398 – Luba Patlakh of Bucks County, PA Mother of Three & Founder Of Kidology Inc. Pediatric Therapy Center

Transcript:

David Hirsch: Both parents should have equal access to children

Luba Patlakh: You know, because I see so many families day in, day out. I love when I see a dad having the 5050 in a family. It sets the children up, for a very equal understanding of life. It really creates a proper picture for children and they should have access to both parents if they can, because that’s how it should be, in my opinion.

Tom Couch: That’s our guest this week, Luba Patlakh, a mother of three children and founder of Kidology, Inc. A top rated family friendly pediatric therapy and child development center in Pennsylvania, offering families and children the support and the guidance they need to thrive. Lupa is a fascinating woman and we’ll hear her story on this Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. Now say hello to the founder of the Special Fathers Network and host of the Dad to Dad Podcast, David Hirsch.

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David Hirsch: Hi, I’m David Hirsch, host of the Special Fathers Network Data Dad Podcast. One brief message. The Special Fathers Network Mastermind Group experience is the most comprehensive program the 21st Century Dads foundation offers. Dads raising children with special needs, meet virtually on a weekly basis and form meaningful relationships while sharing weekly wins, discussing books and sharing heartfelt challenges. The Mastermind Group is free for the first 30 days. Stop trying to figure out things on your own. I invite you to join one of the existing Special Fathers Network Mastermind groups. You’ll meet some extraordinary dads, exchange a lot of best practices, and recharge your fatherhood battery for the journey ahead. It might just transform your life like it’s done for so many others. For more information, please see the show notes or Simply go to 21st centurydads.org.

David Hirsch: And now let’s listen into this intriguing conversation between Luba Padlock and David Hirsch.

Luba Petlock is founder of Kidology, Inc.

David Hirsch: I’m thrilled to be talking today with Luba Petlock of, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who’s the mother of three young children and founder of Kidology, Inc. A pediatric practice specializing in speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy and ABA services. Luba, thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview for the Special Fathers Network.

Luba Patlakh: I’m so happy to be with you. You have an amazing mission and if, your viewers and listeners haven’t been to your site, I highly recommend they do so to see your credibility.

David Hirsch: Thanks, Luba. Let’s start with some background. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family.

Luba Patlakh: Actually immigrated to the United States when I was just two years old, so I was a real life immigrant. Now I’m an American, obviously, but, yeah, I have an older brother and he, myself and my parents took the trek Austria to Italy to the United States. And it was, you know, I don’t remember too much. I have beautiful pictures from that time in my life. But I think it gives me a lot of foundation to have had that in my lifetime.

David Hirsch: So you mentioned Austria, Italy, US but you forgot to mention where you started.

Luba Patlakh: Ah, Kyiv, Ukraine. That’s where I was born.

David Hirsch: Okay. Well, Ukraine is on the minds of a lot of other people the last few years for different reasons. And it’s, very sad to see, all that’s transpired. in fact, one of our dads, a, Kiev dad, who was displaced because of the Russian, insurgents or war, you know, within weeks after that took place. And, he’s in London now. And, Ruslan Basiyutin is his name, Dr. Ruslan Basiutin. And, we’ve become quite close friends. In fact, he’s been to the US to participate in one of our dad retreats. So I, have a lot of sympathy for the, people in Ukraine. No doubt you still have relatives there.

Luba Patlakh: I do. I, actually always dreamed to go back and take my m. Family there because my father’s parents are buried there and I always wanted to visit them. so maybe one day.

David Hirsch: Yep. From your lips to God’s ears.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah.

Your dad is a watchmaker or a watch repair man

David Hirsch: So I’m sort of curious to know, what did or does your dad do for a living?

Luba Patlakh: My dad has a very interesting job, actually. He’s a, directly translated, a watchmaker or a watch repair man. But he fully can fix, disassemble, assemble any type of watch or clock.

David Hirsch: So I think of him as one of these old World craftsmen.

Luba Patlakh: Yes.

David Hirsch: With that skill, like, it’s a really refined skill. And did he have like, any understudies or anybody that’s going to be passed this along to or.

Luba Patlakh: Actually, he came from a family of butchers back in Kyiv, Ukraine. So I remember the story being that he, at a young age came across somebody in a shop that had this role. And he would watch him, he would watch him and the person would mentor him. And he learned the craft just from a young age that way and then grew his skills as he got older. So no, you know, degree or formality today now actually, because he’s been doing it for so many years. He’s gone, and had a variety of certificates from different watch brands and Swiss,

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Luba Patlakh: Swiss made things. So he’s, well educated and knows his craft very well.

David Hirsch: So you did not mention that you or your brother is taking up watchmaking.

Luba Patlakh: No, we did not. you Know, it’s so funny, I have this picture of my dad whenever I’ve seen him in my whole life, working. And he has a special table. He has this eyepiece. And you’ll see him because you have to see everything. It’s so intricate. And you’re like, dad, dad. He looks up, he’s like, yeah. And it’s like he’s got the one eye. That’s the vision. But, my brother works in pharma, and I went into speech, language pathology. Yeah, we took the healthcare side, I guess.

