Menu
Offering Office Appointments in Topeka & Lawrence, KS - Teletherapy Available
Words Unleashed provides scientifically driven, person centered services to individuals ages birth through young adulthood, including college aged.
At Words Unleashed, we believe therapy should help individuals communicate better in their daily lives. Making and maintaining friendships, improved performance academically, and clearly voicing needs and thoughts to parents, siblings, teachers, and community-based activity leaders drive our interventions. Partnering with individuals’ schools, other therapy providers and family enables treatment that extends beyond the outpatient setting to positively impact day to day life. Joining children and teens where they are, whether chasing bubbles across the grass and creating masterpieces with sidewalk chalk, or delving into a preferred topic through literature, or accessing curriculum-based subjects, enables a person of any age to be invested in their own achievements and growth. We look forward to learning about your unique concerns, goals and passions to create a working partnership.
Areas of Specialty
Words Unleashed offers diagnosis and treatment for a variety of concerns.
- Speech Sound Disorders
Child centered and play based speech therapy for young children addresses severe intelligibility concerns as with Apraxia of Speech or a Phonological Disorder, as well as positively impact correcting an Articulation Disorder. Older individuals utilize efficacious strategies for rapid improvement. Individualized, systematic generalization is weaved into a client’s life as the person is able to produce their targets correctly outside of the therapy setting, reducing the overall length of time of therapy. Home programs are developed with families to incorporate into daily lives.
- Language
We use language to express our desires and needs, but just as importantly, to share thoughts and experiences. Expressing ourselves without hindrance is an essential aspect of life. Child centered early intervention melds into a thematic approach in preschool. For school aged students, coordination between school and clinician yields the best results when language goals are targeted through curriculum based knowledge and work.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
Treatment applies research based interventions such as Collaborative and Proactive Solutions developed by Dr. Ross Greene and Social Thinking ® methodology developed by speech-language pathologist Michelle G. Winner. This approach focuses on helping individuals think about their own thoughts and feelings as well as others’ thoughts and feelings across all settings. Developing social competency skills allows for improved mental health and overall functioning within social settings, while working collaboratively to solve one concern at a time.
- Reading
Therapy follows the principles of Orton-Gillingham. Wilson Language Training provides a wonderful material base to support decoding. Multi-sensory, age-appropriate phonological awareness work can be done as well. Fluency improvement through creative activities and Lindamood-Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing program complements science-driven comprehension strategies for intervention across reading areas.
- Writing
Excellence in Writing, From Talking to Writing, and The Writing Revolution are a few of the curriculums that influence therapy procedures. Writing paragraphs and essays are not just an end product, but also a method to enhance critical thinking. Sentence structure and grammar are targeted in the context of purposeful writing rather than discrete drill work.
- Executive Function Skills
Smart student with poor grades due to missing work? Difficulty organizing long term projects and papers? Always late to places, even when the activities are important? Difficulty being in the “right frame of mind” to steadily work towards and finish tasks? EF skills are a set of skills that includes working memory, flexible thinking, emotional regulation, organizing, planning and initiating. These skills can improve with support and evidence-based strategies. Executive Functioning skills can be targeted as early as preschool and continue developing throughout the life span. High school and college students benefit from explicit goal planning and targeted strategies to maximize their successes.
- Stuttering
Direct intervention as well as family education and support are implemented.
- Auditory Processing
Dr. Jack Katz’s Buffalo Model for diagnosing and treating APD provides the foundation of remediation therapy, accompanied by interventions for a tailored approach to the individual. Specializing in preschool APD intervention, we also have much experience with older students, including college aged. Concurrent remediation therapy and individualized academic accommodations provide more immediate relief of symptoms.
Services
ASSESSMENT
Assessment
An individual assessment plan will be developed with concerns and goals in mind. Formal testing including a variety of standardized measures as well as a review of past evaluations. Informal language assessment, school/community observation, as well as teacher and home input are all parts of completing the overall picture.
TELETHERAPY
Teletherapy
Teletherapy is provided via live video for individuals who prefer telehealth rather than face-to-face contact due to logistics or health concerns.
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
Individual Therapy
Once goals have been determined, a therapy schedule will be generated to effectively and efficiently master those skills.
GROUP THERAPY
Group Therapy
Especially for individuals learning to maneuver successfully in the social world, group therapy can be particularly beneficial. Using engaging activities to encourage problem solving, flexible thinking, and teamwork, such as scavenger hunts in a community location, children and teens are able to actively practice developing skills in an atmosphere that celebrates neurodiversity.
Meet Jenny
Jennifer Higgins, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
Words Unleashed was founded by Jennifer Higgins, a licensed Speech Language Pathologist. Ms. Higgins has over 20 years of experience providing evaluation and treatment for speech, language and reading disorders, from birth through early adulthood.
Ms. Higgins earned her Bachelor of Science with honors from Texas Christian University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She received her Masters in Education with a speciality in Communication Disorders through Georgia State University.
During her graduate program, Ms. Higgins interned at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Scottish Rite Hospital in the pediatric outpatient clinic. An additional inpatient internship was held at Northside Hospital. Her final internship was in Cobb County Public Schools at an elementary school.
After working in both elementary and middle schools for Cherokee County Public Schools for several years, Ms. Higgins started her family and joined a pediatric outpatient clinic in Woodstock, Georgia. Providing evaluation and treatment for both the county’s early intervention program as well as traditional services for children under the age of 18 allowed for new experiences. When she completed training for hippotherapy, Ms. Higgins provided services utilizing equine partners, thus combining a lifelong interest into the work environment.
In 2007, she moved with her family to Lawrence, Kansas. She served with Easter Seals Capper Foundation in Topeka, Kansas.
She has maintained a private practice since 2010. She is licensed in the state of Kansas and is a member of The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the International Guild of Auditory Processing Specialists.
Insurance
Words Unleashed partners with a Medical Billing Professional who will submit all insurance claims for evaluations and treatments. Currently, I am in network with BCBS of KS, BCBS KC, Cigna and United Healthcare. Please feel free to contact me with any questions in navigating insurance reimbursement.
Families can utilize Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts for services.
Contact
785-766-5202
Lawrence Office
& Mailing Address
1112 Dubs Court
Lawrence, KS 66049
Topeka Office Site
1507 SW Topeka Blvd
Topeka, KS 66612
- Lawrence Office
- Topeka Office