Learning and Therapy Corner: Nurturing Growth and Development

The Learning and Therapy Corner is dedicated to providing comprehensive support for individuals on their learning and therapeutic journeys. Originally established in 2002 as the Communication Corner by Megan Lekas, M.S., CCC-SLP, it evolved into the Learning and Therapy Corner in 2008 to reflect the expanded range of services offered. The organization prides itself on delivering personal, effective, and competent services to every family, working closely with family, teachers, and other professionals involved in the client’s daily life to ensure comprehensive support.

Mission and Philosophy

At the heart of the Learning and Therapy Corner is a commitment to meeting each client's unique needs. The process often begins with a comprehensive evaluation to determine specific needs, but they also accept evaluations from other professionals. A treatment plan is then designed for each client to address these needs. Every client is treated as an individual, and therapy/learning programs and goals are developed specifically to meet their requirements.

The Learning and Therapy Corner believes that collaboration with family, school, and other professionals is key to achieving the highest level of improvement. This team approach extends to families, providing direction and support for both the child and their family. The organization was founded on the belief that there should be a place where families can come and learn about their child’s needs, in a supportive team atmosphere.

Services Offered

The Learning and Therapy Corner offers a comprehensive range of services to support individuals in their learning and therapeutic journeys. These services include:

Speech Therapy: Addressing communication delays/disorders.
Occupational Therapy: Focusing on fine motor skills, handwriting, and sensory processing.
Reading Instruction: Utilizing programs like Phono-Graphix® to improve reading skills.
Psychoeducational Testing: Conducting comprehensive evaluations to identify learning strengths and needs.
Behavioral Consulting: Providing strategies based on Positive Behavior Support (PBS) to manage behavior and enhance quality of life.

These services are available at the Learning and Therapy Corner office, at the child’s school, or through teletherapy. They accept Medical Assistance for some services.

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Psychoeducational Evaluations

Comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations are conducted by a licensed psychologist to examine a child’s strengths and needs to determine if specialized educational supports and accommodations are needed. The evaluation allows the examiner to assess the child's strengths and weaknesses to gain a complete understanding of their level of functioning.

A comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation consists of:

An intake interview to clarify the referral questions and obtain a complete developmental history.
Formal testing sessions with standardized measures, including cognitive and achievement testing at a minimum.
Rating scales to assess social-emotional functioning and executive functioning.
Additional measures (memory, adaptive functioning, autism rating scales, etc.) may be necessary to further evaluate the referral question.
A written report compiling the data collected.
A feedback session to discuss the results and recommendations.

An ADHD evaluation, also offered, consists of an intake interview, formal observations, rating scales, a measure of executive functioning, a written report, and a feedback session. This evaluation assesses the child’s current level of functioning to determine if they meet the diagnostic criteria outlined in the DSM-5. If the child meets the diagnostic criteria, they may be eligible for supports and accommodations in the school setting. Follow-up behavior consultation services are also available. Per hour testing is available if it is determined that a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation is not necessary.

Positive Behavior Support (PBS)

Behavior consultation services at the Learning and Therapy Corner are driven by the principles of Positive Behavior Support (PBS). PBS is an approach to behavior management that focuses on proactive, preventative, and instructive strategies to enhance a child’s quality of life and minimize problem behavior. PBS incorporates the research-based techniques of applied behavioral analysis to examine the function of a child’s behavior within the context of their daily life.

The process involves:

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An initial intake meeting with the family to gather background information and information around current concerns.
Providing the family with data sheets for home and school, as well as preliminary strategies to implement across settings.
A series of follow-up consultation meetings to review additional strategies and complete progress monitoring.

Therapeutic Skills Training

The Learning and Therapy Corner offers therapeutic skills training to help children develop, practice, and generalize skills across settings. The practitioner will meet with the family for an initial interview to gather background information, review previous evaluations and school records, identify areas of need, and write a treatment plan with therapeutic goals. After the initial interview, the practitioner will work with the family to set up weekly appointments for the child. The frequency of service will be decreased to every other week as the child makes progress in his or her sessions.

Skills training may include but is not limited to:

Initiating and maintaining social conversations
Topic maintenance
Making and keeping friends
Negotiating conflict
Expressing feelings
Reframing anxious thoughts
Building self-control
Reading emotional or social cues from others
Planning, prioritizing, organizing, and self-monitoring

The practitioner will provide the family with suggestions to practice skills at home between sessions and will provide verbal progress reports. Preschool through third grade is generally scheduled using a 30-minute session, fourth grade and beyond are scheduled using a 45-minute session.

Canine-Assisted Therapy

Canine-assisted therapy is a therapeutic intervention that incorporates a certified therapy dog into the treatment plan. The client works together with the therapy dog and a Licensed Therapist/Animal-Assisted Therapy Interventionist to work on clearly identified goals for change, measurable objectives, and the expectation of identifiable progress toward the treatment goals.

Canine-assisted therapy is used to enhance and compliment the benefits of traditional therapy. Therapy dogs can provide a sense of calm, comfort, or safety and divert attention away from a stressful situation and toward one that provides pleasure. Developing a therapeutic bond with an animal can help individuals develop a better sense of self-worth and trust, stabilize their emotions, and improve their communication, self-regulation, and socialization skills.

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The Team

The Learning and Therapy Corner hires highly qualified therapists committed to providing quality service and treatment. All therapists are master level educated, licensed, and actively continuing their educations. They have therapists who have received additional training and/or certification in various areas, including:

Phono-Graphix® reading program
Handwriting/fine motor programs such as Handwriting Without Tears
Communication methods such as Picture Exchange System Communication, SCERTS, Augmentative and Alternative Communication, DIRFloortime, pediatric feeding, and ABA discrete trial

The team is able to provide services from birth to young adulthood to clients who may be experiencing delays/disorders or have experienced some level of trauma.

Collaborative Environment

The team at the Learning and Therapy Corner operates in a collaborative environment, working closely with each other and with families to achieve the best possible outcomes for their clients. Staff members express their appreciation for the energetic and happy environment, the dedication of their colleagues, and the opportunity to celebrate successes, big or small.

Little Corner Academy

Little Corner Academy is a Floortime therapy based half-day program providing a structured learning environment for all children ages 2-5, that is tailored to meet your child at their developmental level! Their goal is to help children establish strong academic and social readiness skills. Little Corner Academy is the only program that includes speech and occupational therapy in your child’s early learning/early intervention based program!

Their goal at Little Corner Academy is to offer the families assistance, even if they do not choose to sign up for the program. They guide the families to services that may be of assistance to them, whether it is Child Find, Abilities Network, or Infants and Toddlers. They aide in behavior services, offer strategies that parents can implement at home, assist with IEP/IFSP meetings and write ups, and informally assess children when needed.

The cost is $85 per day (less than the cost of one hour with a licensed therapist!). They can be contacted about Medical Assistance and Insurance pertaining to therapies.

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