David Hirsch: Okay, well, somebody else is going to have to repair those watches then.

Luba Patlakh: I’ll see.

David Hirsch: So when you think about your dad, are there any important takeaways, lessons learned from him?

Luba Patlakh: yeah. I mean, my whole life I was very blessed to have a very understanding dad. And it’s funny, a lot of. And also, you know, my parents were foreign. They came to America when they were in their 30s and 40s with young, you know, sick parents, my mother’s parents and kids already. And most people, you know, I look. Compare it to our life today, where my husband and I are established in the States. We grew up here. We have the language, so we can meet a friend of our children and, you know, communicate with ease. Whereas for my parents, especially for my dad, because especially in, I want to say, Slavic cultures, father said to be the secondary figure, though. The, they’re supposed to be authoritative mothers, do the mother stuff, take care of the family and the home, which is not what it is today, but that’s how it was back in the day. So growing up, my dad would bring me to a friend’s house, and he didn’t have much English, so he would, you know, hello, how are you? Thanks for having her. And we would go and, everybody would always be like, your dad is such a mute. Your dad is such a mute. And I’m like, no, my dad talks a lot. He just can’t communicate with you, I guess. So. That was always interesting growing up. My dad is super chill guy, really fun time, lots of jokes. My dad has a lot of jokes. You can always count on him to make you laugh. And I remember he taught me how to drive a car. And we’ve had a lot of amazing times, me and my dad. And most importantly, I’m very grateful because he’s always been there for me and still is today. We lost my mom three years ago, and now it’s us. Sorry to get emotional, but.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, it sounds like you’re close to both your parents, and sorry to hear that your mom’s not here and dying at relatively young age. But, you know, what I heard you say is that, your dad, was good at communicating, at least in his language, maybe not English.

Luba Patlakh: Initially, we had a lot of laughs from things he had said to people’s parents. When he wanted to say something nice, like take your coat off, he’d be like, take your clothes off, and we’d be sad. That’s not what you say. So immigrant parents. It’s a funny thing that only me, immigrant kids can understand.

David Hirsch: I love it. Thanks for sharing.

You share a birthday with your grandfather; that’s special

So, did, you know your grandfathers at all? Did they have any influence on you?

Luba Patlakh: my father’s father, actually, I only met him one time. Well, he met me, I was just a newborn baby in the hospital. And he unfortunately was dying young from cancer back in Ukraine. And so I never got to know him, but I heard stories. And my mom’s father, I was very lucky to know for many years. He passed away when I was in seventh grade. He was pretty, sick with diabetes when they emigrated to the States. You know, he came here at a later age. But my grandfather David, my mom’s father, he wanted to always teach me how to play checkers. And I remember, actually he and I share a birthday. We were Both born on June 8th. And in my culture, that’s I was God’s gift because I shared a birthday with my grandfather. And I always felt very special, and I always felt that I was special to him. So he took time to teach me things. And he was a famed dentist in Kyiv, Ukraine as well. So that allowed, you know, he gave a lot of opportunity to my mom and her sister that they probably wouldn’t have had without a father like him. So it’s just been so special to know that I have strong figures like my grandfathers and my dad in my life, who not only are successful in their own capabilities, but always wanted success for their family.

David Hirsch: Yeah, I love it. Thanks for sharing. I guess that’s something else we have in common. Not only did our families immigrate to the US I was first generation us. My dad was the one that came over when he was seven. But, I also shared a birthday with my, maternal grandfather.

Luba Patlakh: Oh, wow.

David Hirsch: So I was his first grandchild born on his birthday. And, as a result, you know, I not bragging, but I’m fairly confident I was his favorite grandchild.

Luba Patlakh: God’s gift for God’s people.

David Hirsch: But, it was special that we’d always celebrate our birthdays together and he lived age 93, so he died when I was like 39 or 40. So we didn’t know each other when I was just a little guy, but as an adult as well, so what a blessing that was.

Luba Patlakh: That is special.

So, uh, any other positive adult male role models, father figures that

David Hirsch: So, any other, positive adult male role models, father figures

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David Hirsch: of sort that had an influence on your life when you were growing up?

Luba Patlakh: You know, my parents didn’t have a lot of friends, but they had a few very close friends. And my family, I have a very large family from both sides. So I’ve always been lucky to have a lot of uncles around and maybe older male cousins or friends of my family who I definitely feel had unique stories. So I don’t feel that anyone influenced me negatively. I don’t have any prominent, like someone mentored me and took me to do XYZ thing. But I think that it’s just instilled in me in my family life and my bloodline to want to do well and especially to help people. And I think a lot of the males in my family either work in healthcare or something with residential, where they’re selling or remodeling homes for people or low income people. So it’s been such a pleasure to see true community leaders who want to get out and do something for the greater good while also being in business themselves.

