“Of course, there is only one Pippa,” said Kari Kidd, the 7-year-old’s mother. “But genetically speaking, she is one in 3 billion. Her difficulties began before she was born. She started therapy in the NICU, and continued at Masonic Children's Hospital when she was 3 months old.
“Among other challenges, Pippa has apraxia; essentially, a disorder that causes her brain to miscommunicate with her speech muscles. She can think and reason perfectly fine. She just has extreme difficulty forming the words she needs to express herself.
“The Mayo Clinic therapist who diagnosed Pippa with apraxia explained she would best benefit from a different kind of speech therapy than she had been receiving. After some digging, I discovered only two clinics in the state of Minnesota that offer it.
“Why did I choose Urban Speech & Occupational Therapy? I can’t really say for sure. Call it ‘going with my gut’ or ‘following my maternal instinct,’ but something in me sensed that Julie Urban and her team would take the greatest care of Pippa.
“As fortune would have it, I’d turn out to be right.”
“Kari and her husband Byron first brought Pippa to us when she was 4 years old,” said Julie. “To be frank, we didn’t know what to expect at the onset. Pippa’s file is complex, and includes diagnoses stemming from her chromosomal variation that we had never encountered before.
“But Pippa is not a collection of diagnoses. She is a beautiful little girl, who is motivated to communicate. I could tell upon meeting her that she just needs the right set of tools to help her speak her mind.”
“Animal noises. The sing-song intonations of a mothering voice. The word ‘uh-oh,’” listed Kari. “Pippa has a stark aversion to these and several other sounds, and won’t hesitate to let you know it. But for every thing Pippa doesn’t like, there are a dozen more she adores. She loves music. She loves her family. She loves safari animals! And I’ve loved watching how Urban Speech & Occupational Therapy incorporates everything that makes Pippa special into her lessons.”
“That goes far beyond singing songs about zebras,” said Julie. “Her parents chose our clinic because it is one of the very few offering Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) therapy, which involves gently guiding the child’s jaw, lips and tongue into the correct positions for clear vocalization. Keeping Pippa engaged and encouraged during that process means always taking her special interests into account. When we do our jobs right, PROMPT doesn’t feel like therapy to her at all. It feels like pure fun.
“That’s something we do for every other child we treat, regardless of their speech or language differences. Our team of seven speech-language pathologists and three occupational therapists are all well versed in Bluey, Ms. Rachel, Minecraft, Spider-Man, and Spongebob. I’m currently working with a little boy who has turned me into one of the world’s foremost authorities on Godzilla. In other words, we know what’s ‘cool’ here at Urban Speech & Occupational Therapy.”
“Julie and Kristina Theodosopoulos, Pippa’s other primary speech-language pathologist, have also done a wonderful job incorporating her other preferred communication methods into therapy,” said Kari. “They fully accommodate my daughter when she is more comfortable using sign language or her augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. And when Pippa discovered a new reading app, they were more than eager to make it a part of her progress. I’ve been truly impressed by their openness to all the ways Pippa has shown she can grow.”
“With a little flexibility and a lot of encouragement, Pippa has come a long way,” said Julie. “When we first welcomed her, she could only make one or two sounds in isolation. Now she independently says ‘mama’ and ‘papa,’ and is mastering sounds that she will eventually form into all kinds of new words. She is also becoming more proficient with her AAC device; a daunting piece of technology at first glance, but one she can now use to piece complex ideas together.
“Although Pippa receives hers elsewhere, we also provide occupational therapy that teaches children the skills they need to play, study, interact with peers, and live their daily lives without assistance. We help kids meet their sensory needs, develop fine and gross motor skills, learn to regulate their emotions, and much more. Our sensory gym, which is indistinguishable from an indoor playground from its appearance alone, has been instrumental in our mission to foster independence.”
“What touches me most is just how greatly Julie and her team have inspired Pippa to try her best,” said Kari. “They have made her super comfortable with her surroundings. They deal with all her frustrations, which are perfectly justifiable given the hardship she’s endured, with tact and affection. And when Pippa has input, they don’t ignore it in the interest of sticking with the program. They listen. They listen to her, and they let her know she has been heard, and they make her understand that her voice matters.
“Pippa still has a long journey ahead, but I know she’ll meet future challenges with the same strength and resilience she shows every day. She has an indomitable spirit, a smile that lights up a room, and a group of great healthcare professionals who care deeply for her happiness and well-being. My husband and I call those people ‘Team Pippa.’ It’s a team we are glad to have Urban Speech & Occupational Therapy be a part of.”
Urban Speech & Occupational Therapy welcomes children of all ages and abilities to their clinic at 6409 City West Parkway, Suite 206 in Eden Prairie. Please visit UrbanSpeechMN.com to learn more, or call (952) 500-8871 to schedule an initial consultation for your child.