CONTACT
P. 405. 603. 6622
F. 405. 722. 3244
E. [email protected]
LOCATION
8007 NW 122nd St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73142
HOURS
Monday – Friday
7:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Month in Review
March 2023
Patient Spotlight
We have so many patients at Speech Pathway who have long journeys that require incredibly hard work from their entire family and we want to start recognizing them for the effort they put in daily! Each month we’ll be highlighting a few of our patients who have shown so much improvement throughout their marathon in speech therapy. See our amazing patients below!
Gio M.
Gio is a sweet four year old boy who has been in therapy for three years. His accomplishments within the past three years include being able to say the alphabet, count to 20, recognize the letters in the alphabet, and put together the words to make a sentence. Miss Kathryn admires Gio for his amazing work throughout the past three years. “Gio is fun and friendly! He loves animals, Tiny Town, and serving up the best pizzas with the Melissa and Doug pizza game.” Miss Ashley and Miss Hannah love when he says hello and he’s basically a celebrity in our halls. His loving and caring personality are what everyone at Speech Pathway loves about him! Thanks for all of your hard work, Gio!
Kai S.
Kai is a vivacious seven year old who has been in therapy since he was 18 months old! He went from having limited verbal language when he started therapy to having full conversations with others. Miss Stephanie loves working with Kai in his individual sessions because he is so full of life and excitement. “Kai brings so much positive energy to those around him and I’m so grateful that he chooses to share it with us at Speech Pathway!” His caregivers agree that he loves to be around others. “He never gives up even though he has had more hurdles than any seven year old should have to face. He has a huge, kind heart and is destined to do amazing things.” Mr. Michael gets to see Kai each week as well and loves his imagination, energy, and friendliness to all. We’re so lucky to witness your journey, Kai! Way to go!
Della L.
Della is a sweet five year old who has been in therapy for four years. Her caregiver is extremely proud of all of her accomplishments during her time in therapy. “She works hard and has embraced speech with a positive attitude. Della has learned to articulate letters and middle syllables. She can order at restaurants with ease and her teachers at school have been very impressed with her improvement. She’s a bundle of personality with so much to say, and her progress in speech makes it so much easier to share with the world all of the funny thoughts in her brain. Della makes the world a brighter place.” Miss Kylie loves working with Della because she is such a kind, smart, and funny gal. “Della is a hard worker and loves to have fun. Her smile lights up a room and everyone who has worked with her here has nothing but fabulous things to say about her!” We’re thankful to be a part of your journey, Della!
Blake T.
Blake is an awesome ten year old who has spent nine years in therapy. According to his mother, he’s the littlest and biggest fan of Family Fued! He was nonverbal until eight years old and has utilized multiple different AAC devices since he was three years old. Blake started at Speech Pathway in 2017 with Mr. Michael. In February of 2020, he formed the word “no” and has worked so hard for years to be able to use HIS voice. Blake’s mother states, “He has slowly started to become less frustrated [after starting to use his own voice]. Three years later, he is saying full sentences, quotes from his favorite shows, and he asks to ‘play with Mr Michael’ when it’s not speech days! We’re so glad Mr. Michael is on this path with us” (We know, Mr. Michael has the coolest toys and is the coolest person). Mr. Michael loves hanging out with Blake because of his incredible imagination. “Blake is awesome. I love his persistence and the progress he’s made. It has been a journey from communicating with a speech-generating device all the way to using verbal speech.” We’re so lucky to have been on the path with you, Blake!
Why don’t we have a lobby?
Great question! We’re glad you asked. Since March of 2020, our lobby has been closed. With respect to our patients that get easily over-stimulated, we’ve wanted to create an environment conducive to ease of transitions and limited volume for settling accounts for our front office staff. In our new building, nothing is changing! Our lobby will be utilized only for necessary communication with our front office staff. We’re hopeful that our current system of meeting you at your car will continue to provide: a predictable environment for transitioning in and out of the building; ease for families to settle accounts without distractions; limited volume for our front office staff to keep working with insurance companies for you; and the ability to communicate more with your clinician! We’re excited for the new and improved version of Speech Pathway!
Where’s Tiny Town?
Never fear! The crowd-favorite Tiny Town will be moving with us to our new building with more room for even better activities! Has your kiddo been begging for a trip to Tiny Town? Let them know that the new and improved space is coming soon!