David Hirsch: Yeah, I love it. The way I think about it is, most people are just trying to balance work and family, their own family. And some people, I’d like to think it’s a growing number of people have some extra bandwidth and they want to have an impact right beyond their own family, beyond their own work. And you know, we need more people like that for sure.

You went to Hofstra to become a broadcast journalist

So my recollection was that, you went to Hofstra University, took a BA in communications, worked for a little bit and then, decided that you were going to make a career shift. I’m wondering if you could, sort of briefly give us some fly by on what your career has been.

Luba Patlakh: So I really loved broadcast and I loved being in journalism. I’m a very expressive individual. I was always in creative writing and I storyteller the whole thing. And so I went to Hofstra to become a broadcast journalist. I was sure that’s what I was going to do until I took a linguistics class and I was like, wow, I love language, I love linguistics. And really funny that we learned about a group of people in Nigeria. Correct me if I’m wrong. you guys can Google that. They were called the Luba People. And I’m like, okay, I’m meant to be here, obviously. And they. They communicated. It was, like, clicking, like. And I was so fascinated. Like, I’m so happy I took this course. And I think that really, that semester I did graduate with broadcast journalism. I graduated college in three years. But I was drawn. I was like, oh, man, I wish I would have found this sooner so I could have maybe redirected myself. But I really didn’t understand how I could utilize that at the time. So I did the broadcast thing, and I worked for Good Morning America weekend show. Had to wake up super early to produce these segments, which wasn’t ideal to my lifestyle at the time. Being a young person in Manhattan, I worked at Oxford University Press. I was a publishing assistant. I’m published in the Encyclopedia of African American History for what I’ve done. So it’s pretty cool. I had some really fun, random things. but I felt a little bit burnt out. It was just a lot going on. And my parents suggested I move back home and find something that’s not a hobby. This was their exact terminology to me. So upon coming back to the suburbs from Manhattan, where my parents no longer wanted to pay my rent, I had to find a career. And I wasn’t going to go to business school, I wasn’t going to get a master’s in journalism, because, again, hobby. And I started to really research trending careers for the next decade. And speech language pathology was there and occupational therapy was there, and I started to kind of investigate. And I found that speech language pathology was a strong suit for me, like a good fit. And I, you know, I. I went for it. I got a second bachelor’s, I got my master’s, and, here I am. And I’m very happy that I did it, because I think I really found my calling. And I’ve been since able to collaborate it into giving back to people, talking about it, storytelling, podcasting. So it’s kind of a combination of all of it.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for the, brief flyby. It’s very helpful.

How did you and Boris meet? I’m curious about how they met

And before we dive into the world of, you know, Kidology, Inc. I’m, sort of curious to know, how did you and Boris meet?

Luba Patlakh: So, funny enough, Boris and I are about five years apart, and he was. I was away at school, and he was also away at school. So we had some friends in common when we were in this area, but we didn’t really know each other. he also grew up in Bucks County. His family also emigrated from Kyiv, Ukraine. Like, super. So many Similarities. And then after I returned from college, I knew his niece, and she first tried to introduce me to somebody else, and that didn’t really work out. And then she’s like, I really want to introduce you to my uncle. And I was like, oh, God. Like, how your uncle did. I imagine I’m like, I don’t really know that I want to meet your uncle. And she’s like, no, no, no. He’s young. It sounds funny, but he’s young. He’s young. So, we ended up going to the same New Year’s Eve party. And, I remember that I didn’t sit with him there. I

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Luba Patlakh: did come over to say hello, because she was there with. With him, sitting together, and I came over to say hello. And then later, she’s like, well, he said he was really impressed by you. I laughed about that. And then later that night, you know, it struck midnight, and we had a couple drinks and laughs, and we hung out together. And we’ve just hung out ever since that day. So she was a good. She was a good matchmaker.

David Hirsch: So you mentioned you’re five years apart. I’m assuming, based on how the story has transpired, that he’s the one that’s five years older.

Luba Patlakh: Yes.

David Hirsch: Okay, so just verifying if you were.

Luba Patlakh: A cougar or not, but that’s so funny. Okay, I’m his young bride. Hello.

David Hirsch: There you go. There you go.

Kidology is an organization that helps children with disabilities and their families

So I’m sort of curious to know, what was your first exposure connection to the world of disability or special needs?

