Twins Prove Albertville's Sister Kenny So Much More than Sports Therapy

Manda Riebel and Shanda Gaunt are usually working with patients when someone enters the Sister Kenny Sports and Pyiscal Therapy Center in Albertville, so it takes awhile for most to put two-and-two together.

"We get a lot of second looks," Manda said. 

The two are twin sisters, and are pretty much identical. They've traveled some different paths, with the two not even in the same state for a while, but now they're here to assist speech therapy patients from around the St. Michael area. 

The sisters are therapists at the Sister Kenny center, which is connected to the Albertville-St. Michael Clinic at the intersection of 50th Street Northeast and County 19. 

"[People] aren't aware the center offers three different therapies, with speech therapy and physical therapy as well as the occupational therapy here," Gaunt said. 

Gaunt and Riebel can work with any patient struggling with language or comprehension skills. They've handled everything from those recovering from head injuries–quite literally learning how to speak again–to those struggling with speech disorders like lisps or stuttering. 

Even "speech therapy" can be a limiting term, the twins said. There are plenty of other factors that can impact one's ability to speak, listen and even comprehend the spoken word. 

"It's also language skills," Riebel said. "Writing, reading, the social use of language–it's something we have to do every day. It even plays into math skills and body expressions. But we don't even think about it." 

A look into Gaunt or Riebel's office is almost like peeking into the "toy wall" at a daycare. Because many patients are younger, there are games and toys to help develop cognitive skills. 

"Some people think it's only stutterers, because that gets a lot of public exposure," Gaunt said. Stuttering is probably the source of only about 5 percent of the nation's speech issues, she added. 

One of the many speech issues that can develop during childhood is specific to twins–and Gaunt and Riebel had firsthand experience. 

It's dubbed by therapists as "Twin Talk." The two sisters or brothers develop their own, made-up language to communicate with each other. It winds up delaying speech development, and Riebel and Gaunt were in therapy until they were in first grade. 

"We've treated a few sets of twins here in St. Michael and Albertville," Riebel said. "So it's come full circle." 

The Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, which is part of the Allina Hospitals and Clinics organization, can be reached by calling 763-744-4140.