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
November 2022
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 up to 5 patients who have shown so much improvement throughout their marathon in speech therapy. See our amazing October patients below!
Oscar S.
Oscar is a fun, six year old boy who has been at Speech Pathway for two years. A few months after starting therapy, Oscar was able to communicate with his Buzz Lightyear robot and the robot could understand him, which was a huge accomplishment! A couple years later, Oscar is now far more aware of his sounds. If someone does not understand him, he knows just what to do to fix it. He also says that knowing how to make the sounds correctly is helping him become a better reader, which we highly agree with! His caregiver wants everyone to know that “Oscar has a huge imagination! He loves going to speech and playing pranks on Miss Abby!” Miss Abby loves seeing Oscar each week and experiencing his pranks. She says, “Oscar loves to learn, has a great imagination, and is always kind to new friends. He loves to laugh and be silly, knows lots of fun facts, and is a smarty pants. Oscar often likes to surprise us in character or costume and likes to teach others about his favorite things and new games. He works hard during sessions and has made so much progress while at Speech Pathway!” We love having a jokester like Oscar around the office to keep things entertaining! Thanks for all you do, Oscar!
Jordan M.
Jordan is thirteen years old and has been in therapy for five years. He has so much potential and is such a wonderful guy. Jordan’s Mom is proud of how he’s learned to take his time to properly pronounce words, order his own food, and let her know his emotions. He used to use only yes or no to answer someone, but has expanded so much in his time in therapy. Miss Stephanie works with Jordan regularly and loves to experience Jordan’s jokes and fun-loving attitude. “Jordan is an absolute joy to have in therapy. He works so hard every session and loves to talk about his Transformers!” We love your enthusiasm, Jordan, and we’re so thankful you choose us each week to share your passions!
Dean D.
Dean is an awesome six year old who has been in therapy at Speech Pathway for three years. When he started, his grandmother stated she could only understand approximately 10% of what he was trying to say. He would often get frustrated and shut down. Now he’s talking all the time and strangers can even understand him. Dean has less shut downs and is more open to new therapists, which is a huge accomplishment for him! Dean is funny and creative. His grandmother stated it’s so nice to see him flourish as his communication skills improve. Miss Stephanie has loved seeing Dean all three years of his time in therapy at Speech Pathway. “Dean is so creative and it’s been incredible to see his creativity flourish through improvement in his communication. He’s care-free and fun-loving and keeps everyone on their toes with his ideas!” We love having Dean’s energy and creativity running through the halls at Speech Pathway! Way to go, Dean!
Spotlight on: Camp Communicate
We’re excited to announce that the applications for Camp Communicate are OPEN! We’re rolling out a few new camps this year on top of our classic Intense Academy. Head over to our Camp Communicate page to check out information about Speech Spot and Kid Connect. We’d love to have you join us for some summer fun! If you are not interested in attending camps but know someone who is and would benefit from financial support, check out our option to gift a camp!
Need help writing a grant?
Are you looking to apply for financial assistance to attend one of our camps? We are offering our annual virtual grant-writing workshop on January 15, 2023 from 3-4pm. We’ll help with how to navigate grant applications from popular companies such as Small Steps in Speech, The Orange Effect, and Communication for Kids. Sign up today!
Spring 2023 Group Registration is OPEN!
If you’ve been waiting to register for groups, we’re ecstatic to let you know that you can enroll NOW for the spring! Groups are perfect for any kiddo and are run by trained professionals in the areas of behavior and communication to assist in social interaction at age-appropriate levels. Our groups range from preschool (3.5-6 years old), to intermediate (7-12 years old), to adolescent (13+ years old). Check out our website for days, times, and pricing information! You do not have to be a patient at Speech Pathway to enjoy the benefits of groups! Come join us!
Holiday Gift Ideas
Are you looking for holiday gift ideas to grow speech and language for an awesome kiddo in your life? Look no further than Amazon! Check out the gift ideas below!
Melissa and Doug Doorbell House
If you’re a patient at Speech Pathway, you’ve likely been introduced to this incredible tool! The house is great for building early language skills. Most littles are not yet able to use the keys, which offers a great communicative opportunity for them to ask for help as well as use phrases such as “Open door”, “Red door”, “Want key,” etc. These phrases can be built into longer phrases as the child masters 2-word phrases. Hide whatever toys you like into the house to make it even more fun and tell them to come out, hide, jump on the house, etc.
Rainbow Sorting Crayons
From learning colors to building vocabulary, these sorting crayons help children with so much language development! All of the crayons have multiple items inside to help build vocabulary, word order (blue bear, purple grapes, pink pig, etc.), length of utterances (I see a…, I have a…, etc.), early and late-developing phonemes, working on functional vocabulary (open, more, etc.), and so much more! Check on Amazon for similar resources to the sorting crayons by Learning Resources. You can’t go wrong with any of their items!
Guess in 10
Guess in 10 is a fun game that also targets critical thinking skills! Multiple different packs are available, but all of them provide clues to places or things to serve as a guessing game. Work with your child on convergent thinking to lead to the solution on the back of the card! This is also a great game for traveling!
Headbanz
Headbanz is a great game for older children working on asking and answering questions. WH-questions can sometimes be harder for children to develop, so working on this skill while having a great time trying to guess their favorite characters is a great way to help them thrive!
Guess Who?
Guess Who is a classic and one we LOVE to work on descriptions and asking appropriate questions. Guess Who requires higher-level thinking and reasoning skills; the ability to ask questions pertinent to the characters that remain and participate in the process of elimination to win. This is a great gift for a child working on higher-level thinking and reasoning skills!
