February 27, 2025 • 57 mins
Urgent: Achievement Center for Therapy Faces Closure – Needs Help NOW!
Shawn Manvell, founder of three therapy centers, is on the brink of shutting down because Tricare, military insurance, has not paid since January 1. The center has transformed lives—helping autistic children find their voice and get off communication devices, preventing feeding tubes, and providing essential therapy for the children of military families. But they are trapped—stopping services means abandoning care, yet they cannot continue without urgent support. Please listen to their story and help keep their doors open! Act now to save this vital resource for military children.
We need the attention of anyone who can donate or a philanthropist who is able to help them keep their doors open. This is imminent.
Their GoFundMe is available at Achievement Center for Therapy
You can call them at (805) 383-1497,
Email is shawn@achievementcenterfortherapy.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne.
I am Anne and today we haveShawn Menvel on.
She is the founder ofAchievement Center for Therapy
in California and Las Vegas.
From what I understand, youknow I really personally, you
know this meant a lot to me foryou to even reach out and want
(00:29):
to be on, because, with havingthree kids with disabilities and
autism and you know, it reallyhit home for me what exactly you
guys do.
But I would love for you totell our listeners what exactly
the Achievement Center forTherapy is.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Great Thank you, and thank you for having me on this
is a real pleasure and honor tobe on here.
So thank you.
Achievement Center for Therapyis a pediatric feeding therapy
center and it started as one inCamarillo, california, and
that's in Ventura County.
I started as one in Camarillo,california, and that's in
Ventura County.
That's my headquarters, andthen added on Las Vegas, nevada,
(01:09):
and the reason why is who Iserve are military families
predominantly, and from doing mywork I kept getting recruited,
if you will, from a doctor onNellis Air Force Base to keep
(01:29):
coming out to assist with somequestions that they had about
pediatric feeding, which is myspecialty.
So I kept going out to Nellis,to the Air Force Base, and then
they said, well, why don't youjust start a practice here?
You're here an awful lot, and Ithought you know what?
That's not a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So I Did you talk more about what the feeding
therapy is, because I'm not evenaware of what that is.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh yeah, so pediatric feeding therapy is actually
what looks like for a lot ofpeople, including, sadly, our
pediatricians.
A lot of times I go and I wasteaching them the differences
because there's kind of a fineline between the two.
So a lot of times they getdismissed as they're a picky
eater but it's not necessarilypicky eating when it crosses a
(02:09):
certain threshold.
So my job and mission was thatI would teach doctors, school
psychologists, psychologists,nurses, everyone what that
difference really is and what itlooks like.
All right, so that's how yougot started, I got started, and
then I added one last locationjust recently, in the last three
(02:30):
years, which is in San Diego,again catering to my military.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
But you do a lot more than that.
I mean, from what I understand,there's speech therapy and
occupational therapy and ABA,advanced intensive therapy and
independent education evaluation, you know.
I mean you have a list ofthings that you do, so somehow
along the line, you just kind ofkept expanding.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I did right so as a speech language pathologist
myself and I was an expertwitness for doing helping
families with IEEs, which is theIEP.
If you, um don't agree withthat, that would go get that
level.
So, um, I do that as well.
And then I'm also um thepediatric feeding specialist and
(03:18):
and I think that came from justloving giving a voice to, um,
children and people but then Istarted realizing I'm like, well
, wait a minute, if you don'thave your health or your
nutrition, you don't have yourhealth, and then those other
things are just going to be abigger challenge.
We're going to be kind of likespinning our wheels.
So I just I really got intopediatric feeding so that I just
(03:39):
overall get to help the entirebody and kids flourish with
their development.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, on your website you do talk about reaching
helping each child reach theirfull developmental potential for
communication and enabling themto increase their independence
and everyday activities,increase interaction and
participation with theirfamilies and improve the overall
quality of their lives.
I just want to quickly say thatyou know, we had people come
into our home when my littleswere really little and my
(04:13):
four-year-old was nonverbal whenI adopted him made by having
all these tools and people inour lives early in order to help
them reach what I considertheir full potential right now.
You know we've worked reallyhard, so what you're doing is
(04:36):
really incredible and I reallywould encourage all of our
listeners to.
You know, for a program likethis, it is so important to get
kids that are havingdifficulties communicate their
needs and their wants.
I mean things that are justbasic things.
It's so important for us tounderstand.
I mean, I've got kids, my kids,especially my one.
(04:57):
I mean he still, when he getssick, it's really like you know
what is exactly wrong with youand we don't know what is
exactly wrong with him.
So we really have to, you know,try to use the language and try
to learn their language and tryto get them to learn how to
communicate with us Exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah it's, there's a lot to it.
And then there's that hierarchythat we as the speech
pathologists see, that we wantto try to go make happen and
that's our specialty where wecome in.
But then we also have to havethat bond with the child so that
then they even trust you andthen can start basically their
(05:52):
healing process and theirrehabilitation.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's everything.
I mean trust is everything.
So I mean you have a process,I'm sure, of start to finish, of
how you get introduced to thechild, to where you get them, to
where they need to be, whereyou can, because my one son, I
kept taking him to differenttherapies.
It just wasn't working.
I mean there was nothing thatwas connecting with him.
(06:17):
So getting that connection, Iwould think that very initial
connection is really important.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, the rapport building is definitely where we
have to start with everybody andit's essential to get that
piece.
And then some it's on anindividual basis, so some kids
might take to a therapist alittle bit easier and quicker
and then sometimes it takes thema little bit longer.
But, like to your point,there's sometimes where it just
isn't going to happen.
There's just a barrier.
(06:45):
You know whether it's personalneeds or something, maybe just a
comfort or that trust like youmentioned.
And that's where, knowing thatand recognizing it and my
expansion of not just having onetherapy center, that's where
all this teletherapy has come inand doing masterpieces and
stuff like that.
Because our outreach has to bebigger.
(07:07):
Because what if you are remoteand you only have one person in
town to choose from and youtried it and it just didn't work
out.
So this opens up the doors sothat people in remote areas and
all over can actually go getexceptional care that works for
them and their child.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What is the age range that you work with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Directly one-on-one.
We can work with babies rightout of a NICU because we are
pediatric feeding specialists.
So that's happened multipletimes that you know the parents
need support after leaving thehospital, because that's a big,
scary step right.
You have this whole team ofpeople at that hospital and then
you go home and it's just youand your spouse.
Then we work up to aboutpre-teens and that's because we
(07:54):
work with a lot of children withautism and those social skills
are really creating a barrier.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So we find that that age range is when it's really
essential to go after socialskills critical to get them when
(08:21):
they're as young as possible.
Those younger years areabsolutely key.
So when you get a child andyou've made the connection
you've got, you're going now.
I mean, what are some of thethings that you might do with a
child to help them get tobecoming their best self?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
A lot of it is a systematic approach or it's a
systematic desensitization.
So a lot of times I think thesecret to what differs from us
being the speech languagepathologist and expert and then
parents, because a lot of timesparents come in and be like I
tried that I can't believethat's what you're doing and
it's working for you.
(09:01):
But the subtle little thingthat's missing and not everyone
catches it, is that we know ifyou're performing here, we just
got to make sure that the childis performing just below here
when we ask them to do things.
Because if we ask too high of alevel, which is a lot of times,
what's happening with theparents?
Because they're not speechlanguage pathologists, they
don't know that order, thedevelopmental hierarchy, that
(09:25):
sometimes you come in justslightly too high and then the
child won't perform for you.
So then we can identify that webring them down to a level
where they're very comfortableand that they're functioning at
successfully.
And then from there, once wegot that trust and the rapport,
we start building on that littlebit by little bit and we just
(09:45):
keep adding to their abilitylevel.
And there's different parts oflanguage too, right.
So there's the articulation ofit, the phonology of it
semantics in your vocabulary, sowe just start building it up
systematically.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, so how often do you have kids come in?
Can it be weekly?
Can it be, you know, a coupletimes a?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
week.
You know what should parentsexpect when they come to your
centers?
So I have demanded, when wehave our families, come in with
insurances, because you have tocontract with insurance.
So I had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this right
contract with insurance.
So I had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this right.
And I stick to it because I'velearned over my 25 years that if
you do only come in once a week, that then if that child is
(10:38):
sick and we're talking aboutlittle children forming a new
habit, and I know as an adult ifI only do something once a week
and maybe skip a week, it makesit really difficult, yeah
absolutely.
So if we're asking these littlekiddos to do it too, it just
makes it such a struggle.
So that thing that I fought forwas a minimum of two times a
week, Because in the event thatthey make once, you still can
come in and get that you knowtherapy session at least for
(11:00):
once a week, instead of thetwice.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So how long have you been doing this in these
particular centers?
How many years did you say?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I've been having private practices since for 13
years.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Okay, so do you have any great success stories?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I do.
I have children who I meet whoare on the spectrum I think are
my most profound, that stick inmy mind because me not speaking
and not eating, and so then kindof just take it all in from the
parent's wishlist again, right,and you want to just try to
advocate and push as hard as youcan and go as fast as you can,
(11:38):
but that's not going to help thechild, right.
So it's tough.
You got to sit back and letthings process and play out.
But to get to go see a childwho is nonverbal on a
communication device and thenget to see that then now they're
a verbal speaker, oh wow, ohyeah, that's a big moment for a
(11:58):
parent, right.
And then taking them and knowingthat they're on the verge of
with a doctor's order sayingthat they only have 30 days.
I have 30 days my team and I toget a child to start gaining
one pound, and it doesn't soundlike it would be hard to do.
But when you have a childthat's a picky eater, has a
pediatric feeding disorder anddiagnosed correctly for a long
(12:22):
time, that's a pretty bigchallenge.
And diagnosed correctly for along time, that's a pretty big
challenge.
And especially if you have acommunication delay or disorder
with it, you can't do your bestto explain and know if they're
understanding.
So I would say that those areprobably my best stories ever is
when I get to go meet that30-day deadline and be like we
didn't gain one pound, we gainedtwo, we're on the way to
(12:43):
recovery, we won't need yourfeeding too.
But thanks, doc.
So that makes me excited,because that's a parental right
is to make your child feelhealthy and safe right.
And if you feel that now youcan't do that because you have a
medical professional tellingyou in a roundabout way that you
failed here, you know youcouldn't feed your kid, and why
(13:03):
is that?
Well, I don't get into theparent shaming, I just want to
come and fix the problem and Iget a lot of passion and joy out
of doing just that.
So those are probably my top.
When you get to get a kid offof a communication device that
otherwise wasn't having a voiceand now their parent can hear
(13:24):
them.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
So I hear the passion with you.
I mean this really means a lotto you.
You can tell Well, can?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I just ask, how did you get into this?
I mean, why did you go in thisdirection?
I have a younger brother, mybrothers I have an older brother
and a younger brother, so I'm amiddle child and my younger
brother was a delayed talker andso with that four years between
us, I was just like, oh my gosh, and I was watching my parents
like really be upset by it.
So I would just try everymoment I had to even pitch in to
(13:59):
be like, okay, say it like this, or let's try to do this.