Luba Patlakh: Actually, when I was a little girl, my aunt took me to a local McDonald’s to grab a snack or something, lunch. I don’t remember the details, but I do recall that I, was playing on the playground there inside in the McDonald’s playhouse, and a little girl came up and grabbed me by the hair. And I have this memory today, and I didn’t know. I was like, oh, my God. You know, it was so scary. And my aunt ran over, and then the mom ran over. And I remember my aunt saying to me, oh, the girl is sick. The girl is sick. And I’m like, looking girl’s sick. What does, that mean? She’s not coughing, you know, as a child. And later I learned that the girl is sick meant she had a disability. Something was different about her. And it’s so interesting that that kind of stigmatized, oh, these people are sick. There’s. And I started to learn more and more in observation. Growing up, there would be children with disabilities in my classes or in. And around my school, I used to observe AIDS walking with kids with headphones. So I became very aware of this population. I never really had any additional encounter until I went to study and learn more about autism, disabilities, add, adhd, and the variety of other diagnoses out there. But I took an interest because I just. I love people so much, and I truly feel that life is hard enough as it is. When you’re born with a disability, it’s that much harder. And I really found a place where, you know, and not everybody that we work with has severe disabilities. However, a large percentage, I want to say 65 to 70% of the kiddos that come to Kidology do. And it’s just what I was meant to do. I was meant to be here to help these families, counsel them, and help the kiddos have a better life.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, thanks for the backstory. So, Kidology was founded in, early 2015. What was the spark behind founding it?

Luba Patlakh: I went to work, so I went to school for speech pathology. At that point, I believe I was getting my second bachelor’s and I wanted to have a job. I needed to work. I always worked, from a young age. And there was no job like a speech pathology assistant at the time. So I found, other jobs, special instruction, things like that. And I was getting my foot in the door and. And then as I got my master’s, I realized, I think I should do this myself. I should open a business. I am bilingual. I can bring a lot to my community, which is a bilingual, Russian, English speaking community here in Northeast Philly. I have a way to explain things to people that they understand and appreciate. I have a way with kids. So I just knew that this was the direction I should go. And I started to think of names, and I put in an application to the state to become a provider.

David Hirsch: And the rest is history.

Luba Patlakh: The rest is history. I wish it was that. Can you imagine? That’s it. It was not no big deal.

Kidology emphasizes learning through play. What do adults often misunderstand about child development

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, you’ve been in existence for about 10 years, and obviously it’s not been a straight line. And, you know, one thing leads to the next. And I’m sort of curious now, what differentiates Kidology, Inc. From other programs that also offer, say, like, ABA therapy?

Luba Patlakh: This is a great question. So Kidology, Inc. Is different because we are a multidisciplinary space. We offer all the services in the range from speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, aba, which is Applied Behavior Analysis, higher level behavior support, psychological examinations for kiddos who need a written order for behavior support. We are a one stop shop for needs and developmental services. And we are not only in the field, we have two brick and mortar clinics with two brick and mortar sensory play gyms so families can feel comfortable knowing, hey, if I need to get a range of services going to one place where I trust the people that work there, where they can explain it to me in my language. And I think that as a parent myself, being able to go to one place for that many things is so valuable. Time is valuable. People are working. This is probably the busiest time of work ever in life. And people don’t have time for themselves, let alone add on their children. So now it’s like, okay. And a lot of parents who have children with needs depending on severity will have to leave their job because they have to, to take them

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Luba Patlakh: to different types of therapy. So knowing that there’s one place to go for all of this is very different than a typical therapy location.

David Hirsch: Yeah, that’s important. And I know that, kidology emphasizes learning through play.

Luba Patlakh: Yes.

David Hirsch: What do adults often misunderstand about play and the role in child development?

Luba Patlakh: I think that so just like we go to school to learn a skill or we go to a job and they train us to do the job. Play in a child’s timeline is so crucial because it sets up the skills for tomorrow. And if children, especially children with needs who don’t always know how to play or they have tools but they don’t know how to apply them, they’re not going to be set up properly. They won’t have that foundation for later years. So we love to incorporate a play based model because it lets us complete real life skills like playing in a m play kitchen so that when they’re at home those kiddos can understand, oh, this is a kitchen. And now I’m applying that information to play. They can utilize their imagination, they can grow in imagination. And there’s kiddos who are higher level on the spectrum who are not aware. And we try our best to bring them to the moment, make them super aware. And I think that that’s where play based therapy is so underlooked because people are like, oh, it’s just play. But it’s so much more because it’s really a foundation into next year’ of skills.

David Hirsch: I like it.

Right now we have 65 therapy providers and 16 administration

How many, people do you have on staff either full time or part time?

Luba Patlakh: Right now we have 65 therapy providers and 16 administration.

David Hirsch: Wow. It sounds like it’s grown a lot from the very beginning.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah, I’m looking to really keep up the growth this Season, Especially because I introduced this mobile therapy bus. I’m like, are there any speech therapy bus drivers out there m other than myself? But when you’re ever growing and ever changing, and I’m a very ambitious person, and I want to give, give back. Every time I come up with something, it’s like, we got to do this, we got to do that. Obviously, there’s only 24 hours in a day. We’re only human, but every chance we have, we do grow.

You mentioned the mobile therapy bus concept. Describe what that is

David Hirsch: You mentioned the, mobile therapy bus.

Luba Patlakh: Yes.

David Hirsch: Describe what that is. Is that a person or a group? Small group of people going into a community that might not be served or they’re underserved?

