PT

Physical Therapists work with children for a variety of reasons, including challenges resulting from bone/muscle issues, genetic disorders, neurological disorders of the brain, spine, or nerves, or injuries. The goal of pediatric physical therapy is to help children develop gross motor skills in an environment where they feel happy, safe and comfortable. It incorporates specifically designed play activities to promote therapeutic movement and activate targeted muscles.  PT’s can help identify and access needed orthotics and equipment to help kids achieve their gross motor goals. 

OT

Occupational Therapists frequently work on more refined movement that require fine motor skills, like using utensils to write, to self-feed, or other self-care tasks such as assisting in bathing, toileting and dressing.  OT’s also address sensory integration skills and self-regulation, as well as executive functioning strategies to maintain focus for completing activities of daily living and work and play tasks.  OT’s can help by offering ideas for seating and positioning, sensory diets, and other adaptive activities to help kids stay focused and ready for learning.

SLP

Speech and Language Pathologists AKA SLP’s or Speech Therapists help children to learn and use multimodal communication to engage, learn, and get their needs met.  They help to empower children and families to recognize the building blocks of communication and to explore and understand available options to meet their goals.  Speech therapists also support feeding and swallowing concerns, executive functioning skills, and pragmatic language skills.  Pragmatic language refers to the social language skills that we use in our daily interactions with others. This includes what we say, how we say it, our non-verbal communication (eye contact, facial expressions, body language etc.) and how appropriate our interactions are in a given situation.  Pragmatic skills are vital for communicating our personal thoughts, ideas and feelings. Children with difficulties in this area often misinterpret other peoples’ communicative intent and therefore will have difficulty responding appropriately either verbally or non-verbally.

Videoconferencing

We know that while interacting in person is beneficial, sometimes that may not be possible. It’s important to us that kids are able to receive the care they need even if it’s screen to screen instead of face to face. We also understand that sometimes gathering with our partners via computer versus around a physical table might be a more efficient option. We’re happy to discuss how best to give our patients the best possible care! Please let us know if this is a service that might benefit you!