HELPING ALL CHILDREN + FAMILIES LIVE THEIR BEST LIFE THROUGH COMPASSIONATE CARE
BY MICHAEL ELLIS
Being a mother of three and living in a neighborhood that is full of families with children under the age of 18, Abound Children’s Therapy has come up in conversation on more than one occasion. We’ve known, owner Deb for a while but had the opportunity to meet with Terra Scott, owner of Milestone Pediatric Therapy, of whom they recently merged.
Abound Children’s Therapy has been a center of healing and growth for many families over the past thirteen years. Can you give us some insight into the overall mission of Abound?
We’ve created a private practice full of dedicated professionals with the common goal and mission of striving to provide exceptional and comprehensive services for the families we work with. We take pride in our team of highly skilled therapists who have advanced training in specialty areas like feeding, sensory processing, emotional and behavioral regulation, gross and fine motor skills, autism, social skills, apraxia, augmentative communication, and language-based learning disabilities (dyslexia, handwriting, reading comprehension, written expression). Over the years we’ve enjoyed close collaboration with many private schools in and around the Denver area and also work with many public schools to supplement school-based services. We work closely with parents, educators, pediatricians, psychologists, and other professionals to provide a comprehensive and holistic approach to ensure positive outcomes for the children and families we work with. Bottom line, our passion has always been for helping children and families! It makes our hearts happy to see children making progress and parents happy with their child’s achievements!
Abound recently merged with Milestone Pediatric Therapy Services. Can you tell us how this new partnership will help you grow your services?
Just prior to COVID, Deb Fenton, owner of Abound Children’s Therapy, and I, were introduced via email by a mutual acquaintance, an OT and business consultant from New York. Deb and I planned to meet up for coffee to swap stories related to owning and operating a pediatric outpatient therapy practice. We were surprised that we had both been practicing in the Denver area for a long time and our paths had never crossed. Our mutual acquaintance thought we had good synergies. We ended up talking for at least 5 hours, so I’d say she was right. Deb and I hit it off. It was a crazy time! We both had closed the doors to our practices and were providing teletherapy sessions only. Deb told me that she was at a point in her life where she wanted to step away from the practice and spend more time with her family. It was important to Deb to pass along the company she’d built to someone who would take care of her clients and also her therapists. It was also appealing to her to have a local practice owner take over versus a large national company. She has been dedicated to her profession and her company just like me. I can’t imagine not having Deb involved, so I’m happy to say that she has agreed to stay on as a consultant and trainer. We’re excited to continue to offer the same great services and more. We’ve kept all of the same therapists, as they make a great addition to our already fabulous team. We have added physical therapy, along with more alternative programming, such as; Strider Bike Camp, Music Group, Playgroup, Handwriting Group, Life Skills Group for Teens, Yoga, Dance/Gymnastics, Aquatic Therapy, and Early Intervention services. We’re now able to bill all major insurance companies and we are in network with Anthem, United, Cigna, Tricare, Medicaid, Kaiser, and CHP+. We just completed our large gym expansion and we will continue to build upon the great relationships with families and community partners that both Deb and I have worked so hard to form. We want to continue to be a resource in the community that families of children needing services can depend on. We also have the two locations in order to serve a broader demographic area.
Families come to Abound for an array of therapies, namely, speech, occupational, reading/dyslexia, feeding and Autism Spectrum disorders. It’s so important to recognize these needs at an early stage. Can you explain what parents should look for if they question whether or not their child may need therapy outside of the capacity of everyday school?
We encourage parents of children ages 0-3 to always speak to their pediatrician about their concerns regarding their child’s development. Parents can contact their local community centered board in their county to request a free evaluation to see if their child could possibly qualify for Early Intervention Services. We have contracts to provide Occupational, Physical and Speech Therapy through these community centered boards. In Denver the community centered board is Rocky Mountain Human Services. If these children qualify for services, they would get them virtually right now due to COVID, but prior to COVID, these services were provided in the home and community in the child’s natural environment during their daily routines. For children ages 3-5 years old, parents can contact their local Child Find through their school district to request a free evaluation. If these children qualify for services, they could get them in school. We offer a $20, 30 minute comprehensive screening for your child, if you are concerned about any area of development. We can do these for children of all ages (0-21) The $20 fee will be applied to a full evaluation if the therapist doing the screening recommends a more specific evaluation with a speech, occupational or physical therapist. It is very important to make sure your child is meeting milestones and keeping up with their peers. We want to help parents give all children the best possible start in life! Often when a child enters elementary and middle school it becomes more apparent that some need extra help and/or they are falling behind their peers. Occupational, Speech and Physical Therapy is offered through schools, but the criteria for qualifying is different than in the outpatient clinic setting. Schools focus on helping the child to benefit from their education, but they don’t necessarily look at the whole child and family to help improve the overall quality of life. A child may be delayed in expressive or receptive language and not qualify for speech therapy in school if it’s not proven that the speech and language impairment has an adverse effect on their school performance. It would be detrimental to a child if they didn’t qualify for services in school but always felt like they were behind other kids. It never hurts to seek out a private outpatient evaluation, whether the concern is regarding reading, handwriting, coordination and stamina, or speech and language. It is important for children to maintain healthy self esteem.
As parents enter the unknown of a new school year with so many questions about in-person and at-home learning, what advice can you give, especially for the parents of children with distinct needs?
It is important to look at the individual needs of each of your children. Your family’s health and well-being are the first priority, especially during COVID, when parents are taking on more than ever as far as juggling multiple kids at home with different needs and learning styles, juggling careers, and trying to maintain their own health and wellness. I advise every parent to pat themselves on the back and I want them to know that we’re all in this together and we’re all doing the best we can. We are here to help in any way we can. Talking to your OT, PT or Speech Therapist about home strategies is crucial now, more than ever, since we are all much more couped up in our homes. It is important to have family time and just take time to enjoy being together, even in these trying times. We are here to help you prioritize your child’s needs as well as to give you strategies to help your child at home. We also do individual feeding therapy both in person and virtually. My advice would be to take it one step at a time.
We need Abound now more than ever, as families try to navigate how to not only center the education of their children but also juggle work and overall stresses of everyday life. What events do you host to families and children looking to step outside of their everyday routines?
We’ve always offered social skills groups, and we’re excited to start offering small social skills groups again. Pre-covid, we offered many alternative programs and had great success offering dance/gymnastics on the weekends. We plan to return to that, when the risk of COVID goes down. For now, we feel the best way to support families trying to navigate their children’s education is to offer Therapist Guided Academic Support. In addition to our regular therapies, we offer tutoring with a therapeutic focus. For example, an OT could help a child to complete school assignments with a hidden focus on typing, pencil grip, stamina, handwriting, etc. A speech therapist could help children to complete school assignments while working on reading, grammar, fluency, comprehension, etc. We’re set up to offer academic support both virtually and in person.
We are grateful to have such a caring and receptive practice in our neighborhood for families seeking additional help. For more information visit aboundchildrenstherapy.com.