My two daughters attended S.M.A.R.T. Beginnings from 2020-2022. My oldest was 3 years old when she began and my youngest was age 1. This center will always hold a special place in my heart. Once my youngest began attending at the age of 1....never attending a daycare previously...cried every day for 1 month when I dropped her off (as Katie mentioned was completely normal), I still knew that she was in amazing hands. Exactly 1 month later, as Katie had mentioned, she stopped crying, jumping out of my hands to run to her favorite caregiver at the time. I really enjoyed the parental communication system through HiMama. The reports were always very detailed regarding my children's day-to-day activities. If medicine was required to be given to my children, they would indicate the time it was given. It was a big help for me to see photos and detailed reports on my children. It made me feel like I was right there with them. I knew I could always trust the staff to take care of my children. However, the biggest impact for me concerned my oldest child. I cannot thank Regina, Rachel and Erin enough for what they provided for my daughter. My oldest has special needs. I did not know this right away. 2 years into the future, before she began kindergarten, my daughter received an Autism diagnosis. Yet, prior to that diagnosis, I quickly noticed that several staff here were very well-trained and knowledgeable of interacting with and caring for children with special needs. Most daycares honestly have NO IDEA what to do with special needs children. Yet SMART Beginnings knows EXACTLY what to do. When my daughters' behavior reached maximum intensity, Regina contacted me right away to explain in detail what was going on. I asked her what she recommended. She mentioned behavior counseling and referred me to someone she personally knew locally. With Regina's extensive background in Education, as well as her extensive experience in working with special needs children as a former educator, she created my daughter's first ever B.I.P. (Behavior Intervention Plan). It was a major rollercoaster and learning experience leading up to my daughter's first diagnosis, as well as after the diagnosis. Flash forward to the present, she currently has diagnosis spanning from Autism, ADHD, ODD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Yet I always knew that this daycare would be the ONLY daycare that I would truly feel comfortable leaving my special needs child in..... all because of the extensive knowledge, skill and background of the Director, Mrs. Regina, and the other staff. Also, just to add, when COVID began and most daycares shut down temporarily due to the outbreak, SMART Beginnings was LITERALLLY the only daycare in Ocean Springs that managed to stay open during the entire epidemic, implementing detailed instructions on how to manage the pandemic within the center in order to keep the staff and the children as safe as possible. I believe this speaks volumes about this center! So, in closing, this is why SMART Beginnings will always have a special place in my heart. They showed me how much they truly loved and cared about my children. They helped form a solid foundation of attempting to understand my daughter's needs, her struggles and her triggers, to develop a plan to best support her. The only reason why my kids' attendance ceased is because I had to move to Gautier. If we never moved, my girls would still be there in afterschool care. read more

I have worked at SMART Beginnings for over 3 years and I can truly say this place gets better and better. From the directors, teachers, parents and children, it is all around AMAZING! They have curriculum from infants all the way up to kindergarten readiness! read more

Katie was very accommodating and helpful when enrolling our daughter. She helped work around our schedule and answered my many, many questions. She even answered the phone and talked to me when she was home sick. Would highly recommend! read more

My son has been going to SMART Beginnings for almost 2 years now and they have been a GODSEND! They have worked with us through many obstacles so that my son could continue attending school there no matter what! I truly appreciate every single person that works there and admire them. They have positively impacted my son and can't thank them enough. I HIGHLY recommend SMART Beginnings! read more

SMART Beginnings - Preschools Near Me - Ocean Springs, Mississippi

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The director's at this facility are AMAZING.As busy as they stay, their response time to emails is fantastic! Katie is sweet, understanding, & has the answers to all my questions. ReGina has a perfect foundation set for these kiddos to be successful when they start kindergarten ! Rachael is great with the parents. She makes sure to have the kids out as soon as I get there. The teacher's Genuinely care about the kids and their feelings. They are patient and if a kid is having a bad day the teacher's AND director's tend to the kid to comfort them as much as they can and let them know it will be okay.They use himama app so you can keep up with what your kiddos do all day. You can message the teacher or director's. YOU EVEN GET PHOTOS! That definitely put my mind at ease knowing I can I' click one button and see what my kids ate or how long they napped...WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?!ve tried 2 other daycares in ocean springs this is my 3rd one and I'm FINALLY SATISFIED. We have finally found the daycare we were looking for all along. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. read more