Luba Patlakh: Absolutely. So several months ago, when I introduced this bus, I myself, speech therapy, 1 OT and 1 PT. We are in the Philadelphia area, and we’re in Bucks and Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, but we have a neighboring county called Delaware Chester. And we heard that they really needed some assistance. So what I would do is, will we set up everything with the contract that we needed, and then we headed over there. I dropped off my OT and my PT at a, local school. They saw several children for those services, and I went to a local park and I parked, and families literally drove up and, like, brought their kid in the bus. They sat in as well if they wanted to. But it was a mobile clinic. Literally, they drove up, brought their kid in for the session, and I provided speech to five kids, one time a week. So we were going out one time a week. And this allowed us to both feed the needs of that community, give evaluations where they were needed. The children we were serving had been underserved, hadn’t had services in a very long time or never. So it was a wonderful way to establish that connection with that community and show people, hey, I have this mobile unit on wheels. Come on down. And if a school needed us, we could pull up and do our, do our magic.

David Hirsch: I love it. is there any chance that you, might franchise, this concept where instead of people, like, driving little snow cone truck that, you know, you might have therapists, going around, from community to community?

Luba Patlakh: I think it’s a brilliant idea, and that’s why I started it from the first place. Of course, like any business, it has some logistics, but I think it’s worth talking about for sure.

David Hirsch: Yeah, we’ll have to circle back in a few years and see where the, mobile therapy bus concept goes.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah.

David Hirsch: We’ll be back with more of the conversation on the Special Fathers Network. Dad to Dad Podcast in just a few moments. But first, this quick message. Please help 21st Century Dads gather research on families raising children with special needs by having them complete the Special Fathers Network Early Intervention Parents survey. A link to the survey can be found in the show notes. As a token of our appreciation, each person, mom or dad, who completes the survey will receive a great dad coin. Thank you.

How do you approach creating products or programs that are both inclusive and effective

Now back to the conversation.

David Hirsch: So if every child is quote, wired differently, how do you approach creating products or programs that are both inclusive and effective?

Luba Patlakh: We so any child that comes to us, and obviously we see so many different needs and concerns, but when a kiddo comes, they get a full evaluation and the provider

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Luba Patlakh: creates goals based specifically to the data that’s collected for that child. So we collect a baseline. We want to know where the child is currently performing, where we want them to go, where they’re looking in an actual age marker. So maybe the kid is seven, but they’re performing at a cognitive level of a three year old, depending of course on the situation. And then the therapy team gathers and creates an individualized plan for each person. And that way we know that we’re targeting specifically to what that person needs. It can never be the same across the board because nobody’s the same. The tools that we’re utilizing are then individually looked at to accommodate the goals at hand, the age. You know, I can use the same toy for five different children, but I modify it to fit the needs. So the questions I might ask, or the way I’m presenting something or things I’m sounding out versus you know, a three year old versus a seven year old. So the same tools can be appropriate. It’s just how they’re presented that’s different.

David Hirsch: Thank you.

Every day, every, every day is a learning experience for you

So as an ah, entrepreneur, as a business leader, not everything that you try works out or meets your expectations. So are there any. Not failures but maybe missteps, benefit of hindsight when you look back that you’ve been informed by, maybe learned a lesson or two along the way. As the founder of this enterprise.

Luba Patlakh: I took a big sigh. You saw me there. Every day, every, every day is a learning experience. And actually though I feel that if you have to be, you know, a student of life and if you’re not constantly learning and evolving yourself, how can you evolve, you know, a clinic or practice? The only way to grow is to grow through people. So a mistake that I learned along the way. I used to do everything, I used to delegate and then when it wasn’t done I would be like, forget It, I’ll just do it myself. Like wrong, wrong, wrong. I now learn to really pour back into the people and that’s why I have a great administration, because I can go back and they get the time with me to review how I would do it. But also I love to open the floor to hey, my way is not the only way. And I love a collaborative approach. So I’ve learned to do that as well. You cannot only be type A. You cannot only have expectations as you would do because people are different. They have different understanding of things, they have different capabilities and they have different ways of thinking. So number one, if you’re a business owner or somebody looking to have a practice or just somebody generally in life that is communicating with others, please don’t always think that if you’re providing information, people are just going to do things your way. You really have to grow the person and be with them, teach them, correct them. They have to be open to it as well. But that’s a big, that was a huge learning curve for me. I was such a self starter that I was just like, forget it, I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. But then it was exhausting. So if you’re going to take the time to hire people, truly delegate, but first pour into them. And of course, secondly, your way cannot be the only way. You have to be open to learning from others as well. And of course a lot of financial things I learned along the way because I am not a business major, was not, I don’t have an mba. I am a mom entrepreneur and I just had a very big yearning to help others and it kind of led me to entrepreneurship. I really didn’t have plans for any of this. So it came as a pleasant surprise and I am very blessed.

You had to learn to utilize your numbers, not your emotions to drive your business

David Hirsch: So have you had to surround yourself with other people that do have those business skills?