So I got to say my career,probably unofficially, but
started at the age of six tryingto get my brother to talk and I
, yeah, and I just kept goingwith it and then, and then what
was that?
After he would start talking andthat got better, I would see
that my parents were juststruggling because he had a
(14:21):
learning disability and theywere trying to go to the schools
and go through the motions ofthe IEPs.
But you got to think this wasmany, many years ago, right?
So to see those struggles, thenI was just like you know what
this just seems like a good fitfor me.
I love it and I can really beimpactful and make a difference,
and so I got to experience itfrom the school level.
(14:42):
I've worked in the schoolenvironment.
Then I just knew that I lovemedical.
But I couldn't do enoughmedical and I felt like I wasn't
doing enough of what I gottaught to do.
So I love the schools andthat's how I formed the private
practice.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
That is so amazing that you started that young and
you took your passion trying tohelp your brother when you were
so little and you took it into apassion.
I mean, I have so many thingsin my life.
It's a stepping stone.
Everything is getting us towhere we are in life.
You know, I mean that's what Ialways say and there's a reason
(15:19):
for everything, and we justreally don't even know where
we're going to end up.
But I mean that is just soamazing that you took those
skills and then you fed thatpassion and you ended up getting
a master's degree in this andnow you actually are this
founder of this, thesefacilities.
But you have an issue right now.
(15:40):
You could lose it Right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, so I did cater to the military at all three of
my practices.
So I am a widow after myhusband passed away.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Thank you.
So it was when our daughter wastwo years old.
So I really devoted myself tojust make it happen so that, as
a single mom raising ourdaughter, that I can make sure I
never missed a beat with herschooling, field trips, and I
wanted to be at that classroommom.
So I knew too I couldn't workfor anybody and go attend all
(16:16):
that stuff.
It'd just be impossible, right,or I'd be unemployed.
So, with starting my ownpractices, it was really really
important to me.
But also the other part, thatwhy I catered to where I was and
where I landed, which is inCamarillo, california, there's
military bases and I'm amilitary, such a nice upbringing
(16:45):
from a military career that hehad of 30 years, and so I just
felt very comfortable and it wasmy weird way, if you will, of
serving our country because Iwasn't in the military, but I
got to give back because I gotto serve all these families and
they have a lot of challengesbecause a lot of times they're
like a single mom or singleparent too, because they're
deployed right.
So I really kind of relate in aweird way Like I get it, you're
on your own too, I am, I getyou and let's get through this
(17:08):
together.
But the other challenge is isthat the military families are
usually at only one place forabout three years, but by the
time they find their therapistand get settled, sometimes they
have less than two years, oraround two years, to go get
something fixed.
And that's a challenge, becausesome of these things take time,
and so I set up my practicesall by these military bases
(17:32):
because I just love serving them.
But that problem that you'readdressing or talking about is
that it's a real big one is thatour military has transitioned
over to another healthcaremanagement company to guide and
run them as of January 1st 2025.
(17:54):
And as a result I know it takesa lot to go get everything
operating.
I couldn't even imagine whatthey have on their plate to go
do, but it's resulted in usmedical providers not getting
paid since January 1st 2025.
Oh my gosh.
And with three locations andstaff like therapists are not
(18:15):
minimum wage workers, you know.
On the average they're like 60to $75 an hour.
So, and then the problem withhealthcare insurance that a lot
of people don't know orunderstand is that they could
say well, sean, why don't youjust close your doors or lay
some people off?
Well, you can't, you're notallowed by your contract to go
(18:36):
not see and treat patients,because then it falls under
patient abandonment, okay, andtreat patients, because then it
falls under patient abandonment,okay.
And we're still expected to seeand treat everyone as we have
been, but we're not getting paid.
So how?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
yeah, I mean, you can't operate like this,
obviously you can't.
You can't keep the doors open,you can't even keep the lights
on.
I mean, yeah, I mean, so Ireally don't even know.
For one thing, let me go backto the insurance aspect, because
I really don't know that muchabout insurances.
My kids fortunately if, unlessthings change I'm not really
(19:13):
sure, but you know with adoptionand their disabilities and
everything that came with themalso came Medicaid.
So I do know that withinsurances, if something changes
because all of a sudden ourdentist no longer took straight
Medicaid or you know there was aBuckeye change or whatever, and
they're like, sorry, now youhave to pay cash or whatever,
(19:35):
because now we no longer acceptthat.
So sometimes I mean,fortunately for me, I can just
change.
When it's open enrollment, Ican change to another Medicaid
provider.
I don't know what happens inyour case.
I mean, what happens if theentire insurance just doesn't
(19:56):
accept it anymore?
I mean, can you end up tryingto become a provider for that
insurance that they do acceptnow?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
learning in life, life's lessons.
I was so happy and contentserving them, never thinking in
a million years something likethis could happen.
I've been ranked on TRICARE'swebsite as being an exceptional
provider for many years, but ithappened to all of us, right?
So it's this transition processthat they had to go through,
and what I had to do is quicklybuckle down and go get what's
called a credentialingspecialist to go start getting
(20:47):
us on other insurances, so thatthen I'm not dependent per se.
But that does.
It's part of my passion, andmission has always been to help
these families, because I feellike if they're overseas and
they're fighting for us andthey're helping our country, the
last thing they need to do isto hear from their spouse or
(21:07):
loved one that they got anotherfight to come back to, that
their child isn't getting thehealth care that they need, and
it might be a stretch.
And I also say in my ownpersonal opinion, after doing
this for almost 10 years withmilitary insurance, that I feel
like it could be considered anational security concern or
(21:29):
threat, and what I mean by thatis and you can speak to it too,
as a parent that if you were tolose your services that you're
providing to your child and weknow that they love structure
and routine, and I close mydoors.
And now there's three differentcities that don't have services
that I was providing to thesefamilies.
(21:49):
That's all.
Those families are going tojust be kind of unraveling a
little bit.
The behaviors are going to comeback, the trips to the ER
because they do have somebehaviors that then get pretty
rough and tough, you know,hanging on a wall or a floor, or
you know they get themselvesinto harm's way because they're
(22:11):
not regulated, they're not doingas well as they normally could
or usually do.
So then that military memberhas that on their plate,
wondering how is their spouse orhow are their kids doing
without therapy in play?
now and they're getting greatstories right, or even if
they're not deployed yet,they're at home and they're
having sleepless nights nowbecause their child can't sleep.
(22:35):
It's wreaking havoc in theirwhole household because their
child is struggling.
And this is all because there'sno continuity in care, because
if people like me have to closeour doors and it is happening
all over you can read about iton social media all over the
place there's threads afterthreads of you know TRICARE
(22:56):
isn't paying and it's not.
I'm not blaming anyone, it'sjust the process that's happened
and occurred and it's superunfortunate that it's taking
such a long time.
But I just got to say to myparents and to everybody out
there and to other providersthat I hope everybody can hang
in there along with myself tokeep everything going, Because
(23:17):
the saddest shame is, if youcan't make it in that window of
time, that they we don't knowwhen we're going to get paid
still If you can't stay open,then all these families suffer,
but not just the familiesthemselves.
Like I said, it becomes then,in my opinion, a national
security threat or concern, Didyou?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
guys have any heads up.
Did you have any?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
No, not at all.
That would have been nice, butwe knew that there was.
Because the country is dividedin two.
It's called Tricare East forthe East Coast and Tricare West
for the West Coast.
However, I got to say TricareWest is far bigger and covers
more area of our country thanTri-East and they have different
management companies that runthem.
(24:02):
For the East Coast they have acompany called Humana and then
on Tri-West, we have on TricareWest we have Tri-West now, and
so we knew that the big date wasgoing to happen on January 1st,
that they officially take over.
But we were also told, don'tworry, in 2024, this is their
blended year.
So we thought like, okay,they're working on it behind the
(24:23):
scenes Like they're a bigcompany.
This was a $65.1 billioncontract.
I'm sure they've got fabulousteams ready to go, but
technology is technology anddatabases and people Like
there's a lot ofunpredictability and when they
took it over, what we're gettingback from them is just that
(24:44):
there's glitches in the computersystem and there's this problem
and there's that problem, andso we just got to ride it out.
But we didn't know that thiswas going to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
No one could have been prepared for it for this,
like they don't see them beingable to transition, transition
and be able to pay you at anypoint or have back pay or
anything there's.
No, they don't see thathappening.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They don't know when and when we call.
It's just really frustratedstaff on their end because some
of us are getting a littleheated, because this is a
situation.
It's critical.
I've been in business, this ismy livelihood, this is what I've
done for my career, and it'sunder threat.
So sometimes you know the otherproviders probably can be
(25:31):
heated too, and you know youdon't want to take it out on the
person that's trying to helpyou at the insurance.
They don't know themselves theperson answering the phone.
So they've even confessed likeyou know, we're quitting, like
we can't take it.
So then we know that they'relosing staff, they're losing
providers.
What's going to happen here'sthe result Already, and you
(25:53):
might be able to speak to it toois that there's already a
shortage of all of us that cando this level of help for this
population of children withspecial needs.
Um, and there's, uh, there's,you know, a broad, a broad
region of, like what thatencompasses.
There's, you know, um, downsyndrome, there's autism,
(26:15):
there's just neurotypical kidswho you know have a stuttering
or fluency disorder.
There's just a wide spectrum ofit.
All right, but what's going tohappen is when more people close
their doors, then the waitinglist that already exists, that
nobody's supposed to have, isjust going to keep growing and
growing, and then there'sregression.
(26:38):
That's the other shame of it.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It doesn't work.
Oh my gosh, regression happensso quickly.
I mean it can.
Like you said earlier, it canhappen in a week.
I mean.
So that's why you want to gotwo times a week.
I mean it really does happenthat fast.
I know with my three.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, when I worked in public schools as a speech
therapist and that's how Istarted my career I got to do
regression statements and we didthem literally over a holiday
break to just go see if thechild's not present for just the
holiday break how muchretention there is.
And let me tell you we foundthat there was a lot.
So that's why those regressionstatements had to be done,
(27:16):
because they knew that it was athing and I just can't.
It's disheartening, it's reallyupsetting to know how much I've
given.
In my team I employ over 35people.
They're fabulous, they're justamazingly talented people.
We all have our own camaraderietogether and to dismantle that
(27:38):
or put it on pause is just acrying shame.
You know, I'm hopeful that Ican even find funding so that
then I can keep my doors open tokeep serving the military
families and, while doing that,diversifying to get on those
other insurance panels as muchas we can, as quickly as we can,
to help them.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And until that happens, what do you?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
need.
We need coverage for operationexpenses, whether it's a capital
investor that can help us tosupport us for the possible
three, maybe six months at tops,so that we can remain open,
because what I do know is withthe credentialing specialist
expert who I have and I'm veryblessed and grateful to have
(28:24):
found her, and you saideverything happens for a reason.
How I found mine was sensational.
She's super good at what shedoes, so if I can go get those
other insurance panels going,then that will help supplement
that.
We wouldn't need nearly as muchto keep the operation expenses
going because we'll no longer beTRICARE solely dependent.
