THANKSGIVING No. 8

I thought I was going to be late for this year's Thanksgiving post! But I made it before the year ends. I was away for the last two weeks to attend my best friend's wedding and just returned two days ago. It was in Las Vegas, and then I took the opportunity to visit New York during Christmas. Just wanted to see Christmas movies come alive. Hah! 

An amazing experience in New York the week before Christmas - to see the bustling streets and beautiful deco. 

Plus experiencing a cold wave of -14 degrees! Brrrrrr!

And so here are some of the many things I am thankful for in 2022...

BUSINESS

2022 has been a long year at Summer's. We started off with much hope of expanding the company - we were looking for a new location for a bigger center, as well as securing new Speech Therapist hires. A post-pandemic recovery had been forecasted and we were looking at expansion. But God seemed to have other plans - or rather, He protected Summer's for the storm that was coming ahead. Singapore saw several waves of COVID-19 in 2022 and business was affected. Thankfully we did not invest in expanding to a bigger premise, nor did we over hire. So yes, not expanding as projected is the very first thing I am thankful for in 2022. (But we are definitely hiring for 2023! Please send Speech Therapists our way! Fresh graduates welcomed!) 

HEALTH

Since the beginning of 2022, each one of us at Summer's took turns to get COVID-19. The staff members were out for 7-10 days each. The children and their families also got COVID-19, and cancelled several sessions in a row. We were averaging 50% cancellation a month; we were running at a loss. But what I remain thankful for is that all of us made full recovery! And as we end the year in 3 days, we are all well. 

TEAM

This year my work schedule has been quite crazy. I had to supervise new programmes, new collaborations, new assessments, new staff as well as do coverage. I would have gone insane if not for my trusty team - who (1) runs on auto-pilot, (2) makes wise decisions in my 'absence', and most importantly (3) loves and supports one another. Their love and support for one another is the greatest gift in 2022. It is definitely something I value and not take for granted. 

At our Staff Retreat 2022, at Changi Beach Club. 

At our annual Christmas lunch. Guess the theme colour!

SPECIALIST INTERVENTION PROGRAMME

This year we started our Specialist Intervention Programme (SIP), i.e. Speech Therapy-focused intervention programme (both individual and group sessions). And we are blessed with an amazing Early Childhood Interventionist - Jacelyn. She is the perfect person to anchor the programme as she is an aspiring Speech Therapist; she has keen interest in the areas of Speech Therapy. (At this point in writing, Jacelyn has been accepted to the NUS Master of Speech Pathology 2023 intake! Oh yeah! Looking forward to be Speech Therapy colleagues in two years.)


In our speech therapy-focused intervention programmes, a lot of focus is placed on speech therapy goals - speech, language, communication and feeding. 
The programme and its goals are monitored by a licensed Speech Therapist.  
Photo (left): Jacelyn carries out oral motor exercises for one of the kids. 
Photo (right): Creating opportunities for communication using AAC.

Our Specialist Intervention Programme also include group therapy - 
where children learn group skills such as waiting, turn taking, and following group rules and instructions.


We have a Play@Summer's group where the kids learn to play with their peers. 
Photo (left): Learning pretend play; Photo (right): Learning structured games and their rules

I am thankful that the Specialist Intervention Programme has been a great success. The individual session kids benefit from more regular intervention at a more affordable price (see https://summerstherapyservices.blogspot.com/2022/03/besummers-case-study.html). And the group therapy kids benefit from learning language and social skills through learning to play with peers as well as through the use of music (see https://summerstherapyservices.blogspot.com/2022/02/why-specialist-intervention-programme.html). So I am looking forward to more children benefiting from our SIP in 2023!

OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY

I am so happy that I got a chance to attend a specialist workshop on orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT).  40 hours of OMT! 


Since I started as a Speech Therapist about 15 years ago, oral motor therapy (i.e. oral exercises to work on the jaw, lips and tongue for speech and feeding) has always been a large part of my therapy approaches. Many families have also came to me (and Summer's) especially for this therapy approach. Many Speech Therapists do not believe in oral motor therapy due to its lack of research evidence; however they have forgotten that muscle learning theories are! And I have seen great outcomes from this approach. Anyway, OMT is specialised knowledge in oral motor development (see https://www.iaom.com/faq/). With this new knowledge, my eyes are opened. I do not treat speech sound disorders and feeding issues like previous. I look at the client as a whole - structural issues (such as dentition, jaw development, and oral ties) and functional issues (such as tongue placement, oral breathing, and sleep). I believe that this specialised knowledge in OMT will equip me to help more clients. Looking forward to certification in the future!

PROJECTS and OVERSEAS CONSULTATIONS

The last but definitely not least thing I am thankful for is the new projects that we started in 2022 - Pei Chun School, Littlefoot Academy and UNICEF (for Myanmar). We also resumed our overseas consultation projects since the pandemic started. These projects and overseas trips give us a chance to reach out to many more children, families and fellow professionals. They also give my team a variety of work experiences, rather than just the common 1:1 sessions in private settings. Looking forward to more exciting projects and overseas consultation next year. 

To sum it up, 2022 has not been the smoothest, but Summer's made it through with many things to be thankful about nonetheless. With this thankful attitude, we will march on boldly into 2023! See you all there. Thank you for being part of the Summer's journey thus far. 

#summerstherapyservices #specialneeds #speechtherapy #autism #speechdelay #languagedelay #oralmotortherapy #orofacialmyofunctionaltherapy #downsyndrome #cerebralpalsy 

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