Kid Connect is an extension of our social groups. We offer a 1:3 adult to child ratio with specialized intervention for peer to peer interaction. Each week is a new set of games, crafts, and fun for each child involved and we can ensure we do everything we can to make sure your child is successful with us. In pairing with you to provide the best summer experience, we can provide a fun, social experience for your child to flourish among friends! Visit our website to sign up, check dates, and get more information!
Funding Alert!
Did you know Communication for Kids has added another grant cycle? If you want to apply for funding, ALL of our camps will accept grants from Communication for Kids! That’s Speech Spot, Intense Academy, and Kid Connect! Make sure to apply by May 1!
Order Your Piece Walk Shirts Today!
We’re excited to announce that our shirts are now available for pre-order! Make sure to place your order by May 12 to ensure your shirt will be in by the Piece Walk. If you haven’t heard of the Piece Walk, it’s an incredible event each year to raise awareness for autism spectrum disorder. It consists of a resource fair (with a LOT of free stuff), community-building, and a walk! The event is scheduled for 6:30pm on Saturday, June 3rd at Scissortail Park. Sign up to join us or support from afar!
Upcoming Events
There is no Event
Attendance Drawings
Did you have 100% attendance for this month? If so, you’re entered in a drawing for a $50 gas card! We’ll be having drawings each quarter (the first is January-March) for a $100 gas card for those patients with 85% attendance. Each month, we’ll draw for a $50 gas card for those with 100% attendance! We love to say thank you for all you do to make sure your child gets to therapy each week!
What’s it like at 8007 NW 122nd Street?
When asked about his thoughts on being in the new building, our director, Kent, had this to say:
” We’re going to find the best people to help kids then build them the best building to work in.”
” We’re going to find the best people to help kids then build them the best building to work in.”
When I taught elementary art, I had the opportunity to open a new school and it was such a terrible experience that I vowed if I ever built a building, I’m going to ask the people working in it what they want and where they want it, and that’s exactly what we did. We spent six months driving around Oklahoma to other clinics and talking with clinicians and owners asking two questions: ‘What would make the space better?’ and ‘What do you wish you would have done?’. The two unanimous topics were the building layout and reducing the noise. Our first building was 2,500 sq/ft and with this project being 8,000 sq/ft, we really wanted to get it right.
I held several virtual meetings with Speech Pathway employees where I drew the building in real time and they gave their input. There were two non-negotiables, “It must fit in this shape’ and ‘every treatment room must have a window.’ I took those results to the architect and made it happen.
The layout was nothing compared to the challenge of providing a safe sensory distractions for the kids. Our lighting is LED-diffused so it sort of glows instead of flickers and hums. Our treatment rooms have double-layered, ⅝” thick walls with sound-rated insulated foam. The entire building has envelope-closed cell spray foam. We went with geothermal heating and cooling so we didn’t have the noise of giant roof top units on top of our building and you’ll never hear the ‘AC crank on’ like you typically do. The exterior windows are the best and most energy efficient available. We heard after our inspections that one of the inspectors said that it is the most energy efficient commercial space in the city.
The next steps are the little details that make it more kid friendly. Hand-washing stations, water fountains, step stools at sinks; lots of stuff you overlook in a space working with kids. Our activity room, Tiny Town, is drawn up and we are tackling that project next. The room is massive and going to be fantastic and we are looking forward to it.”
We can’t wait to see how this space evolves and changes with our growing patient-base. Some quick facts about our building:
We can’t wait to see how this space evolves and changes with our growing patient-base. Some quick facts about our building:
- Our new building is approximately 8,000 square feet. That’s almost 6,000 square feet more than our old building. There’s so much room for activities!
- We have 23 treatment rooms, including ABA spaces, and will have two more added upstairs in the near future.
- As it stands, we have the capacity to see 300 PATIENTS each day. That’s wild!
- Our new building can hold up to 40 employees at one time with some additional student interns, volunteers, or observers.
- Our hand-washing station was created with our smaller friends in mind. Each station and bathroom is equipped with professionally-installed stools so our patients can work on washing their hands independently.
- All of our doors have increased security with a required badge entry.
- There was a lot of thought, planning, love, and consideration that went into creating this incredible space. We’re so grateful to FINALLY see it come to fruition!