Meet Carmyn Thompson and Catherine Freeman of AuTKonnect in Beaumont

Carmyn and Catherine, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We are both Speech Language Pathologists who have a passion for working with children with multiple disabilities in the home and school setting. We both had a vision to start our own private practice until we had children of our own. Catherine noticed with her daughter that she was not reaching her developmental milestones and proceeded to seek further testing. Kensley was then diagnosed with Autism. This led us to want to do more for the Autism Community. We collaborated and created an app called AuTKonnect (Autism Konnect).

AuTKonnect is a platform dedicated to assisting parents for children with autism. We do that by allowing parents around the world and in our community to connect, talk and share advice with one another and to find places to meet up right from the AuTKonnect app. We find FUN activities that are autism-friendly such as sports, dance, gymnastics, summer camps, movie theaters, gym childcare, salons, vacations, amusement parks and so much more. We would love to do so much more with this resource such as offering speech therapy, social skill groups, vocational training, sensory gyms, autism/sensory friendly events, fun activities ( dance, music, fitness, art) for our special needs community! This app is FREE and available on Google Play and the App store.

We realized that there was a lack of fun activities, places, events and resources for our children with Autism and special needs in our area. Our first event was sponsored by Urban Air Adventure Park in Beaumont, Texas. Since this event, we have been able to find families with a child who has Autism or special needs and provided a free birthday party on their sensory friendly day.

This past July, we were able to host an amazing event called AuTKonnect Fun Day. There were many families who were able to come out and network with other families & professionals. They were able to enjoy this free event without any restrictions or judgment. We have many more exciting events to come as we continue to grow.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been smooth and bumpy but rewarding. We both work two jobs outside of our business and have families that we love. One of the challenges we face is figuring out how to balance it all. Our support system, prayers and encouragement has kept us motivated and pushes us to continue to grow our business and the app.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are currently providing fun community events, seminars and resources for children with autism and special needs. We launched AuTKonnect in April 2019 and since we have had multiple opportunities to share our platform and business with others across the world. We are impacting people and families across the world that we may never meet in person but we are proud to be able to provide a resource and a sense of community for them.

We specialize in speech therapy; however we are known for our app as being a great resource tool for the Autism Community that is free and easy to navigate.

We are most proud of the impact, success, and positive feedback given from parents, professionals. We are happy to see the smiles on many faces through the events and activities that we are able to provide.

What sets us apart is that we directly work with individuals diagnosed with Autism as Speech Pathologists. Also, Catherine being an Autism mom fully understands and can relate to the everyday challenges.

What were you like growing up?
Catherine: Growing up, I always liked learning and teaching. I was shy but still outgoing. I love to participate in cheer and theater arts. Being in theater arts brought me out of my shell and gave me the confidence to chase my dreams and make a difference in some way in my community. I also played sports which helped me build my teamwork skills and building trust with others.

Carmyn: Growing up, I was a very talkative and outgoing child. I was very active in school and church and always wanted to be great in something. I always had a passion in wanting to help others and making an impact in my community. Little did I know, my  cousin Catherine later saw something in me and encouraged me to pursue a career in Speech Pathology and now we have created something amazing.

Pricing:

• Free App available Google Play and the App Store