nick as his sister was diagnosed 27 years ago, but circumstances have changed.

"She didn't get early intervention because when she was born in 1994, it wasn't really a big thing," Schmidt said. "So she started off later in life getting all her skills and our help so she's she was a little bit behind."

Early intervention services are critical for thousands of families across New York state and the nation.

"They build skills and do stuff now," said Schmidt. "They'll use forever and if you delay that five years, it's not like restarting, they just might not get those five years back."

And from the jump, that's what the Schmidts had.

"Oh, by the way, when you go home, you're gonna have speech. You're going to have PT we're going to set this up for you," said Schmidt. "We're going to add three months or almost two months. She had speech therapists already she had people helping her eat, she had everything, she had everything."

Elsewhere, the Bodkins have had it too. Little Max was born premature and with chronic lung disease, but years later, he's playing in the living room.

"We noticed right when he started the program, he was forming words right away within a couple of weeks," said Max's mother Paula.

Still a bit behind in development, but the Bodkins are not only seeing improvement.

"Max gets excited now once a week like knows they're coming," she said.

With skills being developed and a brighter future ahead, the Bodkins know just how lucky they've been.

"We think that if the early intervention program had more funding, it would be more available to families," Bodkin said. "I want this program to be available to all families that need it because it's such a great program."

Therein lies the problem. According to the State Comptroller's office, more than half of those eligible, 51%, didn't receive all the therapies entitled to them. The biggest blow to those numbers was the funding. 

"So every time we get a therapist, we have them for about a month and then they get another job that pays better. And then there's like a two-month gap and then we get another one," said Schmidt. "They get used to Hazel and they're like, 'oh we're leaving now we got a better job."

Families who rely on the extra help to give their kids as bright an outlook as any understand, but they're growing advocates so that those therapists and practitioners keep in the field because the world is opening more doors for kids with disabilities.

"Instead of being like you know, you guys stay over there and everyone else will do this," Schmidt noted. "You know, it's more of we realize you guys are amazing people like you can do and you know we want you to be a part of it which is nice to see."

But without proper funding for the thousands of kids in need of early intervention services.

"It's all like I said a lot of it's all based on therapy and what, what she can do and how fast she grows," he added. "Without all our therapy, I don't think she'd be doing half the stuff she does now. Or be close to any of her milestones."