Screen-based speech and development coaching for Pakistani families in Chicagoland
Our Multan therapists join Chicago parents by video across the seasons, guiding you through Urdu and English alike, so the months when a child is stuck indoors become months of steady, everyday practice rather than lost ground.
Our centre is in Multan, Pakistan — we don’t have a branch in Chicago. For families in Chicago we work entirely online, in English or Urdu, and we point you to your own country’s services too.
Devon Avenue on the far North Side is one of the oldest South Asian high streets in the American Midwest — a run of grocers, sweet shops, tailors and restaurants where Urdu, Gujarati and Hindi share the pavement, and where a stretch has long carried honorary Pakistani and Indian street names. Families who once lived within walking distance of it now spread north into Rogers Park, out to Skokie and Niles, and into the wider suburbs, but Devon remains the place a Pakistani-American family drives to for the right spices and a familiar face. It is a settled, multigenerational community — and one that spends a serious chunk of the year indoors.
We run from a single base in Multan, Pakistan, with no Illinois office and no American licence to our name. What we do instead is meet parents over video and teach them, hands-on, to support their own children. Leading that work is Mahnoor Baloch, a speech and language therapist of more than five years' standing. For Chicago families the appeal is usually the shared language and the shared context — being able to describe a worry about a quiet three-year-old in Urdu, to someone who does not need the cultural background explained.
The climate genuinely matters to how we coach here. A Chicago winter can keep a toddler inside for the better part of five months, and long indoor stretches change a child's day: less gross-motor play, more screen time, fewer of the chance encounters that pull speech out of a child. We treat that season as the main event rather than an afterthought, building routines that keep development moving when going outside simply isn't an option.
Working with families in Chicago
The centre gathers several disciplines in one place. Beside Mahnoor's speech and language work sit colleagues handling behaviour and ABA-style strategies, special education, child psychology, developmental assessment, and the hands-and-body skills — handwriting, coordination, dressing, feeding. We're candid about one gap: there is no licensed occupational therapist among us, so we never rebrand our motor coaching as occupational therapy, and if that precise service is what your child needs, an Illinois provider should handle it.
A first session is mostly listening. We ask how the day unfolds through a Chicago January — how much the child is indoors, how much screen creeps in, which language dominates — before we suggest anything. Then the plan is deliberately doable inside four walls: naming ingredients while you cook, a hallway movement game, a calmer script for the cabin-fever meltdown that a long grey afternoon tends to produce.
And you can begin at no cost. Our Grow tools — free milestone checklists, printable activity cards and simple trackers — are available to every parent regardless of whether a paid session is ever booked, because a family weighing its options deserves something concrete to use straight away.
Five months indoors, one developing child
The long Chicago cold does quiet things to a young child's routine. Trips to the playground stop, active outdoor play shrinks, and the tablet fills the gap; a toddler can drift into weeks of less movement and less back-and-forth conversation without anyone quite noticing. We build the indoor season into the plan directly, turning small apartments and living-room floors into places where language and motor practice keep ticking over.
Screens get an honest hearing too. When it is minus ten outside, the tablet is a lifeline, not a failing, so instead of asking parents to banish it we help them make some of it interactive — narrating along, pausing to ask questions, choosing the video that invites a child to talk back rather than the one that lulls them silent.
What Devon Avenue keeps close
Because Devon anchors a long-settled community, many Chicago families we coach live in three-generation households where a dada or nani is a daily presence. That is a real asset for language: more voices, more Urdu, more turn-taking. We fold grandparents into the coaching on purpose, showing them how a game is meant to run so the child gets consistent prompting from everyone at home.
Long settlement also means English arrives early and strong, and parents often worry their Urdu is slipping away from the next generation. We take both languages seriously, helping families keep the mother tongue alive at home while the child grows confident in English — not as a trade-off, but as two threads worth holding at once.
What we can do with your child online from Chicago
What we help children with in Chicago
Whether your child has a diagnosis or you’ve just started to worry, these are the areas we work with online. Tap any one to understand the signs and how we help.
Not sure where your child fits? Try our free 2-minute development check or which therapy does my child need?
Getting started from Chicago is simple
- 1
Message us on WhatsApp
Tell us your child’s age and what’s worrying you — a short message is enough. We reply in English or Urdu.
- 2
A free first consultation
We listen properly, ask a few questions, and give you an honest read on what your child needs — all over video. No pressure, no jargon.
- 3
A clear plan you can act on
You leave with a plan: online sessions where they help, plus a home program you can start the same week.
Questions from families in Chicago
Do you have any presence in Illinois?
None. We work entirely online from Multan, Pakistan, and we are not licensed or registered to deliver healthcare in Illinois or elsewhere in the US. We're best understood as a coaching layer beside your local services — genuinely helpful, but not a replacement for the evaluations and therapy Illinois provides.
Does the winter really make online a better fit?
For many families, yes. When the cold keeps a child indoors for months, a video session adds nothing to your journey — there's no coat, no car, no icy drive. It simply meets you where you already are, at home, on the days getting out is hardest.
What languages can we use?
Urdu, English or the mix your family speaks day to day. If your child leans English while you lean Urdu, we work across both so nobody is straining to keep up.
How does the time difference work out?
Chicago is roughly ten to eleven hours behind Multan. An early-morning slot for you falls in our late day, so both ends are awake and unrushed. Weekend mornings tend to be popular when the whole household is home.
Where does Illinois Early Intervention come in?
Illinois Early Intervention is the state's official system for evaluating and supporting young children with developmental concerns, and it's free to eligible families. If it's recommended, use it — our coaching reinforces at home what that programme puts in place.
Can you offer occupational therapy?
Not as a licensed service. We coach fine-motor, handwriting and self-care skills, but we have no registered occupational therapist on staff, so we won't call it occupational therapy. For that, a qualified Illinois provider is the right route.
Is there a no-cost way to start?
Yes. Our Grow tools — checklists, activity cards and milestone trackers — are free to any parent with no session required. Plenty of Chicago families begin there before deciding on coaching.
Other areas we support
Written by the Inclusive Developmental and Therapy Center therapy team · medically reviewed by Dr Muhammad Suffyan, MB BS (GMC 8023727) · Last reviewed July 2026
Let’s talk about your child — wherever you are in Chicago
A short, friendly conversation is the best first step. Call, text or WhatsApp us — we’ll listen and guide you, with no pressure.
MPS Road, Block A Model Town, Multan (near Bloomfield Hall School, Street No. 2) · Mon–Sat, 10 AM – 7 PM