(28:45):
And then the other thing I dois I have master classes and I
used to not do them.
I used to not do them as nearlyas frequently, but now I'm
bringing them back because it issomething that I enjoy doing,
because I'm very grateful forbeing on your show, but I'm also
I don't know look up to thefact that you have this
following, because it's learninghow many followers it takes.
(29:08):
You know, to have a backing andthen seeing how long it takes
to get that many followers is abig job, right.
So I have like only a thousandfollowers on my website and then
to see how many people listenin on your talk show, it's
pretty amazing.
So it's a lot of effort to getthere.
And so I used to public speak.
(29:30):
I used to do a lot of otherthings, but owning my private
practice kind of took me awayfrom those things and I am a
therapist still, but what mypassion is is basically what
you're doing reaching as manypeople as I can by the masses
and help that volume go up, andthat's what's really, really a
passion of mine too, because Ispoke about there's a lot of
(29:50):
people in remote areas thatdon't have therapy and I want to
try to do my best so, withtechnology and with different
platforms, now I can have thatopportunity to go do master
classes and then just evenclasses on a regular basis for
people who are just stuck.
It's just to build a communityso that they know that they can
trust in coming there.
(30:13):
And we can talk about thespeech and feeding strategies or
maybe about IEEs or your IEP.
That seems like you're notgetting what you feel like you
should be getting, what you feellike you should be getting, and
how do you manage and navigatethat those things right.
So I'm I'm excited.
I would really love to have abig community where I can help
more families when?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
um can people do that ?
I mean, is it available now?
Can they go to your website andbe able to sign up for classes,
or what are you offering rightnow?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yep.
So we're doing one masterclassat a time so that I can give it
my all.
So I'm going back to a platformI used to do, so it's four
weeks of doing one topic.
So the first four-weekmasterclass is for speech and
feeding strategies.
Okay, then, after that seriesis done, after those four weeks,
(31:05):
I still have this, you knowcommunity, where everyone can
reach me.
If there's still questions andyou know people want to still
talk about that they can contactme.
But then the next one is goingto be about IEPs and IEEs.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I bet you have, you'll be full right away for
that one.
I mean, you know that's one ofthe biggest topics that we end
up talking about with any parent.
With me being a parent of threeand I have three IEPs, etr
meetings all the time and it's aconstant, you know, advocating
and fortunately, I live in aschool district where they
(31:43):
really do meet our kids wherethey are.
They really do and theyactually even opened up a school
within the public schools forkids that were in the gap and
two of my kids actually go there, which you know.
It's very hard to speak IEP.
So and you have to realize thatyou are allowed to have a seat
(32:05):
at the table, you are allowed tonot sign the IEP if you don't
agree.
You are allowed to advocate andsay what you really think that
your child should need and goagainst what the education
people at the table are saying.
And it's kind of hard too,because when you've got, like
you know, five or six or 10people sitting around a table
(32:25):
and then there's you, the parent, and you didn't bring an
advocate or anything, andthey're all looking at you and
they're just saying, no, I mean,this is their diagnosis or
whatever.
This is what we're going to puton that line.
We don't think it's autism, itshould be whatever they think,
and things like that.
You don't realize that you havethe opportunity to say no, I
don't, I'm not signing this, Idon't agree.
(32:47):
Next time we will meet and I'mbringing an advocate.
You know those types of things,but it is a whole different
language in itself and you haveto be able to be very fluent in
it to be successful for yourkids and advocate for them.
So I bet that you have a fullhouse on that one.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
So I do expert witness cases for attorneys that
are special ed law attorneysall over.
So and it was really, reallyfun.
It's kind of my way of payingback and all those moments I was
trapped as an employee at atthe other side of the table um
having to go along with theadministration's ideals and not
(33:34):
over my own um speech, language,pathology, license and
knowledge and experience of whatwould it take, and I had my
hands tied behind my back.
And there's some schools thatare better than others, you know
, but I've experienced IEPs allover the country, from New York,
Arizona.
I've moved a lot California andI get hired to go in as that
(33:57):
expert witness.
But it's intimidating, like whatyou said.
It's just you and all these.
You know people at the tableand they're speaking almost in
another language, if you will,with all the acronyms and all
that.
So I tell people it's like ifyou were going to go sit down
and play a game for the veryfirst time against people who
have been playing it, and notonly did they play it, they made
(34:19):
some of the rules up.
You're not going to win thefirst time you play that game
and sit down.
The odds are against you.
My passion is to go educatepeople ahead of time, so that
you can be proactive, notreactive, and you can go have a
better experience.
And what happens as a result ofthat is then you don't have
(34:41):
time lost with your child'seducation.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I mean, that is so critical and even those things
like you were talking about themregressing, and I can't tell
you how many times.
It just really kills me becauseI see regression in my kids in
the summer and they'll say, well, no, we don't need.
What's it called?
Ended school year.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
ESY ESY.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, esy, we don't need ESY because we don't see
regression and I'm like, are wetalking about the same child,
you know?
So it really is about beingprepared because they can talk
so fast and, like you said, allthese acronyms and talk all this
different language and then say, okay, all right, you agree,
(35:26):
okay, sign here.
And then the meeting's over andyou sign and it's like wait a
second, what did I just sign?
So it's really awesome thatyou're doing that, because I
think that that is one of thebiggest hurdles for parents and
they don't even really realizeit a lot of times that their
child actually could receive somuch more in the school district
(35:50):
and they just have no idea.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I have schools who actually refer their parents to
me to work with me because theyknow that I'm fair and I'm
realistic and I will advocatefor what I feel really is the
truth and not extra, justbecause I know I'm not
adversarial about it at all.
I just know the law behindspecial education and, as a
therapist, I know I'm notadversarial about it at all.
I just know the law behindspecial education and, as a
therapist, I know what works.
(36:13):
So when you put them togetherand you just ask people to keep
accountability and do the rightthing, it's amazing.
But again, I just I love doingthese master classes so that
then it gives these parents whodidn't get rubbed wrong yet an
opportunity to not have thatnegative, hopeful experience
that a lot of other families gothrough.
(36:34):
Or I do.
I get to go help a lot offamilies who have been on
different social media platformsand private groups and they're
kind of rallying together and Ihave a great reputation in that
field, so I get lots ofreferrals and do spend a lot of
time doing that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, you know, I always say aren't we supposed to
be a team and all want the samething for the child?
We all want the child to betheir absolute best self.
So I mean, that's where thebottom line is.
And once in a while, you knowwhen I've heard friends say this
to me well, the team is meetingand they're going to get back
(37:14):
to me and I say wait a second,You're part of that team, Are
they meeting?
Good job, yeah, you should beat that table because they can't
meet without you.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, A lot of times they make you feel like you're
this outside invited guest.
Yes, well, it's my child thatwe're talking about.
And two, that team that youjust talked about.
I beg to differ, but on thatsignature page it lists me as a
member of that team.
So I'd like to be present andI'd like to be involved in this
Absolutely yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So it's really great that you're doing that
masterclass and I'm sure thatyou have a lot more that you're
going to be offering as well.
Do you want to talk about anyof those that you might have
coming up?
Speaker 2 (38:10):
to do that as much as possible, and I do that for
young or new parents like me astheir first child.
So then we have a series whereI do touch on you know what are
the benefits of baby sign andwhy do you hear about it?
You know, and let me tell youfrom me being a speech
pathologist and a communicationexpert, and then we also fold in
.
Each class kind of has itsdifferent topics.
So one is baby sign and gettingthose early communication
(38:33):
things going.
One is about sensory and how wehave a lot of talk out on the
street about like sensoryprocessing and deregulation and
people not liking, or kids notliking things on their skin or
labels and tags and all thisstuff.
But if we found that if you cando a systematic desensitization
(38:54):
early on, that you can actuallyhelp with some of that to
decrease sensitivities.
So we talked about that.
Then one week is about feeding.
So like there's lots ofdifferent ways to parent and
those choices are indeed theparents.
But I just go share what we'veseen work and if you go this
path, this is what we see.
If you go that path, that'sfine too.
(39:15):
This is what we see, and I justshare that so that parents can
make their own educateddecisions on what they want to
do.
And so we introduce thedifferent talks of the different
styles of feeding.
So there's like baby ledweaning.
There's, you know, there's aplethora of them out there, and
so we just talk about which onesthat you like and then what we
(39:38):
see happen if you choose thatone, and is there one better
than the other?
Not really.
It's driven by the child andtheir individual needs.
How do we avoid, you know,having a picky eater?
That's really essential to me,because I would love to just
avoid it at all costs.
And so by having that proactivepiece ahead of time, these
(39:58):
parents can make better choicesand decisions, be educated and
then hopefully, avoid pickyeating.
And then the other part of thatis just the speech and language
overall, part of just gettingthe kids to talk and communicate
, just developmental milestonesaltogether that we go over so
(40:19):
that everybody should bewatching whether at knowing you
know, 12 to 18 months maybe, oftherapy twice a week, you're
(40:52):
paying your co-pay.
And that brings me to anotherthing that you mentioned at the
beginning was that we do offerthe intensive therapy sessions
and what that is for all thepeople who maybe don't have
insurance or don't want to getcaught up paying a really high
deductible that they discovertheir plan has, that they had no
(41:13):
idea was attached to them.
They can actually come that.
They just come in for four tofive days, four weeks to maybe
six weeks and then therapy'sover how many hours a day.
(41:44):
But the way it works and thereason why it works so well is
because we're teaching theparent, and then that parent is
empowered and they know how todo therapy 101, if you will, at
home, and so that's what makesit different.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Oh gosh, that is so.
Continuity what's that?
Continuity of care?
Continuity of care, that iscritical because both sides have
to be on the same page.
If you're not working together,it doesn't work either.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Exactly.
You're just spinning yourwheels right, and I don't want
to take anyone's co-pay and justsee that it's not working.
You know what I mean.
But when it's funny, when theparents know that it's 30 days,
they just put their all into itand both moms and dads are just
parents, caregivers, nannies,everybody who's helping with
that child and that family.
(42:34):
Yeah, they're all workingreally hard, but because of that
it goes so much faster.
You don't need to do thattraditional model that we all
think that we need to do withour insurance.
You just don't need to.
We actually did evidence-basedtrials of it at my own practice,
and so I made sure that I didit remotely, so that I couldn't
(42:56):
even if I got.
You know where I'm like well,why don't you just come in and
let me help you?
I couldn't do that becausethey're so far away from me,
because I couldn't get them towant to.
You know, just have them comein.
But we worked on it and thenice thing is the feedback for
the parents were like you know,it was the same amount of money.
It's just that it was actuallyless because one family got to
(43:17):
go submit their super bill yeah,right, and then they also
didn't have to go drive and bestuck in our California traffic.
They didn't have the wear andtear, they didn't have that over
their head cloud of like oh mygosh, I got therapy this week
and I got this on my plate, youknow.
And and parents run themselvesinto the ground pretty good, you
know, there's lots of thingsgoing on sports and activities,
(43:40):
and I get it.
I'm a parent, so, um, yeah, sowhat's really nice is when they
can go concentrate and they justdevote themselves for that 30
to 45 days, and it's essentiallythe same amount of money.
