The Pediatric Place’s new Autism Center is gradually rising in the parking lot next to its main building on Second Street. But there’s also a lot of changes inside.
“It’s been an eight-year journey in every sense,” said Carmen Rathert.
Carmen, a speech therapist, and Jessi Frencken, a pediatric physical therapist, teamed up in 2015 to open a small office on Ohio Street. In 2018, they moved to the north end of Jefferson Commons on Second Street, which they shared with a coffee shop and rent-to-own business, and in 2021, opened a second therapy center in Knob Noster.
Now, their business, The Pediatric Place, has taken over the entire Jefferson Commons building, plus will move into the Autism Center, currently being built, in 2024. They have already hired one of the center’s key staff members — Lydia Roberson, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy is one of the main ways to work with children who have been diagnosed with autism. Characteristics of autism can include difficulty with social interactions, communication, sensory processing, feeding and play skills, and repetitive behaviors, called stimming, that impact participating in daily activities.
An estimated one in 36 children in the United States has autism, which is four times more likely in boys than girls. It is best diagnosed at age 2, when language and interactive social skills start to appear. The Pediatric Place’s ABA Therapy program serves children 24 months through 9 years of age.
After Lydia runs the insurance providers’ credentialing gamut, she will begin seeing children who have been diagnosed with autism, even before the new center is finished, Carmen said.
“Lydia completes a functional behavior assessment and designs a behavior intervention plan,” Carmen said. “Then she works with Registered Behavioral Techs, who work individually with the child.
“The goal is to teach skills that help them with everyday life.”
The Pediatric Place has been using the south end of the Jefferson Commons building, a former coffee shop, for autism therapy until the center is completed.
Klassen Construction Company, owned by Jeff Klassen of Clinton, is managing the new build as well as renovations, and has a projected completion date of early spring, Carmen said.
When the Autism Center opens in 2024, it will have two preschool classroom settings to prepare children to attend regular preschool. The aims of ABA therapy are to decrease behaviors that are harmful or negatively impact learning, and increase the behaviors that are helpful and positive, Carmen said.
The Pediatric Place is also renovating the interior of the center space of the building, at 210 S. Second, formerly occupied by Rent-to-Own, which was absorbed by National Sales and Rentals, Carmen said. The expansive lobby of Jefferson Commons will be turned into a sitting area for parents waiting for their children receiving therapy, Carmen said.
Plans for the center of the building call for “something different,” Carmen said. The Pediatric Place has been certified by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to offer an alternate placement school for children, Carmen said, which will focus on serving children three years old to nine years, 11 months old. An alternate placement school provides support for children who need more than they can get in the classroom. Special education teacher Sandra Swainston has been hired to teach at the school, Carmen said.
“We’ve had lots of response from school districts,” Carmen said. “There’s no school like this in the area. People have had to drive an hour and a half one way to take their child to a special school.”
The ultimate goal is to help children eventually transition back into their own school district, Carmen said.
Originally a Safeway store, Jefferson Commons is owned by Troy Bohannan of Clinton, who is building the addition. It was once the home of Jim Raysik’s automotive dealership, Carmen said. Troy also owns the The Pediatric Place’s Knob Noster building, she said. The Pediatric Place will complete the interior on the Autism Center in Clinton to meet their needs.
“He’s very supportive of our mission,” Carmen said of their landlord.
Connected to the original building by a covered passageway, the Autism Center will have 12 individual treatment rooms, a 3,000 square-foot gym and outdoor play area for developing motor skills, a kitchen for feeding and swallowing therapies, and a conference room for parent support groups and training, plus the two preschool classroom settings.
The Pediatric Place now has 53 employees, up from 43 last January, and are still looking for a director for the Autism Center. They continue to look for qualified, passionate occupational, physical and speech-language pathologists, Carmen said, as well as assistants, to provide services for the children of Clinton and surrounding communities.
“We also need more licensed professional counselors and licensed clinical social workers to serve the mental health needs of our pediatric population,” Carmen said.
The Pediatric Place also hires Registered Behavioral Techs, high school graduates who complete a 40-hour course, which can be taken online, Carmen said. The Pediatric Place’s community outreach coordinator was at a career fair last week to inform Clinton High School students about career opportunities in pediatric therapy, Carmen said.
The Pediatric Places will continue to expand in response to needs of communities, Carmen said. Before they started the business in Clinton, families had no choice for pediatric therapy between Columbia and Kansas City, she said. SShe and Jessi continue to monitor where families they serve are driving from, she said, and have received requests for therapy services for children from Sedalia and Warsaw.
“Our goal is to help more children and their families find the services they need close to home,” Carmen said. “Pediatric therapy is so needed.
“We could go anywhere.”