Luba Patlakh: So around year five and the business was doing very well. It’s just that I didn’t have trackable methods. I didn’t understand how putting data to work could make a lot of decisions for me. It didn’t all have to be so emotional. I’m an emotional being. So I would feel like X, and then my actions were from my emotions. I had to learn to utilize my numbers, not my emotions to drive my business. So I had to, I got a mentor and I took a business consulting program and that’s what helped me to start to analyze things as a business individual.

David Hirsch: And what have you learned from the data or from that information?

Luba Patlakh: KPI no. I learned that studying my statistics is super important. Tracking things in Excel is not a win. You have to have other methods as well. Meeting about numbers, making sure your team is meeting appropriately and consistently to tackle. And if you’re setting targets, people have to be responsible for completing them. And accountability is the number one thing. I learned a lot of business tactics along the way, more so recently, and I’m still learning today. But, definitely the reason I got into that position is because I was looking for a long time for administrative backing.

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Luba Patlakh: I couldn’t run it alone anymore because at that point I was still highly involved in carrying a caseload, obtaining new patients, doing a lot. And I started to realize that the more I hire people, I’m not keeping up statistically. And I had a finance person or payroll person, I had people looking at my numbers internally. You know, I still needed more administrative help. And the first question I got from a company that I had reached out to was, do you know what money you’re waiting on your ar? And I’m like, well, my AR is what I make. And they’re like, no, it’s what you haven’t made. And, and I was like, oh my God, no, I don’t know that. And they were like, yeah, like let’s, let’s get started. Because you probably have a lot of money on the table that you don’t even know exists. And just counting what you’ve earned isn’t the full picture. So that was kind of the beginning of the clarification of the business process for me. And while my business did, it was profitable, it made money, it wasn’t clear. And then from that moment, as I started to learn more, and that’s when I stepped into my business shoes and I started to understand better what I’m looking at. And then came the things that put that together for me.

David Hirsch: That’s awesome. Thank you for sharing.

Kidology is concerned about the future of early childhood education

So, from your perspective, what does the future of early childhood education look like to you and where does Kidology fit into that future?

Luba Patlakh: I’m scared of the future of early childhood education on some, regard and I’ll explain why. More recently, just this August, a group of other providers and owners reached out to me in a mass email and said they’re really concerned because the state legislation is not passing the correct budget for us for early intervention programming. And that’s terrifying because I think that the state really doesn’t understand what this means and the people making decisions are ill informed about what we do. So we started to plan and talk to Our own county representatives and build a story. And we’re going to go to Harrisburg to present it. And we have to gather data from families, testimonials, maybe bring some of the parents whose lives have drastically changed from the services we provide. But unfortunately, just like in the last couple years, insurances want to cut our funds, the state wants to cut our funds. And it’s scary because if these programs go, you’re talking about cutting money for the establishment of the future. The children who are little today, who can’t speak or can’t have trouble with syntax or can’t learn language or are, you know, dyslexic, whatever the issue, or autistic, on higher level, or have 88 HD, who’s going to help them? Who’s going to carry them into the early learning, you know, school age, to become established learners that can function in society as adults. So by cutting the funding today, they think it’s no big deal. However, they don’t see the ripple effect of the future. And I’m thinking about the ripple effect of the future because I see the families that are struggling coming in. I talk to them firsthand and I wish for one day they could come, the legislation could come and just be in my facility and see how much we really help people. They would never cut the funding, ever. And I hope someone could get this into their hands because come, come to Kinology, visit us for a day. You’ll never cut funding again. It’s. People need this.

AI tools are coming to be added into traditional therapy to help disabled people

Aside from that, though, let’s talk about a positive thing. I think that both AI tools are so exciting. What’s coming for families? There’s schooling and programming and maybe like, you know, some even speech therapy in a digital sense. Obviously nothing beats the real thing. But AI is so powerful even in the therapy space, it gives you ideas. And there is a digital company that, their name is Koro K O R R O. I’ve seen them in action a few times and I’m probably going to begin to implement them in the clinic as well. And they’re heavy for the OTPT space. You put a iPad or a phone on a stand in front of you, it digitally measures you and you become an avatar. And then while you’re running, jumping, climbing a wall, doing whatever action, you become a video game. How crazy is this? And at the end of the 20 minute video game, they give you a full report of, right arm strength. Left arm strength. What leg is stronger, what needs to be fixed, Rotation. And it’s an incredible tool and it’s so Fun for the kids because they’re like, in this like digital reality. But they’re doing all the mobility things we would do in regular therapy. But it gives you just a variation just to keep it fresh

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and provides all the data. So who wouldn’t love that? And also big, huge neuro, a lot of neuro input, laser light therapies. Really big. We just started implementing something called the Narvis Illume goggles, which have a variety of settings. Kids can calm down before a session, be active and attention focused in a session. So you have them wearing it during, their 15, 20 minutes goggles. And families can incorporate this into therapy or have it as an addition. So really a lot of innovation is coming to be added into traditional therapy.

David Hirsch: Well, thanks for the reality check about the funding.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah.

