Compleat Kidz
Creating an All Encompassing Pediatric Therapy Program

Growth is a nonlinear process. The ever-evolving tangents of growth, however, is particularly complex in the case of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Their development involves many shifting challenges and opportunities, demanding comprehensive, multipronged support that fosters every aspect of their unique path.

Compleat Kidz addresses this gap by providing a well-rounded and coordinated approach with its multispecialty program to ensure the holistic development of children under its care. It distinguishes itself by its ever-improving approach to patient care, delivered with all pediatric therapy services under one roof.

“Compleat Kidz and our multispecialty pediatric therapy program follows the principle of change. Instead of being static, it evolves a bit each day to meet the growing demands of our child learners,” says Tasha Gallahar, head of the clinic at Compleat Kidz.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT) and speech therapy (ST) are the four superhero services besides limited psychological services offered to the child learners. The learners have daily one-to-one therapy sessions that are supervised by experienced analysts once a week, turning it into a two-to-one session that is used to refine the plan to keep pace with their growing needs.

It typically serves learners aged between two and ten years old, using a variety of strategies like discrete trial teaching (DTT) and natural environment training or teaching (NET). Reinforcers also help kids learn and enjoy the learning process by doing activities they love, making it easier to retain knowledge and progress to more complex skills like handwashing. Compleat Kidz follows the concept of teaching its learners in a natural setting like while in the washroom, they are taught handwashing. While heading to the playroom, they are educated on how to take their shoes on and off. It assesses what’s effective for them while gradually introducing other avenues of learning.

The assessment is a continuous process that starts with a comprehensive psychological evaluation to diagnose ASD. It is followed by understanding the learner’s challenges with daily tasks like grocery shopping. It breaks the task into smaller achievable steps like developing safety skills and responding to parent instructions, to create an individualized plan to overcome these challenges and achieve their goals. It also pursues a parent training model to keep them up-to-date with the developments alongside group parent training and get-togethers to discuss their challenges like a support group.

There are numerous instances of Compleat Kidz engaging with young children who face difficulties communicating. Over time, these children have made remarkable progress, learning to speak in sentences, express their likes and dislikes, form friendships and transition from the supportive clinic environment to kindergarten or first grade.

The Compleat Kidz team is what makes these goals achievable. The clinicians including the OTs, STs, PTs and board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) are all highly qualified and work with families and learners every day. The RBTs too work tirelessly every day to implement the BCBA written norms. The managers and support staff assist with scheduling, rescheduling, communicating with parents and altering the program according to their needs. Some members connect with or create child-friendly events with the community as well.

Compleat Kidz isn’t averse to change and is adapting its model to the changing demands. In the same spirit, it is training its RBTs to offer home and community-based services on a limited basis, beginning a new phase in Compleat Kidz’s multipronged approach to help the community.