So it's just that you got topay up front for that, versus
the co-pays every time that youcome in for several weeks to
(44:03):
over a year.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
What you are talking about across the board are all
things that are going to makethem a better person for their
entire life.
Their entire life.
We're not talking about likesmall milestones here.
I mean we're talking aboutthings that they critically need
.
I mean this program is critical.
How long can you continue tooperate like this?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
I'm under threat pretty quickly here to get fines
funding because payroll ispretty steep.
Like I said, our operationexpenses every month are
$200,000.
So it's a lot of money.
And then we have payroll everytwo weeks and commercial rent
isn't inexpensive either.
(44:49):
So our rent is $45,000collectively amongst all three
locations.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Okay, I mean this is a serious situation and you need
help now.
So what you mentioned before wewent on air a GoFundMe on your
page.
I mean list all the ways thatpeople can reach out to you, how
can they get a hold of you,what is your website and how can
they help you financially.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
The best way to get a hold of us is at
AchievementCenterForTherapycom,and then we do have a Facebook
page as well, which is anotherresource if they're interested
in just learning.
But to help us out, there is aGoFundMe on Achievement Center
for Therapy's website, and thenalso we are working with Patreon
(45:40):
to be the platform where we canstart doing and hosting more of
our masterclasses as well on mywebsite there too.
So I think starting with theGoFundMe would be huge.
If there is somebody that's aphilanthropist or that, somebody
that is able to help, thatwould be huge too, because I'm
(46:03):
looking for something.
While the GoFundMe page says$100,000, that's because that's
immediately needed, by like nextweek, which sounds crazy.
But I just keep praying andhoping and hoping that the other
insurance companies and likepay enough, and I just keep
sneaking by by the skin of myteeth, you know to get the funds
(46:24):
that we need.
Or I've been blessed withfriends or family who can, but
this has been going on in toobig a numbers for borrowing from
friends or family.
It's just exhausted.
And then now, at this point,when you didn't know, your
credit's also diminishingbecause you just have much piled
on right.
(46:45):
Commercial banks are going tojust take way too long and then
it's just, it's an uphill battle.
I feel like I'm fighting rightnow, so really, really trying to
find somebody that A would loveto support us so that we can
support our military familiesand these children that we serve
.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
And, like you said earlier, it is critical for kids
to continue the therapy or elsethey're going to start
regressing very quickly.
So I mean this is I love thatyou have this.
This is such a great serviceand you are reaching so many
kids.
Can you tell us how many kidsyou are reaching?
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah, at each facility we have at least 50
families, so that would be over150.
But it can ebb and flow.
There's, you know, times whereit's more and sometimes when
it's less.
And you know, right now wecan't go gain more children with
TRICARE because we're notgetting paid and I can't make
(47:49):
payroll go up if we don't havethe funds to pay them.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
So so, yeah, you have to turn people down right now.
You can't keep taking newpeople on.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
Right, right, and we have to service the ones that we
do have, because then it'scharged with patient abandonment
.
So it's a really bad.
Oh my God.
I know that's mind blowing,right, because when I learned
about it it was just like wait aminute, I got to show up to
work for free.
Who else does this?
You know what I mean.
Like this is crazy to me.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Yeah, and you know what's really sad is that these,
you know you put a differencedisability, however you want to
say it on a person and you think, well, you know they're
disposable or it doesn't evenmatter, we don't have to have
this care for them.
You know what I mean.
That really bothers me becausesomebody that has autism and
(48:41):
seeing so many people some ofthe most intelligent people we
talked about Temple Grandinbefore we went on air I mean
there are so many people thatI'll tell you what, if we didn't
have people with differences,we wouldn't have a lot of what
we have today and from Apple to,you know, some of the biggest
corporations, because we arereally smart, we really do well
(49:06):
and sometimes we just need somehelp along the way, and there's
nothing wrong with that.
So, having something like you,I wish that I would have had
those helps.
You know, 50 years ago, when Iwas a kid, they didn't have
those things, and so there werepeople like Temple Grandin and
people like you know that we hadthese diagnoses hundreds of
(49:29):
thousands of years ago, you know, back in the Stone Age when I
was a kid.
But now we have theseopportunities.
You have presented so manygreat things for kids that we
didn't have even a coupledecades ago.
So it would be really a shamethat we can't utilize these
tools for these kids, becausethey will have so much more
(49:53):
potential than even we didbecause of the things that
you're offering them.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Right, yeah.
So yeah, just on average, ifthe services have to stop, it
takes them like at least sixmonths that they're on a waiting
list in another facility andthat's like nationwide there's a
really long wait.
But now if everyone else isclosing their doors, then these
kids are just going to be out ofluck.
Like how do we do that?
And then what?
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Because the schools do their best to be able to do
things within their buildings,but really they're limited and
you, your types of services, arethe ones that really do help
the children.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
We work with the schools a lot of times, but it
is really nice that we cancollaborate and it takes a
comprehensive team to you know,the schools don't do the medical
side of things like what we do.
They stick to the educationalbased things.
So, yeah, there is a lot ofkids who are going to be in a
sad way, I guess, and not onlythem, it's their parents, the
(50:53):
siblings.
It's a domino effect, if youwill.
But I'm hopeful, betweenoffering some of these master
classes and getting back todoing some of those things to
just reach out to more people,that with high volume, that
hopefully that can be asupplemental income as well for
(51:14):
us.
So I'm trying, so I'm lookingforward to trying to put
together some of those classesso that then I'm helping people,
but in essence they're going tobe helping our military.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
They give their life, they give their everything, and
then they're not often takencare of.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Yeah, this is really bad, Like there's people who
aren't getting surgeries thatneed them.
That's how bad this is, becausethe doctors you got to know
it's like orthopedic surgeons,oncology surgeons, oncologists,
pediatricians, it's everybody inthe military is not getting
paid.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
I didn't realize that Nobody is getting paid for any
of their surgeries or anythingthat they need right now.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
No, no providers in our country that serve and are a
medical provider of any sort,that are serving the military
families are getting paid sinceJanuary 1st.
And we had no knowledge of it,we had no warning, no, nothing.
So I have a pretty big shipthat I keep sail and it's just
(52:16):
been devastating.
So you go the first month andyou think like, okay, well,
maybe they're just waiting 30days, and then you can't get an
answer from anybody.
And then you wait and you'relike, oh my gosh, it's halfway
through February.
Now what you know what I mean.
And we're like, and then youcan't go quick enough to go
borrow those kinds of fundswithout that type of planning
(52:37):
there's just it's not heard of.
You know what I mean?
It takes 60 days, sometimes 90days, to get that kind of money
that you would need from a bank.
If you have a good workingrelationship with them, if you
have your own private practiceof any sort, you are not getting
paid right now by TRICARE.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
And that would cover doctors and surgeons.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
And it would cover your doctors and surgeons no
matter what.
So if you need an emergencylike surgery, okay, we got a
critical situation here and Ijust thought like, oh my gosh,
like is there some type ofsomething that's going to happen
like a PPP emergency thing forall of us, Because this is an
emergency.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
It really isn't.
I didn't realize this, I didn'tknow this and I don't and I'm a
news junkie, so I reallyhaven't heard this.
I'm just throwing this outthere.
I just had a thought because ofwhat you do, what about you
offered?
You know how they do telehealthand they offer all the how.
(53:41):
If you offered from all walksof life around the country and
you could service them throughvideo and virtually help people
for a fee.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yeah, that's what that advanced intensive therapy
actually is, so that one is donemostly remote or in a concierge
format.
So we do do a lot of that workremotely.
(54:15):
And how that came to be too,was my testing it out.
If I'm not there physicallydirectly with them, is it still
effective?
And the answer is yes, becausewe tested it out.
But when I've been testifyingas an expert witness I got to go
to different places and I'mlike I can't help you if I don't
have a license in this state.
It's just how it works.
I have to if I'm going to gettherapy which I have a license
(54:35):
in so many states, and it's fine, we're happy to do it.
As long as we know that we cango help a family, Then that's
absolutely not a problemwhatsoever.
So during COVID we've doneteletherapy so successfully.
It's been great.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
Okay, so do you have a list of the states on your
website of they can contact youand do this virtually?
Speaker 2 (54:59):
You know what, ann, I am happy to go get the license
for whichever state the personis in.
Okay, yeah, so it would make itworth it, you know, just to be
able to help them.
And then how it usually worksis in my industry it's just word
of mouth and more and morepeople will say like this is how
we got our help and that'sbasically how it covers the
(55:19):
expense of obtaining thatlicense, because there is a cost
for it.
So it would be out of pocket atthis point, because unless you
(55:44):
start being able to takeMedicaid or start being able to
take other insurances, that theycan go try it out in one or two
days.
And then we come back live as agroup and then everybody kind
of gets to share like, oh, thatwas successful for me, oh, that
was still a challenge.
But then it's just really nicefor all the families to have
some camaraderie, to know thatthey're not in it alone and they
(56:06):
can learn from one another.
So that's kind of what I'mtrying to form too, so that we
can help them, but yeah,individually too.
It's just that me as one person, or even with my team, I just
don't want to get in a positionwhere you know we have the too
many families that we can't go,give in the schedule of 40 hours
(56:28):
to go help that many people, wewould be limited.
So that's where these kind ofgroup things came to be, so that
we can help more people in abigger volume.
But there are cases wherepeople just need that one-on-one
time with me too, and that'sokay and we can make that happen
.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Well, I really appreciate you coming on.
This is big.
I think that it's a lot biggerstory than even just you, you
know, and what's really sad isthat this is a population that
needs served, because they haveso much to offer to this world
and they need to reach theirfull potential.
(57:05):
And I see three kids of my ownevery single day that I'm so
thankful for the services thatthey have received, and they
would not be who they are if itwasn't for all of the doctors
that we have and the therapiesand the early therapies that we
(57:27):
had and, yeah, the schools.
So I really appreciateeverything that you do, and if
there's anything else that wecould do to help you, you know,
please let me know.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
I think the outreach this has been great.
Thank you so much for lettingme come on and tell my story and
, you know, hopefully we cantouch somebody that can be able
to help us.
That would be lovely.
Speaker 1 (57:54):
How about a phone number and any other way that
they can call you directly?
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Yep, the best way to get ahold of us is that, or me
is that 805-383-1497.
Okay, the number to ourheadquarters and then that will
get to me, and the website againwas
Achievementcenterfortherapycom.
Okay great.
Speaker 1 (58:20):
Do you have an email that they can?
Speaker 2 (58:22):
contact you.
Would this be my first name?
That's a great way to get ahold of me is Sean S-H-A-W-N at
achievementcenterfortherapycom.
It's a long one, but hopefullyyou great way to get a hold of
me is Shawn S-H-A-W-N atAchievementCenterForTherapycom.
It's a long one, but hopefullyyou only have to do it once.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
All right.
Well, thank you so much forcoming on.
We really appreciate you.
We appreciate everything thatyou do and I pray that you
receive the helps that you needto be able to stay open and
continue to service thesechildren with differences that
are going to make hugedifferences in the world at some
point, but they just need to beserved and you know you just
(58:58):
want to keep your doors open.