David Hirsch: And it sounds like you need to be sending invitations as a small group or individuals to have the legislature, you know, come and visit. Right. So they know firsthand.

Luba Patlakh: Absolutely.

David Hirsch: Which is important. Right. Because you know, if they don’t have a child or grandchild that would be impacted by, ADHD or need of physical, occupational or speech therapy, why would they know anything about this really?

Luba Patlakh: Yeah, you’re right.

David Hirsch: If you could redesign the traditional school system from scratch, what would be the first thing you’d eliminate? And would you, what would you double down on?

Luba Patlakh: I would 100% eliminate the long day. There’s no reason for kids to spend eight hours a day in school. It’s very long. I think the traditional methodology of schooling, if you look back to history, is super. it was for bringing up factory workers, really. That’s what schooling came from. And it’s very, institutionalized in my opinion. I think kids do need more time for wilderness related things. Even if it’s raining. I wish schools would do, you know, three hours of curriculum and then exploratory things at any age. So kids could do geological things, geographical things, all outside. I think that would be so amazing if the schools, would have that. But I think also education is going to shift. A lot of careers that are taught still in school will eventually be replaced by AI or robots or something like that. And our kids are still being taught in a manner that’s very, you know, listen to your boss, sit down, do this or that. And I think that in today’s society a lot more people are entrepreneurs and, or they do work somewhere, but they also own property or they have to learn how to manage, you know, some kind of sports, location, whatever it is. People have other businesses now outside of a traditional 9 to 5 job. And I think that I would double down on teaching kids new skills, like real life, business related skills, even for the disability population. Why? Because it’s especially like I highly encourage my older clients to do VO tech. I want their kids to get jobs. They shouldn’t have the sense of neediness just because they have a disability. They should be encouraged to get a job at a supermarket, figure out how to make a recipe and be a cook. People need to start thinking a bit outside the box and stop, this coddled society, if you will.

David Hirsch: Well, one of the thoughts that I’ve shared and I’ve witnessed is that, and this doesn’t have to do with just raising atypical kids, but even typical kids, if you don’t let them do things for themselves. Right. You’re handicapping them.

Luba Patlakh: exactly.

David Hirsch: To be productive and independent later in life. And again, that doesn’t just apply to kids with disabilities, but that applies to typical kids as well. You know, the helicopter parent society needs to sort of like a pullback. right. And not always be doing things or swooping in to try to pick up kids, you know, prevent them from falling, if you will.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah.

Is there a particular story from a parent or a teacher or a child that emphasizes success of your program

David Hirsch: Is there a particular story from a parent or a teacher or a child that comes to mind that emphasizes, the success of your program?

Luba Patlakh: Yes, one of my favorite story, I have two stories. One is a little girl who came to us. I believe she was around six years old and she had selective mutism, which, which can come especially with disabilities and change in environment. So for whatever reason, this little girl got selective mutism. She started coming to us for speech therapy and physical therapy. And then on week four, after her PT session, physical therapy, I met her in the gym. And I was just playing with her and swinging her on the swing and going wee, wee, wee. And it was the first time in like two months that she actually ended up repeating wee. Then later she asked me more. She wanted to go on the swing again. And the mother just stood there crying because she didn’t think she was gonna hear her voice again. It had been a long time and she was so desperate for answers. And the little girl was going through whatever she was,

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Luba Patlakh: and the gym and the environment and the pleasantness of what we were doing and excitement in her new adventure of therapy, she spoke again. So that was really exciting, super fulfilling. And we had also a family. There were two little brothers, both on the spectrum. They were both our client. And I remember coming to their school and we were switching. One was going to the gym room and One was leaving the gym room, and I was with the one, and one of my aides was with the other one. And they walked by each other like they didn’t even know each other because they had no recognition of their sibling. They were just, you know, they were highly autistic. And that day I called the parents for a meeting, and I asked them, what are you doing in the home? To engage them? do they play together? Do they. They have no recognition that this is their sibling. Like, that’s. That’s scary for me. And from that day, we created a plan where the parents would sit down and they opened up, their communication. I think they were depressed about what was going on and a bit, hiding from the reality, in denial. And that really, that story from me seeing it, you know, because they don’t go to school, they didn’t see, allowed them to open their communication at home and break down that barrier and be like, okay, we need to help our kids. So they would sit down, and each night they would look at an album together that I made for them, show the picture of the boy to each other. Look, this is your brother. He’s sitting here. And eventually they finally found that recognition. But. But I was very moved by that whole situation, and it happens all the time, and people don’t know how to handle it.

David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing those two anecdotal stories. I’m sure you could fill a book of stories.

Luba Patlakh: Yeah, we have one.

David Hirsch: Maybe you should do that.

Luba Patlakh: Maybe. You know, I grew up reading Soup for the Soul, Chicken Soup. Do you know those books with all the stories?

David Hirsch: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Luba Patlakh: That was my favorite. So maybe I do something like that. Okay, thanks for the ideas.

