Occupational​​Therapy

Pediatric occupational therapy helps children to develop the underlying skills necessry for learning and performing specific tasks, but also addresses social and behavioral skills. It can help with the child's self-concept and confidence. Pediatric occupational therapy helps develop the basic sensory awareness and motor skills needed for motor development, learning, and healthy behavior. These include the following:

• Body awareness
  
• Crossing midline
  
• Fine motor control
• Ocular motor skills
• Visual perceptual skills
• Self regulation
• Sensory modulation

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Occupational therapists not only work directly with the child, but also with the family, parents, caregivers, and teachers in order to educate and reinforce specific skills and behaviors which will be used to improve and facilitate the child's performance and functioning. 

Physical​​Therapy

Pediatric physical therapists evaluate and determine a child's gross motor impairments to determine the best treatment plan for them. Our goal is to assist children in improving their independence and increase their mobility. We assist children in improving their strength, balance, coordination, and motor function in fun and creative ways. We include hands-on techniques as well as therapeutic exercise to reach this goal. Areas that physical therapists focus on include the following:

• Pre-gait and gait training
  
• Muscle tone and strengthening
  
• Range of motion
  
• Posture/postural control
  
• Endurance training
  
• Body alignment
  
• Improving body awareness
  
• Rocktape and therapeutic taping
  
• Wheelchair positioning and mobility
  
• Splinting, bracing, and orthotics

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Physical therapists collaborate with caregivers and other disciplines to create individualized treatment plans for each child

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Speech​​Therapy

Speech therapy is necessary when a child has difficulty communicating or understanding language. Speech therapy involves a wide range of disorders. The most common three disorders include:

• SPEECH PRODUCTION DISORDERS: a speech production disorder refers to a problem with the actual production of sounds.​
  
• LANGUAGE DISORDERS: a language disorder refers to a problem understanding others (receptive language) and/or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language).
  
• FEEDING/SWALLOWING DISORDERS: a feeding disorder refers to oral or pharyngeal phase dysphasia. This also includes sensory feeding disorders.

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Our pediatric speech-language pathologists specialize in the evaluation and treatment of children ranging from birth to 18 years of age. Speech-language pathologists not only work directly with the child, but also with the family, parents, caregivers, and teachers in order to educate and reinforce specific skills and behaviors which will be used to improve and facilitate the child's speech, language, and/or feeding skills.
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Aquatic​Therapy

Aquatherapy is an excellent supplement to land-based physical and occupational therapy, providing one-on-one treatment sessions. It uses safe and efficient methods to achieve each child's individulaized short and long term goals. The water offers a gentle resistance, which increases strength and enhances sensory feedback and learning. In addition, the water supports muscles while children work on balance and posture. The therapists utilize aquatic and land-based techniques including neuro-developmental treatments, sensory motor integration, and functional motor skills. Aquatic therapy is an effective way to address many types of conditions including sensory, neurological, and orthopedic problems.  Some of the benefits of aquatherapy include:

• Providing gravity-lessened environment
• Adding resistance to exercise
  
• Improved joint mobility, muscle strength, and endurance
  
• Increased muscle flexibility
  
• Head and trunk control
  
• Attention span and sensory motor integration
  
• Increased proprioceptive input and motor planning 
  

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