What Makes The Pediatric Place Special?
Collaborative Care for Successful Futures
An infant was referred to speech therapy due to difficulties feeding. During the evaluation, the speech therapist noted concerns with the child’s core stability that might impact safety during swallows. The speech therapist pulled a physical therapist into the appointment to provide the positioning and stability needed to successfully and safely work on oral feedings.
A child in physical therapy felt frustrated when attempting new tasks and would shut down when he felt an activity might be difficult. Collaboration with an occupational therapist enabled the child to develop self-regulation techniques that allowed him to make progress toward PT goals.
An occupational therapist consulted with speech therapists to learn how to model language and structure activities to better support communication skills for children so they could express their wants and needs during sessions.
At The Pediatric Place, situations like these occur every day. With experts in physical, occupational, speech, mental health, and medical nutrition therapy as well as applied behavior analysis under one roof, therapists are able to consult colleagues to support the needs of clients that fall outside their area of expertise in order to provide comprehensive care and empower children to achieve their goals.
“Having the ability to discuss information collected, evaluation findings, and observations helps me see things I may not have seen originally or reassure myself that my goals and treatment plan are on track,” explained Jami Voelmeck, TPP speech therapist.
Brooke Allen, Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Director of TPP’s new Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center, agrees. “My vision for TPP’s new ABA program is to offer collaborative expertise across disciplines to each and every client. Having the ability to walk right down the hallway to ask a counselor a question, pick the brain of an SLP, make a referral to our dietitian, and so many more experts is key to comprehensive ABA programming. My hope for our ABA program is to utilize the expertise of our incredible staff to support each child.”
When TPP owners Jessi Frencken and Carmen Rathert set out to found a multidisciplinary pediatric clinic, their vision was to create a single place where children in our community could receive all the services they need to reach their full potential. Today, with a comprehensive range of services offered, that vision has been realized.
“Collaborative care is looking at the child from all angles and understanding how each discipline brings their expertise to the table to reach the maximum potential of that child,” Jessi explained. “Collaborative care IS The Pediatric Place.”
By Amy Wolcott, M.S. CCC-SLP