Empowering Kids Pediatric Therapy

02/02/2026

February is Black History Month.

Black History Month is important because it reminds us to include ALL history. For years, black American's stories were minimized, distorted or rejected. Black History Month reminds us to tell America's full story; honoring lives and contributions that were historically ignored, and teaching respect, understanding, and empathy.

Black history is American history — and it deserves to be seen, learned, and celebrated.

01/29/2026

Sensory Processing plays a huge role in ALL aspects of a child's day. Being able to properly process things in their environment-sounds, lights, textures of clothing-allows your child to focus, learn, stay emotionally regulated, and increases their coordination. Executive Functioning Toolbox has great information on Sensory Processing.

Concerned about your child's sensory processing? Reach out to us, we can help with that! 💜

Here's a free sensory processing checklist you can print off: https://www.theottoolbox.com/sensory-processing-disorder-checklist/

01/27/2026

Registering your child for Kindergarten?

Check out these developmental milestones:

Think that your child could use a boost before entering Kindergarten? There's still time to make some nice gains before August, contact us today to get started!

01/25/2026

Some key developmental milestones for 4 year olds 👇🏼

For speech, we like strangers to be able to understand a 4 year old without parents needing to interpret for them and a child to be asking and answering WH questions.

For Occupational Therapy, children should be able to copy lines and letters, jump and catch a ball with 2 hands.

Have questions about our services? Reach out today!

We accept CareSource Medicaid, Traditional Medicaid and MHS Medicaid as well as SIHO insurance. We'd love to help your child meet their speech-language or occupational therapy goals!

01/24/2026

Warming Centers for Bartholomew County.

Everyone stay safe this weekend!

01/19/2026

Today, our Empowering Kids team reflects on our deep respect Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. He demonstrated the power of peacefully standing up for what is right, advocating for justice so that all people would be treated with dignity and equality.

Our nation is still far from fully realizing this vision, but his message remains as important as ever. Each day, we can all make the choice to continue the important work he began. We can choose to live peacefully, work to gain understanding, and stand up in unity to support one another

01/16/2026

We are excited to announce that Empowering Kids Pediatric Therapy is now in network with MHS Medicaid, helping us continue to support children and families in our community with accessible, high-quality therapy services.

Contact us to find out if we are the right fit for your family. 💙

01/12/2026

Representation matters. We love to see toys representing more community members.

Representation shows people that they matter and they belong.

This also helps all of us to grow in awareness and empathy.

We ALL are important and we ALL deserve to be included in our community.💙

Mattel, Inc. unveiled today its first-ever autistic Barbie doll created with guidance from the autistic community to represent common ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate about the world around them

01/05/2026

We are excited to welcome Lesley Hewitt, Licensed Clinical Social Worker to our space! Lesley works with a Therapy Dog, Teddy. She and Teddy love working with children and will be working in the room directly off the waiting room. She's transformed the room into a beautiful, welcoming and comfortable space for her clients.

Lesley will be in the office on Wednesdays in January and will add Tuesdays to her schedule soon after. When Lesley is in session, we ask that families be mindful of noise in the waiting room. Please encourage children to use soft voices and gentle play in the waiting room. Don't worry, we have taken several precautions that we know will help to keep Lesley and her clients comfortable with the addition of several sound proofing and sound dampening items in the waiting room and her office space. We appreciate you joining those efforts with us.

We know Lesley will be able to help many clients to meet their mental health needs. She will have business cards available in the waiting room if you'd like to find out more about her and her services!

01/03/2026

Happy New Year! 🎉

We've had a lot of questions about which sounds children should be able to pronounce. This chart shows the sounds that children should master each year.

Another consideration for if your child is on track that we use is how well strangers can understand your child. If you feel like you have to translate for your 4-year old, they'd most likely benefit from speech therapy.
⭐ 3 year olds should be able to be understood 50%-75% of the time
⭐ 4 year olds should be able to be understood 75-90% of the time
⭐ 5 year olds should be easily understood by all others

Message us or email Melissa at melissa@empoweringkidsspeech.com for more information.

12/24/2025

We are closed for the holidays! At Empowering Kids, we value our staff and know that they will be able to serve our community best when supported with time to rest, reflect and make memories with family and friends. We will be closed today through January 4th. We look forward to welcoming you back to the clinic on Monday, January 5, 2026!
We hope you all get a chance to rest, recharge and take in all the good that this time of year offers. Happy Holidays!

12/12/2025

Inclusive Options, LLC is sponsoring Sensory Open Gym TONIGHT! Join them at the Columbus Gymnastics Center for a sensory friendly open gym!