FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, businesswoman Noemi O.
Baltazar felt hopeless. Her newborn son Arby was diagnosed
with Down syndrome — a chromosomal disorder
characterized by impairment of cognitive ability and
physical growth.
It was something unexpected, to say the least. Prior
to giving birth to Arby, Ms. Baltazar was a typical
housewife, married to Cesar. They already had three
sons and a daughter. Little did she know her life was
about to change when Arby came to her life.
“Initially, I was sad of course. Like every expectant
mother, you want to give birth to a healthy child… but
that was not the case with Arby,” Ms. Baltazar said.
But instead of sulking about her fate, Ms. Baltazar
chose to accept the challenge, and turn it to an opportunity.
“The first thing I did was to remove all the fear, and
then the sadness, and then the denial,” Ms. Baltazar
said. “The earlier I dealt with those, the better for my
child, because then the attention would be focused on
him rather than on me and the rest of my family.”
Back to school
When Arby was six years old, Ms. Baltazar decided to
study Special Education, when she could not be satisfied
with the therapy and education her son was getting
from his school. In 2002, Ms. Baltazar—who was
then already 47 years old—enrolled in a master’s degree
in Special Education at the University of the Philippines.
“I knew also, deep in my heart, I really could not
find a perfect school for him. There was no perfect
school actually so I thought I’d better study so I could
help my son. Whatever he was learning from [the
school], maybe I could complement with whatever I
learned, so I took up Special Education,” she said.
An accountant by profession, Ms. Baltazar admitted
returning to school was initially difficult. To encourage
her, her husband who is a chemical engineer, also enrolled
in the same university to take up a doctorate in
educational psychology. (They are currently writing
their theses).
“We were both venturing into a very different field.
But we were doing it for our son. Our only intention
was to help him,” she explained.
It was during her studies that she discovered there
were many things she neglected to do to help her son
while he was growing up. “As I studied, I realized I
20 VWEEENKTENUDR WEASRRIOR JAN 2005
should have given more attention to him. I should
have stayed with him more. I should have been there
for him,” she narrated.
It was at that point that Ms. Baltazar resolved to
set up a therapy center to help similarly situated parents
deal with their special children and help these
children lead productive lives.
Born out of being a mother of a special child, Ms.
Baltazar set up Therapy Plus Learning Center last August
in an office space at the City & Land Mega
Plaza Building in Ortigas Center in Pasig City.
‘World of learning’
Armed with her knowledge of Business Management
System (BMS) obtained from attending seminars by
the Partnership Forum for International Trade Dev’t.,
Inc. (FITDEV), Ms. Baltazar was able to efficiently set
up Therapy Plus in just six months. (Husband Cesar is
the president of FITDEV).
Learning from BMS to clearly define a business,
she positioned Therapy Plus as an alternative to
other therapy centers and special education schools
currently catering to special children.
“Looking for the right school could be very frustrating.
Most of these schools, we have to understand,
are mainly for business,” she said. “In our
case, since I define my business as a center that
opens a world of learning and development opportunities
for children with special needs, we focus on
what we can do for our clients.”
Thus, in Therapy Plus, there are regular consultations
with parents and caregivers of the special children
to ensure that everything done during the
therapy sessions would have follow-up activities at
home.
”Before, I just brought my child to the therapy
session every week, then that was it. I didn’t know
what the therapist did, and what was the response of
my child,” Ms. Baltazar narrated.
“I found that lacking. That was not enough. So
here at Therapy Plus, we have sessions with parents.
The therapists discuss with the parents, or whoever
takes care of the child. If you really think about it,
what do you get from a one-hour session? So there is
really a need to have a follow-up at home to see if
the child really learned, and was able to apply what
he or she learned from the therapist or teacher.”
And while other learning centers only provide
speech, occupational and physical therapy to special
children, Ms. Baltazar said Therapy Plus takes it a
step further by providing “interest group” sessions
on swimming, painting and drawing, dancing and
bowling.
She said she thought of offering these after finding
out there are hardly any classes for sports and
recreational activities for special children.
“My son loves sports. He plays golf. He is very
good in table tennis. He plays basketball as well. But
whenever there are sports clinics during summer, I
discover these do not accept special children.”
She said the interest group sessions are conducted
at venues outside the Therapy Plus office in
Ortigas Center, such as her house in Valle Verde I in
Pasig City. “Since art supplies can be very costly, we
decided to offer the art and drawing classes in my
own home to save on costs,” she explained.
She said offering a distinct service sets Therapy
Plus apart from its competitors, something that she
learned from the BMS seminars she attended last
year.
“One of the BMS principles I learned was ensuring
repeat customers to guarantee the viability of the
business. By offering something unique, I am assured
I will be the preferred source of therapy for special
children,” she explained.
Ms. Baltazar added she is very lucky to get competent
individuals to handle the classes. The dance
classes, for instance, are conducted by a member of
the professional dance group Whiplash, while the art
classes are facilitated by hall-of-fame award winners
of the national art competition conducted by the
Metrobank Foundation.
Knowing the market
Ms. Baltazar said Therapy Plus caters to special children
up to 18 years old. With her knowledge of being
a mother of a special child, she was able to tap
her network of friends to help her spread the word
about her new business.
She said that based on studies, Down syndrome
occurs in one in every 800 births. In the Philippines ,
she said the Down Syndrome Association of the Philippines
has a registered membership base of 2,000.
“Since I am very talkative, I get to meet all these
people, who refer clients to us,” she said.
She said when parents learn she is also a mother
of a special child, they prefer Therapy Plus to other
therapy centers in the metropolis. “They know I understand
better. I am coming from a place of concern..
They know that I know what they are going
through. I have a mother’s point of view,” Ms.
Baltazar said.
She said her knowledge of the market gives
Therapy Plus its distinct advantage over its competitors..
“It is important to know the market. It is the
people you are serving,” she said. “You may have a
good mission-vision statement, you may have good
facilities, you may have good people, but if you
don’t have clients, you don’t have a business.”
As of December, there were 12 students enrolled
in Therapy Plus’ various course offerings and sessions.
Having just 12 students might force some centers
to accept “regular” students for tutorial just to augment
their income and keep up with their overhead
expenses. But following the BMS precepts, Ms.
Baltazar has never lost sight of her business focus—
to provide therapy and education to children with
special needs.
“Without BMS, probably my business would not
have focus. It will be hodge-podge. But since I am
focused, I am keeping my clients satisfied with the
services I offer,” she said.
Ms. Baltazar said that for a relatively new business
like hers, there have been missteps along the way. In
her case, she found she was not charging enough to
cover rent and the salaries of teachers and therapists.
But using the BMS principles she learned, she
has since then adjusted the rates while still keep Therapy
Plus’ services competitively priced.
“My goal is to make a difference in the lives of
our clients. Did we make a difference in their lives? I
think that is how businesses should be run,” Ms.
Baltazar said.
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