David Hirsch: Note to self, right, that you have all this free time as a entrepreneur and a mom of, three kids, four to nine years old, and being a wife and trying to make, you know, try to meet, everybody’s expectations.

Kalogy says children should have access to both parents if they can

Right. I’m thinking about advice now, and I’m wondering, what advice comes to mind for parents, maybe specifically dads who have a child with, some type of special, ability.

Luba Patlakh: I think that. And, you know, because I see so many families day in, day out, I love when I see a dad. And I’ll tell you why. It’s because then I know that, like I said, ah, before, it’s always just such a stigma that, like, mom does these things, mom takes kids to the appointments. But, hey, guess what? Today, moms work, mom have careers, moms have businesses, moms are entrepreneurs. So it’s very special to See a dad. And I think that having the 50, 50 in a family, and I try to influence this in my own family as well, it sets the children up for a very equal understanding of life. And that, not one parent is responsible for, but both parents care for you and both parents are responsible. And when I want a family to carry over skills in the home, I ask to meet with both parents because they have to be on the same page and communicating. And it can’t be one parent follows what we’re doing and is successful, and then the other parent’s doing whatever they want. So a, dad in early days was like, only like working and doing these things and bringing the bread home. But now there’s a lot of dads that are stay at home dads or take care of the family. And I love to see it because I think that it really creates a proper picture for children and they should have access to both parents if they can, because that’s how it should be, in my opinion.

David Hirsch: Yeah, well, I think the research supports that when both parents are involved, I know a little bit more about this. In the world of education, educational outcomes go up. And a lot of the things that are holding kids back, this doesn’t have to do with disabilities now, but a, lot of things that are holding kids back, like crime and incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse, teen suicide and pregnancy, all those things go down, not marginally, but dramatically. So I think that, getting the dads involved in whatever way, makes sense. And every family is different. So we don’t want to be judgmental about, you know, way people do things.

Luba Patlakh: Oh, absolutely not. And that’s one thing. When people come in and they talk to myself or they reach out to Kalogy, this is a, it’s a no judgment zone. We’re here to help the families. And I honestly think that I’ve been able to be so successful through the years because, you know, I didn’t always start in brick and mortar clinics. I was in the deep streets of Philadelphia because I knew that those kids needed consistency and I wanted to be there for them. And I never judged anybody. and families opened up to me always, including dads who maybe needed advice and, you know, dads, we’re here for you too.

Luba is a mentor for fathers raising children with special needs

David Hirsch: Is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

Luba Patlakh: I, I love what you’re doing. I think that the influence and the support for fathers who are just being a dad in today’s society and, and balancing being successful, providing for your family, being supportive of your wife communicating to your kids, being there and then on top of it. Navigating disability is very, very, very hard. So I so appreciate people like you who want to support the community, especially one like this because it’s such a niche thing. And to all the dads out there, you know, if you need me, I’m m here for you can reach out to me and anyone who’s like navigating the school age kiddos with disability. coming out now with the course for parents. So dads, this is for you. It’s called the Confident IEP parent. So if they have any questions, we are on social. We have a website, the confidentiepparent.com and my personal social media is Kidology Queen. And then of course Kidology Inc. If you want to see what therapies look like or get ideas for therapy all around, we’re here for you.

David Hirsch: Well, I was going to ask if somebody wants to learn more about khedology or contact you, what’s the best way to do so. So there’s the website.

Luba Patlakh: The website is kidologyinc.com we have an intake form. People can feel free to direct message me on Instagram. We are also on TikTok. So anywhere you reach out to us for Kidology, somebody will respond to you. We’re very, very, very responsive.

David Hirsch: I’ll be sure to include that information in the show notes. It’ll make it as easy as possible for somebody to follow up. Luba, thank you for your time and many insights. As a reminder, Luba is just one of the individuals who’s part of the Special Fathers Network, a mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. If you’d like to be a mentor father or are seeking advice from the mentor or father with a similar situation to your own, please go to 21st centurydads.org thank you for listening to the latest episode of the Special Fathers Network Data dad Podcast. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. As you probably know, the 21st Century Dads foundation is a 501c3 not for profit organization. Which means we need your help to keep our content free to all concerned. Would you please consider making a tax electable contribution? I would really appreciate your support, Luba. Thanks again.

Luba Patlakh: thank you so much and thank.

Special Fathers Network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising special needs

David Hirsch: You for listening to the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast. The Special Fathers Network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Through our personalized matching process, new fathers with special needs children match up with mentor fathers in a similar situation. It’s a great way for dads to support other dads. To find out more, go to 21stCenturydads.Org and if you’re a dad looking for help or would like to offer help, we would be honored to have you join our closed Facebook group. Please go to facebook.com groups and search dad to dad. Lastly, we’re always looking to share interesting stories. If you’d like to share your story or know of a compelling story, please send an email to David at 21st century dad.

David Hirsch: The Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast was produced by me, Tom Couch. Tune in again next week for another intriguing conversation on, the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast.

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