The Communication Clinic

First off, let me say SLP Ellysa Vardy is excellent. She has seen my daughter for over a year and has helped her with her speech. She’s patient, kind and comes up with effective strategies for babies/toddlers to speak more.

However, I hesitate to return to this clinic given the screw-up I encountered today.

My appointment today was mistakenly cancelled by the receptionist, Tanya. My daughter had a runny nose last week and I cancelled that appointment and one scheduled two weeks from then, but not today’s.

If you look at the time stamp of when I asked the June 23 appointment to be cancelled, it was 11:44 a.m. and the wrong appointment on June 15 was cancelled 11:46 a.m., two minutes later.

So, when I arrived for my appointment today, on June 15, I was told the SLP was already in session with a child.

The receptionist had cancelled today’s appointment instead, leaving next week’s in the books — which was the one that should have been cancelled.

I had booked off work and taken my daughter out of daycare early and drove 25 mins across town to make this appointment.

I waited an additional hour to speak to the owner, who basically said, “If you have COVID symptoms, you can’t come here for two weeks.”

One-hundred per cent on board with that. However, they never notified me of the policy when they cancelled today’s appointment or outlined that was the reason it was being cancelled. Nor did Tanya cancel June 23 (next week’s) until I arrived at the clinic today and pointed it out.

The owner, Denitsa, seemed apathetic to the whole situation, saying, “I already apologized, what else do you want me to do?”

I understand independent businesses are struggling and mistakes happen, but they didn’t seem to acknowledge a mistake happened and were nonchalant that a client was mad about it.

Kind of soured the otherwise positive outlook of this clinic.

Ironic that this business is called The Communication Clinic when they can’t effectively communicate changes or policies.

Denitsa, help our son a lot :) she's very nice. It's been 3 years since my son started his therapy - so much improvement and we're very happy. The staff are great.. :) Winnie (OT) also helping my son :) We very thankful!

My four year old son progressed tremendously during last few months of speech therapy with Denitsa. She is experienced, dedicated and professional, but also playful and understanding. Not only she could help my son develop his language, but she helped us create more structure and focus. That was extremely important, especially in the pandemic and kid's isolation. Also, that was done online, which is almost a miracle. She knew how to keep his attention and didn't give up!

The staff is professional and offer different activities to support the child's learning process. The space is clean and inviting. Most importantly, they offer sessions over the weekend, and I am grateful for all the support we received so far.