Baby Doll
Baby dolls are huge for speech and language development! All children want to be a “big kid” in some capacity, and often that includes taking care of a baby! Children can grow early language and increase their length of utterance by providing a baby with a bottle (Drink, baby!), feeding a baby (Take a bite!), brushing teeth (Brush, baby!), etc. A baby doll can also be used for identifying small and large body parts, following directions, and building early vocabulary.
Pretend Kitchen Set
Pretend play is a crucial stage of language development for children. Pretend play develops hand in hand with higher-level language, including asking others questions, expressing preferences, and engaging in role-playing. Use a pretend kitchen set to help your child ask others about what they would like to eat, ask for help, role-play a restaurant (and them ordering!), and work on articulation skills for target sounds and multisyllabic words.
Fun Feeding Plates
Make eating a new food fun with using play therapy through new plates and utensils! Your child can move food around their plate using their constructive utensils or feed the dinosaurs!
Sensory Exploration Toys
Sensory exploration is crucial to ensure that your child is at a regulated level of readiness to learn. Check out the toys below for help with sensory regulation!
**Disclaimer: these toys are general ideas to assist with speech and language development. Speech Pathway does not endorse specific brands or these exact toys. Please research what would be best for your child and family.
Upcoming Events
Thank you to everyone who came out to meet Santa and take photos! We love getting to see our families outside of therapy sessions and we hope you love the pictures!
Mark your calendars for all of our upcoming events for 2023!
- February: Charity Drive
- March 4: Zoo Day
- May 6: Movie Day
- June: Piece Walk
- August 6: Open House
Home Activities
Try any of the ideas below to create some holiday winter fun with your kiddo or keep them busy while traveling!
- Make fake snow with just two ingredients! Add in characters, use cookie cutters, and make snowmen with the snow! As you play, talk alongside your child about what you’re creating, what is needed to participate in the activity, and how the snow feels! You can also create a snowman face to talk about small body parts on the face and following simple directions.
- Bake cookies and decorate them! Create one for your child by asking them what they would like on their cookie, then have them ask you questions about what you’d like on yours! Baking cookies is a great way to follow simple directions or to put in ingredients after practicing your child’s target sound.
- Sending a gentle reminder to our families with children who experience feeding aversions. No need to pressure yourself or your child to take a bite, chew and swallow a new food over the holidays. Instead, encouraging your child to have 1 new food on their plate (or touch, smell, lick, or bite the food) during a holiday meal is a perfect way to practice food exposures. Choose to enjoy the mealtime experience with your child rather than using it as a therapy session!
- If your mode of travel is novel to your child, you may consider incorporating a social story into your preparation for travel. A social story is picture scenes or a home-made video with emphasis on a social situation to provide your child with exposure to the scene prior to their experience. This can look like your child going through the motions (practicing going through airport security and boarding a plane (film it); practicing where they will be seated on a long car ride (take pictures or film it); going to a hotel and walking through check in and using the elevator (take pictures or film it); or looking at the website of your destination beforehand!
- Bring activities with you to incorporate language! Water Wow books, puffy stickers, wikki stix, and suction cup toys are all fun options.
- Bring an old calculator and your child can “purchase” items that you find on vacation. The calculator can act as a cash register to talk about all the items and toys you all have from your trip!
- If you’re looking to purchase small new toys, place them in eggs for your child to open each hour. They can request, comment, work on colors, say their target sound 5 times before receiving the egg, and talk about what is inside.
- String Cheerios or Fruit Loops on a pipe cleaner! While working on language through counting, color recognition, big and small, requesting, commenting, and trials of your child’s target sound, you can also get a little work on fine motor skills!
- Write on Post-It notes and have your child stick them around the car or their airplane seat. You can work on target sounds, requesting, or commenting! The clean up is easy and the activity is fun to cover as much area as possible!
Policy and Procedure Reminders
- With cold and flu season upon us, just a reminder that our lobby is closed! If you need to come in before your session to use the restroom or settle your account, please feel free! However, when you arrive for regularly scheduled appointments, please text your clinician that you have arrived and wait in your vehicle until they come to get you for your appointment. We love to give the superstar treatment and escort your child to their session!
- Is your insurance changing in 2023? Please let us know BEFORE your first session of 2023, as you may be responsible for the cost of your therapy session if we are not informed of changes in insurance. Let us know of any changes as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary fees! Please click this link even if your insurance is not changing to confirm your insurance for 2023. Thanks in advance!
- Holidays, sicknesses, family trips, oh my! Have you canceled your sessions lately? Keep in mind our attendance policy requires each patient to maintain 85% attendance each quarter. Following 3 no-call, no-show appointments, unfortunately we can no longer allow your child to be seen in a recurring therapy spot. We also require at least 15 minutes of therapy time for consistent progress, so arriving 10 minutes past your therapy time will result in a cancellation. Let your clinician know as soon as possible if you need to cancel a session, then reschedule!
Speaking of attendance, we’re rolling out an exciting new drawing for clients with great attendance starting in January! Clients who have 100% attendance each month are entered into a drawing for $50 gas card. Clients who have 85% attendance or better for a full quarter (January-March; April-June; July-September; October-December) will be entered in a drawing for $100 gas card!
Upcoming Closures
Have you talked with your therapist yet about your holiday plans? Make sure you do as soon as possible in order to get your reschedules in before the holidays! We will be closed December 26-January 2. Mark your calendars!