POSITIVE IMPACT
Bringing Therapy Services to Ponca City
WHO WE ARE
Positive Impact is a therapy service for children with disabilities that operates on the Opportunity Center campus. Over 50 children receive therapies according to their specific needs and diagnosis, including physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy. Positive Impact has filled a desperate need in our community by bringing these services to Ponca City and has greatly improved the quality of life for these children and their families.
As some of you have possibly heard, as of January 1, 2019, Positive Impact became a program of Opportunity Center. The children served by Positive Impact are the future adults that will be in need of our vocational and possibly residential services and we couldn’t be more excited to be a part of their support system as they grow! This expansion in services offered by Opportunity Center is a perfect way for us to adapt to the ever-changing needs of those with disabilities in our community.
WHAT WE DO
Positive Impact (The Autism Support Center) offers Speech and Occupational Therapy through Therapy Specialist out of Stillwater (405-377-8255). The therapists travel to Ponca City and do the therapy here at the Autism Support Center.
All of the billing takes place through Therapy Specialist, and the referral from doctor needs to be sent to them as well. A child does not need to have ASD to receive services here as long as they have a referral from their doctor, insurance requirements are different, but there must be some kind of delay, that is all. Therapy Specialist takes Soonercare and most private insurances.
We also have a monthly support group meeting on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm at the Autism Support Center, 220 Village Circle Drive (behind the Opportunity Center). This program does social events and more traditional support group meetings with information for parents, while providing child care.
Social Skills Groups and Parenting Classes are free of charge. The Social Skills Groups are held on weekends during the school year and during the week in summer months, the child MUST be enrolled to attend the group each week because there are only so many slots. Please contact us for exact meeting dates for each of these groups.
Check out our online Facebook support group, Autism Support Group of Northern Oklahoma and Positive Impact Facebook page for more information, event dates and updates on therapy services, support groups, classes, etc.
You are always welcome to call us at 580-762-0121.
TRIPP'S STORY
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and boy have I experienced that as a mother. It is especially true when you have a child on the spectrum. Our son has Autism and this is our story.
When our son, Tripp, was just a year old both of our families were very concerned with his development. He spoke a few words at one year old and later lost them. He didn’t make eye contact with people and didn’t respond to his name. As any good mother would do, I turned to the “professionals” and the response I heard was: "He’s a boy, give him time, he will catch up." That wasn’t good enough so we started searching for answers and scheduled testing to be done.
Fast forward three years, and we finally got our answers at OU Children’s, where the all-day testing took place. And NOTHING can prepare you for those heart piercing, deafening words, “Your son has Autism Spectrum Disorder.” We had been living with Autism for four years already, but denial and perhaps hope, keeps you from knowing what you already know sometimes.
Immediately we began researching what we could do to help our son more. He had been in Speech and Special Education classrooms but nothing seemed to work. We considered moving out of the state because of insurance laws not covering Autism therapy in Oklahoma. That did not work out, and I eventually had to quit my job to stay home with our son. Tripp, at four years old, was almost non-verbal, and had “fits” all day long from not being able to communicate with us. When he was happy we had a lot of fun with him, but his language was not developing at all, so very few people would even try to interact with him.
It seemed hopeless until a miracle happened. An ABA based classroom was introduced and Tripp finally received the early intervention type of therapy that he should have had when he was a year old. Then later another miracle happened, we changed insurance and found out that our Texas based out-of-state insurance WOULD PAY for the therapy Tripp so desperately needed.
Now after a year and a half of intensive ABA therapy, not only is Tripp verbal, he’s learning how to read. He rides his bike in the neighborhood and says hello to everyone. He asks for things and tells us when his tummy hurts or he is hungry instead of just crying. It took years of research and praying and a team of people to get us here, but we finally found our village!
