CPT celebrates 5 years of laughing, learning, playing

In July of 2006, three Lafourche natives opened the first and only outpatient pediatric therapy clinic in their hometown, much to the delight of many local parents and children.

The facility, which is owned and operated by Michele Bower, Heather Teske and Ashley Waguespack, was a welcomed addition to the Tri-parish region, one that seemed to satisfy a need in the area, according to Waguespack.

“We all had the same goal to help the children and the families in this area,” the occupational therapist said. “The closest practices that are similar to ours are in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette, so parents were having to go a long distance.”

Aptly named The Center for Pediatric Therapy, or CPT for short, the clinic provides physical, speech and occupational therapy for children from birth to adolescence.

Children with a disorder of the musculoskeletal system often benefit from physical therapy, which helps with everyday movements and gross motor skills, while speech-language therapy assists children with speech, language, cognitive, voice and swallowing disorders. It focuses not only on how to make sounds, but also on the actual comprehension of language itself, as well as the social component, such as making eye contact.

Occupational therapy helps children develop fine motor skills and focuses on the “occupations” of childhood, which change with age.

“A 2-year-old’s occupations are to be able to play, to be able to feed themselves … so we do a lot of feeding and play with that age. As they get older and they go to school, their occupations change. They have to be able to sit in a desk and attend and focus. They have to write. So their occupations change as they get older,” explained Waguespack.

According to the owners, children aren’t the only ones who benefit from the CPT therapy sessions.

“It’s very therapeutic for parents,” exclaimed Teske, who is also an occupational therapist.

“Just having a waiting room is so therapeutic for the parents, especially when it’s a group of kids who all have social skill issues. All the moms look at each other and go ‘Oh, so your kid does that too? OK.’ … It’s been a big networking thing for the parents and I think that has developed over the years,” added Bower, who practices physical therapy.

In addition to offering individual therapy, CPT also performs group therapy sessions, including handwriting groups, fitness groups, a new mom and tot group, and even a summer camp, which was offered for the first time this year.

“Anything to where they can have that social interaction while we are doing therapy is beneficial,” said Bower.

Regardless of whether a child attends an individual or group session, fun is a critical part of his or her therapy, according to all three owners.

Just one look at CPT’s motto, “Every child deserves to Laugh, Learn and Play,” and the multi-room, state-of-the-art facility, which is bursting with swings, climbing equipment, toys, a ball pit, zip line and more, and it is easy to see that structured fun is at the forefront of all the clinic does.

“That’s our objective. As kids are learning, play has to be the center of their therapy sessions,” explained Waguespack. “They are more engaged. If we are fighting them tooth and nail through every step of the way, they are not at their optimal functioning point and they are not going to reach their potential. So if they are playing that is what kids are supposed to be doing. … If anything they are fussing to leave.”

“I think what is so rewarding is that this is a fun place for kids to come and so it’s very rare that we have a child that doesn’t want to be here,” said Teske.

“I think that there is only one child right now who cries when he is coming back, and it’s not because he is coming to therapy, it’s because he is leaving his mom,” added Bower. “All the rest of the kids are banging on the door to get in and that’s a very positive thing. The kids want to come to therapy and they want to come play and they don’t even realize what it is.”

In just five years after the first ball was thrown, swing was swung and lesson was learned, CPT has grown immensely.

The clinic currently employs four occupational, three speech and two physical therapists, as well as two support staff, and can see approximately 80 patients a day, according to Waguespack. This is an increase from the original four employees and roughly 30 daily clients seen when CPT first opened.

In January of 2009, the clinic moved from its small rental office on Ridgefield Road to its current location at 270 Highway 3185, which is more than twice the size of the original facility.

According to Bower, in the last few years, technological advancements have also been an important part of the entire CPT operation and how some children receive therapy and even function on a day-to-day basis.

“We try to stay up to date with the latest interventions and technology and a lot of them are fun. Like the Wii has been very well researched, so we use things like that,” she said, adding that augmentative communication, for those who are unable to use verbal speech, has been made easier and more accessible thanks to the iPad and iTouch.

“If you wanted augmentative communication for a child five years ago, you had to get a $10,000 piece of equipment. Now you can buy an iPad for a one year old and have a $200 app on it, where they can touch it and they can speak. That’s a huge change that’s made it more into the homes of the kids,” the therapist said. “Technology has really been important.”

CPT also offers some adjunct therapies that involve technology, such as Earobics, which is a computer-based program sometimes used in speech therapy, and Interactive Metronome, a neuro-motor therapy that can help children with attention, timing and coordination issues.

For parents who are unsure as to whether their child would benefit from speech, physical or occupational therapy, the clinic currently offers free, in-office screenings.

“Anybody is welcome if they are interested in a screen just to call and schedule. We’ll make it happen,” said Waguespack.

Early detection is extremely important, according to the trio, so it is critical to get the child checked out and not wait.

“Early intervention is huge … huge,” Teske emphasized.

CPT therapists not only service patients at the clinic, they also go directly to children’s schools and homes to work with them.

“We see kids here in the clinic and at their homes. We are also providers for Early Steps, the state’s early intervention program, so we go into the homes of children birth to three,” explained Waguespack, adding that recently, CPT was given permission by the superintendent for the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese to go into the Catholic schools to provide services.

“We are trying our best to get out wherever we can,” she said.

As far as what the future may hold for CPT, the owners say they are always throwing around ideas, but are very happy with where things are presently.

“We talk about it all the time. We talk about expanding … I think for now we are in a holding pattern. We’ve talked about offering more aquatic therapy … we’ve talked about trying to make some arrangement for Hippotherapy (horseback therapy) in this area,” said Bower.

“We’ve talked about looking into a different area and opening another location,” said Teske. “But we just want to enjoy what we have and what we’ve built because we have grown so fast. We’ve grown way more than I think any of us imagined we would have at this point right now within the five years.”

“We all feel blessed with what we have,” added Waguespack.

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• Á‡b ð¿øjbjb– $h”h”ø ˆ…….d¬¬¬¬¸dmø——–äææææææ,eR·¬.—–ä..–‘äää- .-.-ääBV….-äää..äÄÄGh ¬/ ää=0mäcäcää.dd$ˆ$ddˆThe Center for Pediatric Therapy offers clinical education opportunities to local graduate students. Owner Michele Bower said CPT started this to try to prevent therapists from leaving the area after graduation. ALYSON SHOWALTER