When Our House started planning the new Children’s
Center, one of the biggest priorities was including a
Therapy Room. It’s a small room that doesn’t get much
attention from visitors, but some people would say it’s
the most important room in the building.
Going into day cares for therapy, Speech Language
Pathologist Curtis Chatham and his Pro-Kids Therapy
staff are used to working in the corners of busy classrooms,
hallways, and staff break rooms. At one day care, Curtis
had to work with kids in a pantry, using a large food box
as a table, because there was no other available space.
At Our House, speech and occupational therapists spent
years working with kids in the kitchen of our Education
Building. Since the kitchen was also the location of the
only restrooms in the building that the youth programs
shared with the Learning Center, it was a busy place. “In
the kitchen we were competing with people walking in and
out, we were competing with people walking to the bathroom, we were competing with somebody cooking. There
were all these distractions for the kids.”
When Curtis heard that the plan for the new building
included a Therapy Room, he thought, “are you kidding
me?! That’s a dream come true!” Our House asked Curtis
to recommend furniture and décor for the room, and the
result was very simple with no distractions.
The finished room is exactly what therapists like Curtis
need. “It’s quiet. The kids can concentrate. It’s peaceful,”
he says. “They learn more, they hear more, they process
better because they’re not competing with all these outside
noises and distractions. … The kid has less to focus on.
He can just focus on the therapy.”