143 Speech Therapy

143 Speech Therapy 143 Speech Therapy is a pediatric speech therapy clinic serving the Des Moines Metro with neurodiversity-affirming, child-led care.
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I’m so honored to be named as 2025 runner up for  “Family Favorites” in the service provider category. Starting this pra...
11/12/2025

I’m so honored to be named as 2025 runner up for “Family Favorites” in the service provider category. Starting this practice has been one of the brightest moments in my life. At 143 Speech Therapy we strive to create a space where kids grow and families feel loved, supported, and safe. Thank you to all who voted! 🌈

A big congratulations to for taking the top spot this year. I’m so proud of you and love sharing this award with you. 👏🏻

Happy birthday to our sweet, silly girl Mabel! We love you! ❤️🌈❤️
10/27/2025

Happy birthday to our sweet, silly girl Mabel! We love you! ❤️🌈❤️

I hope my freebie finds you and your trick or treaters in time. I added some images and poem ideas for you to use if the...
10/25/2025

I hope my freebie finds you and your trick or treaters in time. I added some images and poem ideas for you to use if the opportunity presents. Last year, I was caught off guard by the number of people withholding candy until my son said a joke. I know it’s not will ill intent, and I love tradition. BUT, if I can make one impact this season, I want it to be this. We (therapists, families, children, teachers) work so hard to help neurodivergent children join the places and activities that often aren’t created with them in mind. INSTEAD, what if we encourage easy, yet impactful, ways to adjust the places and activities to help these children feel safer and more welcoming?

If you’re handing out candy, please consider posting this, or giving candy, smiles, and treats with NO expectation of verbal or social exchange.

If you’re trick or treating and experience people handing out candy who are doing amazing with this idea, I included a little thank you. If you meet someone who could use a little bit of carefully worded feedback, I included that too. One parent even added that they will write their son’s joke on the note and he can give it to them. ❤️🎃

Happy Halloween!

10/01/2025

October means two of our favorite ways to boost language- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and embracing the spooky season and all of the fun special interests that come along with it!

Happy AAC month! Follow along this month for my favorite ways to incorporate visuals into language development.

Up first- did you know that AAC isn’t only voice output devices? AAC is any way that people communicate without talking. When you think about it, we often communicate more without language than with language (think facial expressions, body positioning, affect, gestures, proximity, staying engaged, eye gaze). At 143 Speech Therapy we honor ALL forms of communication and work really hard to build pre-verbal communication, also known as “protoconversation” in the Floortime model, to lay the foundation for more complex communication.

Comment below or like this post if you’d like more examples of how to engage your child in protoconversation!

FREEBIE FRIDAY! Grab your communication board by clicking the link in my profile to download your own! It can be printed...
09/19/2025

FREEBIE FRIDAY! Grab your communication board by clicking the link in my profile to download your own! It can be printed on a standard letter sized paper and also includes a QR code to access it on a phone or tablet for on-the-go augmentative communication. I have several of these printed in our clinic on banner material which holds up nicely to a lot of little hands! 👏🏻 (if you’re local- I recommend Purple Cow Printing in Urbandale).

How cute does Mabel look in front of AAC?

This has been a labor of love for years creating my own symbols and don’t even get me started on lining them up evenly. You will see that it’s made up of core vocabulary to give access to high frequency vocabulary or expand into sentences. BUT we know all kids develop language differently, so for my gestalt language processors (those developing “chunks” of language like phrases, songs, movie lines rather than single words) there are also some high frequency phrases. And of course, for my sign language pals, we have those too along the bottom. ✌🏼🤟🏼 I hope you enjoy and share!

We are out of office August 18-22 to enjoy some moments before the school year. See you next week! 🌈
08/19/2025

We are out of office August 18-22 to enjoy some moments before the school year. See you next week! 🌈

It was a big week! Mabel successfully completed her first full day of work today and I’m so, so proud of her and excited...
06/27/2025

It was a big week! Mabel successfully completed her first full day of work today and I’m so, so proud of her and excited to see what is next. I’m so thankful for my families and supporting her training. One of her highlights was listening to /r/ targets like “roll over” and “treat” as well as kids cueing her skills with “yessss”. She worked hard at regulating her energy while kids crashed, screamed, jumped, and laughed. She feels like a dream come true. Extra thankful for my eager SLP students who is helping with supporting Mabel’s training. 🌈

Do you know someone who would be a good fit for a growing, neurodiversity affirming speech therapy practice? We are hiri...
06/02/2025

Do you know someone who would be a good fit for a growing, neurodiversity affirming speech therapy practice? We are hiring a part time speech therapist AND a part time office manager/billing specialist. Are you both? Ok Unicorn, send us a DM. 😉

But really, send a message for more information about the position. Bonus points if you also send your enneagram number.

A few fun updates! 1. This week we celebrate our first anniversary since opening our clinic. We will celebrate over the ...
06/02/2025

A few fun updates!
1. This week we celebrate our first anniversary since opening our clinic. We will celebrate over the next couple of weeks since I’m out this week for a family trip.
2. Mabel visited the new clinic space several times this weekend. She did an official therapy dog training session with and then we followed up with a few extra trips to practice her skills training. I’m getting antsy to bring her and I know my kids are too! ♥️
3. If you visit our clinic soon, you’ll notice the beginning of a free little library/toybox/closet forming. I decided that I needed to initiate this dream instead of waiting until I have the time to make it just like the way I envision it (what is time, do you have it?)

Thanks for following along as always! 143 ♥️

Our new space is officially open this week and it feels so, so good! One room was designed with speech sound therapy in ...
05/02/2025

Our new space is officially open this week and it feels so, so good! One room was designed with speech sound therapy in mind and another for child-led play and movement. Thank you to all of the 143 families for their patience and grace in the transition and thank you to and for helping curate this space. I am so excited for what comes next. #143

Address

8230 Hickman Road, Suite A
Clive, IA
50324

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 3pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 4pm

Telephone

+15152160161

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