Speaker 2 (59:00):
Fran, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (59:02):
All right, well, thank you, and to all of our
listeners, thank you forlistening or watching, and we
will see you next time.
Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne.
I am Anne and today we haveShawn Menvel on.
She is the founder ofAchievement Center for Therapy
in California and Las Vegas.
From what I understand, youknow I really personally, you
know this meant a lot to me foryou to even reach out and want
(00:29):
to be on, because, with havingthree kids with disabilities and
autism and you know, it reallyhit home for me what exactly you
guys do.
But I would love for you totell our listeners what exactly
the Achievement Center forTherapy is.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Great Thank you, and thank you for having me on this
is a real pleasure and honor tobe on here.
So thank you.
Achievement Center for Therapyis a pediatric feeding therapy
center and it started as one inCamarillo, california, and
that's in Ventura County.
I started as one in Camarillo,california, and that's in
Ventura County.
That's my headquarters, andthen added on Las Vegas, nevada,
(01:09):
and the reason why is who Iserve are military families
predominantly, and from doing mywork I kept getting recruited,
if you will, from a doctor onNellis Air Force Base to keep
(01:29):
coming out to assist with somequestions that they had about
pediatric feeding, which is myspecialty.
So I kept going out to Nellis,to the Air Force Base, and then
they said, well, why don't youjust start a practice here?
You're here an awful lot, and Ithought you know what?
That's not a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So I Did you talk more about what the feeding
therapy is, because I'm not evenaware of what that is.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh yeah, so pediatric feeding therapy is actually
what looks like for a lot ofpeople, including, sadly, our
pediatricians.
A lot of times I go and I wasteaching them the differences
because there's kind of a fineline between the two.
So a lot of times they getdismissed as they're a picky
eater but it's not necessarilypicky eating when it crosses a
(02:09):
certain threshold.
So my job and mission was thatI would teach doctors, school
psychologists, psychologists,nurses, everyone what that
difference really is and what itlooks like.
All right, so that's how yougot started, I got started, and
then I added one last locationjust recently, in the last three
(02:30):
years, which is in San Diego,again catering to my military.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
But you do a lot more than that.
I mean, from what I understand,there's speech therapy and
occupational therapy and ABA,advanced intensive therapy and
independent education evaluation, you know.
I mean you have a list ofthings that you do, so somehow
along the line, you just kind ofkept expanding.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I did right so as a speech language pathologist
myself and I was an expertwitness for doing helping
families with IEEs, which is theIEP.
If you, um don't agree withthat, that would go get that
level.
So, um, I do that as well.
And then I'm also um thepediatric feeding specialist and
(03:18):
and I think that came from justloving giving a voice to, um,
children and people but then Istarted realizing I'm like, well
, wait a minute, if you don'thave your health or your
nutrition, you don't have yourhealth, and then those other
things are just going to be abigger challenge.
We're going to be kind of likespinning our wheels.
So I just I really got intopediatric feeding so that I just
(03:39):
overall get to help the entirebody and kids flourish with
their development.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, on your website you do talk about reaching
helping each child reach theirfull developmental potential for
communication and enabling themto increase their independence
and everyday activities,increase interaction and
participation with theirfamilies and improve the overall
quality of their lives.
I just want to quickly say thatyou know, we had people come
into our home when my littleswere really little and my
(04:13):
four-year-old was nonverbal whenI adopted him made by having
all these tools and people inour lives early in order to help
them reach what I considertheir full potential right now.
You know we've worked reallyhard, so what you're doing is
(04:36):
really incredible and I reallywould encourage all of our
listeners to.
You know, for a program likethis, it is so important to get
kids that are havingdifficulties communicate their
needs and their wants.
I mean things that are justbasic things.
It's so important for us tounderstand.
I mean, I've got kids, my kids,especially my one.
(04:57):
I mean he still, when he getssick, it's really like you know
what is exactly wrong with youand we don't know what is
exactly wrong with him.
So we really have to, you know,try to use the language and try
to learn their language and tryto get them to learn how to
communicate with us Exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah it's, there's a lot to it.
And then there's that hierarchythat we as the speech
pathologists see, that we wantto try to go make happen and
that's our specialty where wecome in.
But then we also have to havethat bond with the child so that
then they even trust you andthen can start basically their
(05:52):
healing process and theirrehabilitation.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's everything.
I mean trust is everything.
So I mean you have a process,I'm sure, of start to finish, of
how you get introduced to thechild, to where you get them, to
where they need to be, whereyou can, because my one son, I
kept taking him to differenttherapies.
It just wasn't working.
I mean there was nothing thatwas connecting with him.
(06:17):
So getting that connection, Iwould think that very initial
connection is really important.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, the rapport building is definitely where we
have to start with everybody andit's essential to get that
piece.
And then some it's on anindividual basis, so some kids
might take to a therapist alittle bit easier and quicker
and then sometimes it takes thema little bit longer.
But, like to your point,there's sometimes where it just
isn't going to happen.
There's just a barrier.
(06:45):
You know whether it's personalneeds or something, maybe just a
comfort or that trust like youmentioned.
And that's where, knowing thatand recognizing it and my
expansion of not just having onetherapy center, that's where
all this teletherapy has come inand doing masterpieces and
stuff like that.
Because our outreach has to bebigger.
(07:07):
Because what if you are remoteand you only have one person in
town to choose from and youtried it and it just didn't work
out.
So this opens up the doors sothat people in remote areas and
all over can actually go getexceptional care that works for
them and their child.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What is the age range that you work with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Directly one-on-one.
We can work with babies rightout of a NICU because we are
pediatric feeding specialists.
So that's happened multipletimes that you know the parents
need support after leaving thehospital, because that's a big,
scary step right.
You have this whole team ofpeople at that hospital and then
you go home and it's just youand your spouse.
Then we work up to aboutpre-teens and that's because we
(07:54):
work with a lot of children withautism and those social skills
are really creating a barrier.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So we find that that age range is when it's really
essential to go after socialskills critical to get them when
(08:21):
they're as young as possible.
Those younger years areabsolutely key.
So when you get a child andyou've made the connection
you've got, you're going now.
I mean, what are some of thethings that you might do with a
child to help them get tobecoming their best self?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
A lot of it is a systematic approach or it's a
systematic desensitization.
So a lot of times I think thesecret to what differs from us
being the speech languagepathologist and expert and then
parents, because a lot of timesparents come in and be like I
tried that I can't believethat's what you're doing and
it's working for you.
(09:01):
But the subtle little thingthat's missing and not everyone
catches it, is that we know ifyou're performing here, we just
got to make sure that the childis performing just below here
when we ask them to do things.
Because if we ask too high of alevel, which is a lot of times,
what's happening with theparents?
Because they're not speechlanguage pathologists, they
don't know that order, thedevelopmental hierarchy, that
(09:25):
sometimes you come in justslightly too high and then the
child won't perform for you.
So then we can identify that webring them down to a level
where they're very comfortableand that they're functioning at
successfully.
And then from there, once wegot that trust and the rapport,
we start building on that littlebit by little bit and we just
(09:45):
keep adding to their abilitylevel.
And there's different parts oflanguage too, right.
So there's the articulation ofit, the phonology of it
semantics in your vocabulary, sowe just start building it up
systematically.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Okay, so how often do you have kids come in?
Can it be weekly?
Can it be, you know, a coupletimes a?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
week.
You know what should parentsexpect when they come to your
centers?
So I have demanded, when wehave our families, come in with
insurances, because you have tocontract with insurance.
So I had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this right
contract with insurance.
So I had to fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for this right.
And I stick to it because I'velearned over my 25 years that if
you do only come in once a week, that then if that child is
(10:38):
sick and we're talking aboutlittle children forming a new
habit, and I know as an adult ifI only do something once a week
and maybe skip a week, it makesit really difficult, yeah
absolutely.
So if we're asking these littlekiddos to do it too, it just
makes it such a struggle.
So that thing that I fought forwas a minimum of two times a
week, Because in the event thatthey make once, you still can
come in and get that you knowtherapy session at least for
(11:00):
once a week, instead of thetwice.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So how long have you been doing this in these
particular centers?
How many years did you say?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I've been having private practices since for 13
years.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Okay, so do you have any great success stories?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I do.
I have children who I meet whoare on the spectrum I think are
my most profound, that stick inmy mind because me not speaking
and not eating, and so then kindof just take it all in from the
parent's wishlist again, right,and you want to just try to
advocate and push as hard as youcan and go as fast as you can,
(11:38):
but that's not going to help thechild, right.
So it's tough.
You got to sit back and letthings process and play out.
But to get to go see a childwho is nonverbal on a
communication device and thenget to see that then now they're
a verbal speaker, oh wow, ohyeah, that's a big moment for a
(11:58):
parent, right.
And then taking them and knowingthat they're on the verge of
with a doctor's order sayingthat they only have 30 days.
I have 30 days my team and I toget a child to start gaining
one pound, and it doesn't soundlike it would be hard to do.
But when you have a childthat's a picky eater, has a
pediatric feeding disorder anddiagnosed correctly for a long
(12:22):
time, that's a pretty bigchallenge.
And diagnosed correctly for along time, that's a pretty big
challenge.
And especially if you have acommunication delay or disorder
with it, you can't do your bestto explain and know if they're
understanding.
So I would say that those areprobably my best stories ever is
when I get to go meet that30-day deadline and be like we
didn't gain one pound, we gainedtwo, we're on the way to
(12:43):
recovery, we won't need yourfeeding too.
But thanks, doc.
So that makes me excited,because that's a parental right
is to make your child feelhealthy and safe right.
And if you feel that now youcan't do that because you have a
medical professional tellingyou in a roundabout way that you
failed here, you know youcouldn't feed your kid, and why
(13:03):
is that?
Well, I don't get into theparent shaming, I just want to
come and fix the problem and Iget a lot of passion and joy out
of doing just that.
So those are probably my top.
When you get to get a kid offof a communication device that
otherwise wasn't having a voiceand now their parent can hear
(13:24):
them.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
So I hear the passion with you.
I mean this really means a lotto you.
You can tell Well, can?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I just ask, how did you get into this?
I mean, why did you go in thisdirection?
I have a younger brother, mybrothers I have an older brother
and a younger brother, so I'm amiddle child and my younger
brother was a delayed talker andso with that four years between
us, I was just like, oh my gosh, and I was watching my parents
like really be upset by it.
So I would just try everymoment I had to even pitch in to
(13:59):
be like, okay, say it like this, or let's try to do this.
So I got to say my career,probably unofficially, but
started at the age of six tryingto get my brother to talk and I
, yeah, and I just kept goingwith it and then, and then what
was that?
After he would start talking andthat got better, I would see
that my parents were juststruggling because he had a
(14:21):
learning disability and theywere trying to go to the schools
and go through the motions ofthe IEPs.
But you got to think this wasmany, many years ago, right?
So to see those struggles, thenI was just like you know what
this just seems like a good fitfor me.
