Getting kids with special needs to wiggle and giggle has been the focus of Kids in Motion since 1993 – and Mary Hydorn, the co-owner and president of this local pediatric therapy clinic, is showing no signs of slowing down.
It began as a single practice when Hydorn, a physical therapist herself, saw a local need for speech, occupational and physical therapy services.
“As my second son (now 27) got older, he needed speech therapy, and there was nothing” nearby her, she says. “I had to drive to C.S. Mott” in Ann Arbor – “45 minutes there, 45 minutes home, and spend an hour in the waiting room twice a week.”
So, with encouragement from her husband, Hydorn rented a space and started Kids in Motion. By 2000, it moved to a custom-built home in Highland. Locations in Clarkston, Commerce Township and Brighton eventually followed.
“We see about 200 to 300 kids a week,” Hydorn says, for everything from flat feet and severe physical or mental conditions to those with sensory food aversions and speech delays. Group therapy and community workshops with experts are staples. And flexibility is still key. “All the clinics are about half an hour apart,” Hydorn says. “All of our clients can go to more than one clinic.”
