Comprehensive Clinical Services "Fostering engagement, communication, motor, learning, and imagination"
Dear Families and Friends of CCX,

We asked for this page so Kari and I can reach you personally about hopes, dreams, and changes at Clinical Connections (aka CCX).

For the first installment, we thought you might enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Twenty years ago, after 13 years in a public school and 1 year at a pediatric hospital setting, I contracted with the Speech Therapy private practice of Gere Newell Clark to provide home visits for four years. In 1999, I rented a single room in Highland Park and created SpeechKids. My first associate was Kari Beth Becker (née Adkins). Kari graduated in 1999 from Illinois Wesleyan with a bachelor's in Psychology and a double major in Drama. Kari's knowledge of psychology, combined with her acting and singing skills, made her a perfect play partner!

In 2000, it was Kari's dream to create Classroom Connection. The original vision was to have activities in 8 domains that would be highly enticing and displayed museum style. The rest is history.

In 2002, we moved from Highland Park to Bannockburn, to a very small office (we called it 2203B) with a small classroom that also housed a small computer and a small materials center, two small private treatment rooms, a very small room with suspended equipment and mats, and a galley style kitchen. In this compact space, we further defined SpeechKids, Play Partners, Classroom Connection, and the Clinical Consortium (original members were Amy Zier, OT, and Becca Canastra, Music Therapist).

Then, in 2005, we made a huge leap of faith, primarily to add the North Shore Teen Center, and create larger treatment spaces and a conference room, as well as a full kitchen to support feeding clinics.

In 2009, we became an accredited therapeutic day school (CCDS) and quickly outgrew the existing space. So, we added an annex building in 2011 to house several business offices which opened two additional classrooms at the school.

We experimented with clinical options for the additional space in the annex, and beginning 2014 were proud to be operating The Jam Program, Baby Jam, ABA Connections, Homeschool Connection, and Transition Connection.

This completed our spectrum of programming options, and we now look forward to publishing highlights from this full range of services, and catching your ear about specific topics.

Stay tuned!

Cris and Kari
2225-2219 Lakeside Drive, Bannockburn, IL 60015      Phone: 847-234-0688      Email: info@theclinicalconnections.com