I love it and I can really beimpactful and make a difference,
and so I got to experience itfrom the school level.
(14:42):
I've worked in the schoolenvironment.
Then I just knew that I lovemedical.
But I couldn't do enoughmedical and I felt like I wasn't
doing enough of what I gottaught to do.
So I love the schools andthat's how I formed the private
practice.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
That is so amazing that you started that young and
you took your passion trying tohelp your brother when you were
so little and you took it into apassion.
I mean, I have so many thingsin my life.
It's a stepping stone.
Everything is getting us towhere we are in life.
You know, I mean that's what Ialways say and there's a reason
(15:19):
for everything, and we justreally don't even know where
we're going to end up.
But I mean that is just soamazing that you took those
skills and then you fed thatpassion and you ended up getting
a master's degree in this andnow you actually are this
founder of this, thesefacilities.
But you have an issue right now.
(15:40):
You could lose it Right.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, so I did cater to the military at all three of
my practices.
So I am a widow after myhusband passed away.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Thank you.
So it was when our daughter wastwo years old.
So I really devoted myself tojust make it happen so that, as
a single mom raising ourdaughter, that I can make sure I
never missed a beat with herschooling, field trips, and I
wanted to be at that classroommom.
So I knew too I couldn't workfor anybody and go attend all
(16:16):
that stuff.
It'd just be impossible, right,or I'd be unemployed.
So, with starting my ownpractices, it was really really
important to me.
But also the other part, thatwhy I catered to where I was and
where I landed, which is inCamarillo, california, there's
military bases and I'm amilitary, such a nice upbringing
(16:45):
from a military career that hehad of 30 years, and so I just
felt very comfortable and it wasmy weird way, if you will, of
serving our country because Iwasn't in the military, but I
got to give back because I gotto serve all these families and
they have a lot of challengesbecause a lot of times they're
like a single mom or singleparent too, because they're
deployed right.
So I really kind of relate in aweird way Like I get it, you're
on your own too, I am, I getyou and let's get through this
(17:08):
together.
But the other challenge is isthat the military families are
usually at only one place forabout three years, but by the
time they find their therapistand get settled, sometimes they
have less than two years, oraround two years, to go get
something fixed.
And that's a challenge, becausesome of these things take time,
and so I set up my practicesall by these military bases
(17:32):
because I just love serving them.
But that problem that you'readdressing or talking about is
that it's a real big one is thatour military has transitioned
over to another healthcaremanagement company to guide and
run them as of January 1st 2025.
(17:54):
And as a result I know it takesa lot to go get everything
operating.
I couldn't even imagine whatthey have on their plate to go
do, but it's resulted in usmedical providers not getting
paid since January 1st 2025.
Oh my gosh.
And with three locations andstaff like therapists are not
(18:15):
minimum wage workers, you know.
On the average they're like 60to $75 an hour.
So, and then the problem withhealthcare insurance that a lot
of people don't know orunderstand is that they could
say well, sean, why don't youjust close your doors or lay
some people off?
Well, you can't, you're notallowed by your contract to go
(18:36):
not see and treat patients,because then it falls under
patient abandonment, okay, andtreat patients, because then it
falls under patient abandonment,okay.
And we're still expected to seeand treat everyone as we have
been, but we're not getting paid.
So how?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
yeah, I mean, you can't operate like this,
obviously you can't.
You can't keep the doors open,you can't even keep the lights
on.
I mean, yeah, I mean, so Ireally don't even know.
For one thing, let me go backto the insurance aspect, because
I really don't know that muchabout insurances.
My kids fortunately if, unlessthings change I'm not really
(19:13):
sure, but you know with adoptionand their disabilities and
everything that came with themalso came Medicaid.
So I do know that withinsurances, if something changes
because all of a sudden ourdentist no longer took straight
Medicaid or you know there was aBuckeye change or whatever, and
they're like, sorry, now youhave to pay cash or whatever,
(19:35):
because now we no longer acceptthat.
So sometimes I mean,fortunately for me, I can just
change.
When it's open enrollment, Ican change to another Medicaid
provider.
I don't know what happens inyour case.
I mean, what happens if theentire insurance just doesn't
(19:56):
accept it anymore?
I mean, can you end up tryingto become a provider for that
insurance that they do acceptnow?
Speaker 2 (20:24):
learning in life, life's lessons.
I was so happy and contentserving them, never thinking in
a million years something likethis could happen.
I've been ranked on TRICARE'swebsite as being an exceptional
provider for many years, but ithappened to all of us, right?
So it's this transition processthat they had to go through,
and what I had to do is quicklybuckle down and go get what's
called a credentialingspecialist to go start getting
(20:47):
us on other insurances, so thatthen I'm not dependent per se.
But that does.
It's part of my passion, andmission has always been to help
these families, because I feellike if they're overseas and
they're fighting for us andthey're helping our country, the
last thing they need to do isto hear from their spouse or
(21:07):
loved one that they got anotherfight to come back to, that
their child isn't getting thehealth care that they need, and
it might be a stretch.
And I also say in my ownpersonal opinion, after doing
this for almost 10 years withmilitary insurance, that I feel
like it could be considered anational security concern or
(21:29):
threat, and what I mean by thatis and you can speak to it too,
as a parent that if you were tolose your services that you're
providing to your child and weknow that they love structure
and routine, and I close mydoors.
And now there's three differentcities that don't have services
that I was providing to thesefamilies.
(21:49):
That's all.
Those families are going tojust be kind of unraveling a
little bit.
The behaviors are going to comeback, the trips to the ER
because they do have somebehaviors that then get pretty
rough and tough, you know,hanging on a wall or a floor, or
you know they get themselvesinto harm's way because they're
(22:11):
not regulated, they're not doingas well as they normally could
or usually do.
So then that military memberhas that on their plate,
wondering how is their spouse orhow are their kids doing
without therapy in play?
now and they're getting greatstories right, or even if
they're not deployed yet,they're at home and they're
having sleepless nights nowbecause their child can't sleep.
(22:35):
It's wreaking havoc in theirwhole household because their
child is struggling.
And this is all because there'sno continuity in care, because
if people like me have to closeour doors and it is happening
all over you can read about iton social media all over the
place there's threads afterthreads of you know TRICARE
(22:56):
isn't paying and it's not.
I'm not blaming anyone, it'sjust the process that's happened
and occurred and it's superunfortunate that it's taking
such a long time.
But I just got to say to myparents and to everybody out
there and to other providersthat I hope everybody can hang
in there along with myself tokeep everything going, Because
(23:17):
the saddest shame is, if youcan't make it in that window of
time, that they we don't knowwhen we're going to get paid
still If you can't stay open,then all these families suffer,
but not just the familiesthemselves.
Like I said, it becomes then,in my opinion, a national
security threat or concern, Didyou?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
guys have any heads up.
Did you have any?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
No, not at all.
That would have been nice, butwe knew that there was.
Because the country is dividedin two.
It's called Tricare East forthe East Coast and Tricare West
for the West Coast.
However, I got to say TricareWest is far bigger and covers
more area of our country thanTri-East and they have different
management companies that runthem.
(24:02):
For the East Coast they have acompany called Humana and then
on Tri-West, we have on TricareWest we have Tri-West now, and
so we knew that the big date wasgoing to happen on January 1st,
that they officially take over.
But we were also told, don'tworry, in 2024, this is their
blended year.
So we thought like, okay,they're working on it behind the
(24:23):
scenes Like they're a bigcompany.
This was a $65.1 billioncontract.
I'm sure they've got fabulousteams ready to go, but
technology is technology anddatabases and people Like
there's a lot ofunpredictability and when they
took it over, what we're gettingback from them is just that
(24:44):
there's glitches in the computersystem and there's this problem
and there's that problem, andso we just got to ride it out.
But we didn't know that thiswas going to happen.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
No one could have been prepared for it for this,
like they don't see them beingable to transition, transition
and be able to pay you at anypoint or have back pay or
anything there's.
No, they don't see thathappening.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
They don't know when and when we call.
It's just really frustratedstaff on their end because some
of us are getting a littleheated, because this is a
situation.
It's critical.
I've been in business, this ismy livelihood, this is what I've
done for my career, and it'sunder threat.
So sometimes you know the otherproviders probably can be
(25:31):
heated too, and you know youdon't want to take it out on the
person that's trying to helpyou at the insurance.
They don't know themselves theperson answering the phone.
So they've even confessed likeyou know, we're quitting, like
we can't take it.
So then we know that they'relosing staff, they're losing
providers.
What's going to happen here'sthe result Already, and you
(25:53):
might be able to speak to it toois that there's already a
shortage of all of us that cando this level of help for this
population of children withspecial needs.
Um, and there's, uh, there's,you know, a broad, a broad
region of, like what thatencompasses.
There's, you know, um, downsyndrome, there's autism,
(26:15):
there's just neurotypical kidswho you know have a stuttering
or fluency disorder.
There's just a wide spectrum ofit.
All right, but what's going tohappen is when more people close
their doors, then the waitinglist that already exists, that
nobody's supposed to have, isjust going to keep growing and
growing, and then there'sregression.
(26:38):
That's the other shame of it.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It doesn't work.
Oh my gosh, regression happensso quickly.
I mean it can.
Like you said earlier, it canhappen in a week.
I mean.
So that's why you want to gotwo times a week.
I mean it really does happenthat fast.
I know with my three.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Yeah, when I worked in public schools as a speech
therapist and that's how Istarted my career I got to do
regression statements and we didthem literally over a holiday
break to just go see if thechild's not present for just the
holiday break how muchretention there is.
And let me tell you we foundthat there was a lot.
So that's why those regressionstatements had to be done,
(27:16):
because they knew that it was athing and I just can't.
It's disheartening, it's reallyupsetting to know how much I've
given.
In my team I employ over 35people.
They're fabulous, they're justamazingly talented people.
We all have our own camaraderietogether and to dismantle that
(27:38):
or put it on pause is just acrying shame.
You know, I'm hopeful that Ican even find funding so that
then I can keep my doors open tokeep serving the military
families and, while doing that,diversifying to get on those
other insurance panels as muchas we can, as quickly as we can,
to help them.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
And until that happens, what do you?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
need.
We need coverage for operationexpenses, whether it's a capital
investor that can help us tosupport us for the possible
three, maybe six months at tops,so that we can remain open,
because what I do know is withthe credentialing specialist
expert who I have and I'm veryblessed and grateful to have
(28:24):
found her, and you saideverything happens for a reason.
How I found mine was sensational.
She's super good at what shedoes, so if I can go get those
other insurance panels going,then that will help supplement
that.
We wouldn't need nearly as muchto keep the operation expenses
going because we'll no longer beTRICARE solely dependent.
(28:45):
And then the other thing I dois I have master classes and I
used to not do them.
I used to not do them as nearlyas frequently, but now I'm
bringing them back because it issomething that I enjoy doing,
because I'm very grateful forbeing on your show, but I'm also
I don't know look up to thefact that you have this
following, because it's learninghow many followers it takes.
(29:08):
You know, to have a backing andthen seeing how long it takes
to get that many followers is abig job, right.
So I have like only a thousandfollowers on my website and then
to see how many people listenin on your talk show, it's
pretty amazing.
So it's a lot of effort to getthere.
And so I used to public speak.
(29:30):
I used to do a lot of otherthings, but owning my private
practice kind of took me awayfrom those things and I am a
therapist still, but what mypassion is is basically what
you're doing reaching as manypeople as I can by the masses
and help that volume go up, andthat's what's really, really a
passion of mine too, because Ispoke about there's a lot of
(29:50):
people in remote areas thatdon't have therapy and I want to
try to do my best so, withtechnology and with different
platforms, now I can have thatopportunity to go do master
classes and then just evenclasses on a regular basis for
people who are just stuck.
It's just to build a communityso that they know that they can
trust in coming there.
(30:13):
And we can talk about thespeech and feeding strategies or
maybe about IEEs or your IEP.
That seems like you're notgetting what you feel like you
should be getting, what you feellike you should be getting, and
how do you manage and navigatethat those things right.
So I'm I'm excited.
I would really love to have abig community where I can help
more families when?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
um can people do that ?
I mean, is it available now?
Can they go to your website andbe able to sign up for classes,
or what are you offering rightnow?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yep.
So we're doing one masterclassat a time so that I can give it
my all.
So I'm going back to a platformI used to do, so it's four
weeks of doing one topic.
So the first four-weekmasterclass is for speech and
feeding strategies.
Okay, then, after that seriesis done, after those four weeks,
(31:05):
I still have this, you knowcommunity, where everyone can
reach me.
If there's still questions andyou know people want to still
talk about that they can contactme.
But then the next one is goingto be about IEPs and IEEs.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I bet you have, you'll be full right away for
that one.
I mean, you know that's one ofthe biggest topics that we end
up talking about with any parent.
With me being a parent of threeand I have three IEPs, etr
meetings all the time and it's aconstant, you know, advocating
and fortunately, I live in aschool district where they
(31:43):
really do meet our kids wherethey are.
They really do and theyactually even opened up a school
within the public schools forkids that were in the gap and
two of my kids actually go there, which you know.
It's very hard to speak IEP.
So and you have to realize thatyou are allowed to have a seat
(32:05):
at the table, you are allowed tonot sign the IEP if you don't
agree.
You are allowed to advocate andsay what you really think that
your child should need and goagainst what the education
people at the table are saying.
And it's kind of hard too,because when you've got, like
you know, five or six or 10people sitting around a table
(32:25):
and then there's you, the parent, and you didn't bring an
advocate or anything, andthey're all looking at you and
they're just saying, no, I mean,this is their diagnosis or
whatever.
This is what we're going to puton that line.
We don't think it's autism, itshould be whatever they think,
and things like that.
You don't realize that you havethe opportunity to say no, I
don't, I'm not signing this, Idon't agree.
(32:47):
Next time we will meet and I'mbringing an advocate.
You know those types of things,but it is a whole different
language in itself and you haveto be able to be very fluent in
it to be successful for yourkids and advocate for them.
So I bet that you have a fullhouse on that one.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
So I do expert witness cases for attorneys that
are special ed law attorneysall over.
So and it was really, reallyfun.
It's kind of my way of payingback and all those moments I was
trapped as an employee at atthe other side of the table um
having to go along with theadministration's ideals and not
(33:34):
over my own um speech, language,pathology, license and
knowledge and experience of whatwould it take, and I had my
hands tied behind my back.
And there's some schools thatare better than others, you know
, but I've experienced IEPs allover the country, from New York,
Arizona.
I've moved a lot California andI get hired to go in as that
(33:57):
expert witness.
But it's intimidating, like whatyou said.
It's just you and all these.
You know people at the tableand they're speaking almost in
another language, if you will,with all the acronyms and all
that.
So I tell people it's like ifyou were going to go sit down
and play a game for the veryfirst time against people who
have been playing it, and notonly did they play it, they made
(34:19):
some of the rules up.
You're not going to win thefirst time you play that game
and sit down.
The odds are against you.
My passion is to go educatepeople ahead of time, so that
you can be proactive, notreactive, and you can go have a
better experience.
And what happens as a result ofthat is then you don't have
(34:41):
time lost with your child'seducation.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
I mean, that is so critical and even those things
like you were talking about themregressing, and I can't tell
you how many times.
It just really kills me becauseI see regression in my kids in
the summer and they'll say, well, no, we don't need.
What's it called?
Ended school year.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
ESY ESY.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, esy, we don't need ESY because we don't see
regression and I'm like, are wetalking about the same child,
you know?
So it really is about beingprepared because they can talk
so fast and, like you said, allthese acronyms and talk all this
different language and then say, okay, all right, you agree,
(35:26):
okay, sign here.
And then the meeting's over andyou sign and it's like wait a
second, what did I just sign?
So it's really awesome thatyou're doing that, because I
think that that is one of thebiggest hurdles for parents and
they don't even really realizeit a lot of times that their
child actually could receive somuch more in the school district
(35:50):
and they just have no idea.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I have schools who actually refer their parents to
me to work with me because theyknow that I'm fair and I'm
realistic and I will advocatefor what I feel really is the
truth and not extra, justbecause I know I'm not
adversarial about it at all.
I just know the law behindspecial education and, as a
therapist, I know I'm notadversarial about it at all.
I just know the law behindspecial education and, as a
therapist, I know what works.
(36:13):
So when you put them togetherand you just ask people to keep
accountability and do the rightthing, it's amazing.
But again, I just I love doingthese master classes so that
then it gives these parents whodidn't get rubbed wrong yet an
opportunity to not have thatnegative, hopeful experience
that a lot of other families gothrough.
(36:34):
Or I do.
I get to go help a lot offamilies who have been on
different social media platformsand private groups and they're
kind of rallying together and Ihave a great reputation in that
field, so I get lots ofreferrals and do spend a lot of
time doing that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, you know, I always say aren't we supposed to
be a team and all want the samething for the child?
We all want the child to betheir absolute best self.
So I mean, that's where thebottom line is.
And once in a while, you knowwhen I've heard friends say this
to me well, the team is meetingand they're going to get back
(37:14):
to me and I say wait a second,You're part of that team, Are
they meeting?
Good job, yeah, you should beat that table because they can't
meet without you.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, A lot of times they make you feel like you're
this outside invited guest.
Yes, well, it's my child thatwe're talking about.
And two, that team that youjust talked about.
I beg to differ, but on thatsignature page it lists me as a
member of that team.
So I'd like to be present andI'd like to be involved in this
Absolutely yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So it's really great that you're doing that
masterclass and I'm sure thatyou have a lot more that you're
going to be offering as well.
Do you want to talk about anyof those that you might have
coming up?
Speaker 2 (38:10):
to do that as much as possible, and I do that for
young or new parents like me astheir first child.
So then we have a series whereI do touch on you know what are
the benefits of baby sign andwhy do you hear about it?
You know, and let me tell youfrom me being a speech
pathologist and a communicationexpert, and then we also fold in
.
Each class kind of has itsdifferent topics.
So one is baby sign and gettingthose early communication
(38:33):
things going.
One is about sensory and how wehave a lot of talk out on the
street about like sensoryprocessing and deregulation and
people not liking, or kids notliking things on their skin or
labels and tags and all thisstuff.
But if we found that if you cando a systematic desensitization
(38:54):
early on, that you can actuallyhelp with some of that to
decrease sensitivities.
So we talked about that.
Then one week is about feeding.
So like there's lots ofdifferent ways to parent and
those choices are indeed theparents.
But I just go share what we'veseen work and if you go this
path, this is what we see.
If you go that path, that'sfine too.
(39:15):
This is what we see, and I justshare that so that parents can
make their own educateddecisions on what they want to
do.
And so we introduce thedifferent talks of the different
styles of feeding.
So there's like baby ledweaning.
There's, you know, there's aplethora of them out there, and
so we just talk about which onesthat you like and then what we
(39:38):
see happen if you choose thatone, and is there one better
than the other?
Not really.
It's driven by the child andtheir individual needs.
How do we avoid, you know,having a picky eater?
That's really essential to me,because I would love to just
avoid it at all costs.
And so by having that proactivepiece ahead of time, these
(39:58):
parents can make better choicesand decisions, be educated and
then hopefully, avoid pickyeating.
And then the other part of thatis just the speech and language
overall, part of just gettingthe kids to talk and communicate
, just developmental milestonesaltogether that we go over so
(40:19):
that everybody should bewatching whether at knowing you
know, 12 to 18 months maybe, oftherapy twice a week, you're
(40:52):
paying your co-pay.
And that brings me to anotherthing that you mentioned at the
beginning was that we do offerthe intensive therapy sessions
and what that is for all thepeople who maybe don't have
insurance or don't want to getcaught up paying a really high
deductible that they discovertheir plan has, that they had no
(41:13):
idea was attached to them.
They can actually come that.
They just come in for four tofive days, four weeks to maybe
six weeks and then therapy'sover how many hours a day.
(41:44):
But the way it works and thereason why it works so well is
because we're teaching theparent, and then that parent is
empowered and they know how todo therapy 101, if you will, at
home, and so that's what makesit different.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Oh gosh, that is so.
Continuity what's that?
Continuity of care?
Continuity of care, that iscritical because both sides have
to be on the same page.
If you're not working together,it doesn't work either.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
Exactly.
You're just spinning yourwheels right, and I don't want
to take anyone's co-pay and justsee that it's not working.
You know what I mean.
But when it's funny, when theparents know that it's 30 days,
they just put their all into itand both moms and dads are just
parents, caregivers, nannies,everybody who's helping with
that child and that family.
(42:34):
Yeah, they're all workingreally hard, but because of that
it goes so much faster.
You don't need to do thattraditional model that we all
think that we need to do withour insurance.
You just don't need to.
We actually did evidence-basedtrials of it at my own practice,
and so I made sure that I didit remotely, so that I couldn't
(42:56):
even if I got.
You know where I'm like well,why don't you just come in and
let me help you?
I couldn't do that becausethey're so far away from me,
because I couldn't get them towant to.
You know, just have them comein.
But we worked on it and thenice thing is the feedback for
the parents were like you know,it was the same amount of money.
It's just that it was actuallyless because one family got to
(43:17):
go submit their super bill yeah,right, and then they also
didn't have to go drive and bestuck in our California traffic.
They didn't have the wear andtear, they didn't have that over
their head cloud of like oh mygosh, I got therapy this week
and I got this on my plate, youknow.
And and parents run themselvesinto the ground pretty good, you
know, there's lots of thingsgoing on sports and activities,
(43:40):
and I get it.
I'm a parent, so, um, yeah, sowhat's really nice is when they
can go concentrate and they justdevote themselves for that 30
to 45 days, and it's essentiallythe same amount of money.
So it's just that you got topay up front for that, versus
the co-pays every time that youcome in for several weeks to
(44:03):
over a year.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
What you are talking about across the board are all
things that are going to makethem a better person for their
entire life.
Their entire life.
We're not talking about likesmall milestones here.
I mean we're talking aboutthings that they critically need
.
I mean this program is critical.
How long can you continue tooperate like this?
Speaker 2 (44:28):
I'm under threat pretty quickly here to get fines
funding because payroll ispretty steep.
Like I said, our operationexpenses every month are
$200,000.
So it's a lot of money.
And then we have payroll everytwo weeks and commercial rent
isn't inexpensive either.
(44:49):
So our rent is $45,000collectively amongst all three
locations.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Okay, I mean this is a serious situation and you need
help now.
So what you mentioned before wewent on air a GoFundMe on your
page.
I mean list all the ways thatpeople can reach out to you, how
can they get a hold of you,what is your website and how can
they help you financially.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
The best way to get a hold of us is at
AchievementCenterForTherapycom,and then we do have a Facebook
page as well, which is anotherresource if they're interested
in just learning.
But to help us out, there is aGoFundMe on Achievement Center
for Therapy's website, and thenalso we are working with Patreon
(45:40):
to be the platform where we canstart doing and hosting more of
our masterclasses as well on mywebsite there too.
So I think starting with theGoFundMe would be huge.
If there is somebody that's aphilanthropist or that, somebody
that is able to help, thatwould be huge too, because I'm
(46:03):
looking for something.
While the GoFundMe page says$100,000, that's because that's
immediately needed, by like nextweek, which sounds crazy.
But I just keep praying andhoping and hoping that the other
insurance companies and likepay enough, and I just keep
sneaking by by the skin of myteeth, you know to get the funds
(46:24):
that we need.
Or I've been blessed withfriends or family who can, but
this has been going on in toobig a numbers for borrowing from
friends or family.
It's just exhausted.
And then now, at this point,when you didn't know, your
credit's also diminishingbecause you just have much piled
on right.
(46:45):
Commercial banks are going tojust take way too long and then
it's just, it's an uphill battle.
I feel like I'm fighting rightnow, so really, really trying to
find somebody that A would loveto support us so that we can
support our military familiesand these children that we serve
.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
And, like you said earlier, it is critical for kids
to continue the therapy or elsethey're going to start
regressing very quickly.
So I mean this is I love thatyou have this.
This is such a great serviceand you are reaching so many
kids.
Can you tell us how many kidsyou are reaching?
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah, at each facility we have at least 50
families, so that would be over150.
But it can ebb and flow.
There's, you know, times whereit's more and sometimes when
it's less.
And you know, right now wecan't go gain more children with
TRICARE because we're notgetting paid and I can't make
(47:49):
payroll go up if we don't havethe funds to pay them.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
So so, yeah, you have to turn people down right now.
You can't keep taking newpeople on.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
Right, right, and we have to service the ones that we
do have, because then it'scharged with patient abandonment
.
So it's a really bad.
Oh my God.
I know that's mind blowing,right, because when I learned
about it it was just like wait aminute, I got to show up to
work for free.
Who else does this?
You know what I mean.
Like this is crazy to me.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (48:17):
Yeah, and you know what's really sad is that these,
you know you put a differencedisability, however you want to
say it on a person and you think, well, you know they're
disposable or it doesn't evenmatter, we don't have to have
this care for them.
You know what I mean.
That really bothers me becausesomebody that has autism and
(48:41):
seeing so many people some ofthe most intelligent people we
talked about Temple Grandinbefore we went on air I mean
there are so many people thatI'll tell you what, if we didn't
have people with differences,we wouldn't have a lot of what
we have today and from Apple to,you know, some of the biggest
corporations, because we arereally smart, we really do well
(49:06):
and sometimes we just need somehelp along the way, and there's
nothing wrong with that.
So, having something like you,I wish that I would have had
those helps.
You know, 50 years ago, when Iwas a kid, they didn't have
those things, and so there werepeople like Temple Grandin and
people like you know that we hadthese diagnoses hundreds of
(49:29):
thousands of years ago, you know, back in the Stone Age when I
was a kid.
But now we have theseopportunities.
You have presented so manygreat things for kids that we
didn't have even a coupledecades ago.
So it would be really a shamethat we can't utilize these
tools for these kids, becausethey will have so much more
(49:53):
potential than even we didbecause of the things that
you're offering them.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Right, yeah.
So yeah, just on average, ifthe services have to stop, it
takes them like at least sixmonths that they're on a waiting
list in another facility andthat's like nationwide there's a
really long wait.
But now if everyone else isclosing their doors, then these
kids are just going to be out ofluck.
Like how do we do that?
And then what?
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Because the schools do their best to be able to do
things within their buildings,but really they're limited and
you, your types of services, arethe ones that really do help
the children.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
We work with the schools a lot of times, but it
is really nice that we cancollaborate and it takes a
comprehensive team to you know,the schools don't do the medical
side of things like what we do.
They stick to the educationalbased things.
So, yeah, there is a lot ofkids who are going to be in a
sad way, I guess, and not onlythem, it's their parents, the
(50:53):
siblings.
It's a domino effect, if youwill.
But I'm hopeful, betweenoffering some of these master
classes and getting back todoing some of those things to
just reach out to more people,that with high volume, that
hopefully that can be asupplemental income as well for
(51:14):
us.
So I'm trying, so I'm lookingforward to trying to put
together some of those classesso that then I'm helping people,
but in essence they're going tobe helping our military.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
They give their life, they give their everything, and
then they're not often takencare of.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Yeah, this is really bad, Like there's people who
aren't getting surgeries thatneed them.
That's how bad this is, becausethe doctors you got to know
it's like orthopedic surgeons,oncology surgeons, oncologists,
pediatricians, it's everybody inthe military is not getting
paid.
Speaker 1 (51:48):
I didn't realize that Nobody is getting paid for any
of their surgeries or anythingthat they need right now.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
No, no providers in our country that serve and are a
medical provider of any sort,that are serving the military
families are getting paid sinceJanuary 1st.
And we had no knowledge of it,we had no warning, no, nothing.
So I have a pretty big shipthat I keep sail and it's just
(52:16):
been devastating.
So you go the first month andyou think like, okay, well,
maybe they're just waiting 30days, and then you can't get an
answer from anybody.
And then you wait and you'relike, oh my gosh, it's halfway
through February.
Now what you know what I mean.
And we're like, and then youcan't go quick enough to go
borrow those kinds of fundswithout that type of planning
(52:37):
there's just it's not heard of.
You know what I mean?
It takes 60 days, sometimes 90days, to get that kind of money
that you would need from a bank.
If you have a good workingrelationship with them, if you
have your own private practiceof any sort, you are not getting
paid right now by TRICARE.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
And that would cover doctors and surgeons.
Speaker 2 (52:56):
And it would cover your doctors and surgeons no
matter what.
So if you need an emergencylike surgery, okay, we got a
critical situation here and Ijust thought like, oh my gosh,
like is there some type ofsomething that's going to happen
like a PPP emergency thing forall of us, Because this is an
emergency.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
It really isn't.
I didn't realize this, I didn'tknow this and I don't and I'm a
news junkie, so I reallyhaven't heard this.
I'm just throwing this outthere.
I just had a thought because ofwhat you do, what about you
offered?
You know how they do telehealthand they offer all the how.
(53:41):
If you offered from all walksof life around the country and
you could service them throughvideo and virtually help people
for a fee.
Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yeah, that's what that advanced intensive therapy
actually is, so that one is donemostly remote or in a concierge
format.
So we do do a lot of that workremotely.
(54:15):
And how that came to be too,was my testing it out.
If I'm not there physicallydirectly with them, is it still
effective?
And the answer is yes, becausewe tested it out.
But when I've been testifyingas an expert witness I got to go
to different places and I'mlike I can't help you if I don't
have a license in this state.
It's just how it works.
I have to if I'm going to gettherapy which I have a license
(54:35):
in so many states, and it's fine, we're happy to do it.
As long as we know that we cango help a family, Then that's
absolutely not a problemwhatsoever.
So during COVID we've doneteletherapy so successfully.
It's been great.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
Okay, so do you have a list of the states on your
website of they can contact youand do this virtually?
Speaker 2 (54:59):
You know what, ann, I am happy to go get the license
for whichever state the personis in.
Okay, yeah, so it would make itworth it, you know, just to be
able to help them.
And then how it usually worksis in my industry it's just word
of mouth and more and morepeople will say like this is how
we got our help and that'sbasically how it covers the
(55:19):
expense of obtaining thatlicense, because there is a cost
for it.
So it would be out of pocket atthis point, because unless you
(55:44):
start being able to takeMedicaid or start being able to
take other insurances, that theycan go try it out in one or two
days.
And then we come back live as agroup and then everybody kind
of gets to share like, oh, thatwas successful for me, oh, that
was still a challenge.
But then it's just really nicefor all the families to have
some camaraderie, to know thatthey're not in it alone and they
(56:06):
can learn from one another.
So that's kind of what I'mtrying to form too, so that we
can help them, but yeah,individually too.
It's just that me as one person, or even with my team, I just
don't want to get in a positionwhere you know we have the too
many families that we can't go,give in the schedule of 40 hours
(56:28):
to go help that many people, wewould be limited.
So that's where these kind ofgroup things came to be, so that
we can help more people in abigger volume.
But there are cases wherepeople just need that one-on-one
time with me too, and that'sokay and we can make that happen
.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Well, I really appreciate you coming on.
This is big.
I think that it's a lot biggerstory than even just you, you
know, and what's really sad isthat this is a population that
needs served, because they haveso much to offer to this world
and they need to reach theirfull potential.
(57:05):
And I see three kids of my ownevery single day that I'm so
thankful for the services thatthey have received, and they
would not be who they are if itwasn't for all of the doctors
that we have and the therapiesand the early therapies that we
(57:27):
had and, yeah, the schools.
So I really appreciateeverything that you do, and if
there's anything else that wecould do to help you, you know,
please let me know.
Speaker 2 (57:41):
I think the outreach this has been great.
Thank you so much for lettingme come on and tell my story and
, you know, hopefully we cantouch somebody that can be able
to help us.
That would be lovely.
Speaker 1 (57:54):
How about a phone number and any other way that
they can call you directly?
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Yep, the best way to get ahold of us is that, or me
is that 805-383-1497.
Okay, the number to ourheadquarters and then that will
get to me, and the website againwas
Achievementcenterfortherapycom.
Okay great.
Speaker 1 (58:20):
Do you have an email that they can?
Speaker 2 (58:22):
contact you.
Would this be my first name?
That's a great way to get ahold of me is Sean S-H-A-W-N at
achievementcenterfortherapycom.
It's a long one, but hopefullyyou great way to get a hold of
me is Shawn S-H-A-W-N atAchievementCenterForTherapycom.
It's a long one, but hopefullyyou only have to do it once.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
All right.
Well, thank you so much forcoming on.
We really appreciate you.
We appreciate everything thatyou do and I pray that you
receive the helps that you needto be able to stay open and
continue to service thesechildren with differences that
are going to make hugedifferences in the world at some
point, but they just need to beserved and you know you just
(58:58):
want to keep your doors open.
Speaker 2 (59:00):
Fran, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (59:02):
All right, well, thank you, and to all of our
listeners, thank you forlistening or watching, and we
will see you next time.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!