Children communicate ALL THE TIME.  From the time a child enters the world and hears it's own cry, that sound has a function.  Our role as speech therapists is to identify when that function of communication is broken, when that child is no longer meeting those milestones, sentences are not forming, intelligibility is not like his classmates.  Speech therapy is an intervention service that focuses on improving a child's speech and abilities to understand and express language, including nonverbal language. Speech therapists, or speech and language pathologists (SLPs), work with children in the following areas: 

• improving articulation of speech sounds/oral motor movements

• increasing vocabulary and word knowledge so a child can have meaningful conversations

• addressing reading/written communication skills for academic success

• focus on fluency training for disorders of stuttering/cluttering

• improving receptive language and auditory processing (following directions, reading comprehension, identification)

• improving socialization/play skills for functional participation in their environments

• Increasing phonemic awareness skills for early reading skills

• Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) programming, therapy/training and funding management. 

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Feeding Therapy is an intervention that focuses on the habilitation or rehabilitation of the swallow/oral and/or feeding efficiency of a child to increase the safe and efficient intake by mouth.  Feeding therapy may be administered by a licensed speech therapist or occupational therapist depending on the underlying dysfunction.  Speech therapists are specialized in the treatment and rehabilitation of swallowing disorders affecting oral-pharyngeal dysfunction and disorders of oral and facial musculature that place a patient at risk for choking/aspiration and respiratory distress.  Occupational therapists will focus on feeding disorders associated with sensory/behavioral disorders of feeding and/or oral functional disorders which do not impact pharyngeal swallow function. These children are at risk of weight loss, failure to thrive and food rejections due to poor manipulation or tolerance.  

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A child’s role in life is to play and interact with other children, safely navigate their environment and complete advancing daily living tasks with increased independence.. Our pediatric occupational therapists evaluate a child’s current skills related to play, school performance, and daily activities and compare them with what is developmentally appropriate for that age group. OTs help children perform daily activities they may find challenging by addressing sensory, social, behavioral, motor, and environmental issues.  

Occupational therapists work with children in the following areas:

• improving fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills

• addressing hand-eye coordination to improve kids’ play and school skills (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.)

• learning basic tasks (such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves)

• maintaining positive behaviors in all environments (e.g., instead of hitting others or acting out, using positive ways to deal with anger, such as writing about feelings or participating in a physical activity.

• evaluating the need for specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs, splints, bathing equipment, dressing devices, or communication aids

• improving attention and social skills to allow development of interpersonal relationships.

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Physical Therapy

A child meets multiple developmental milestones during the first 2 years  of life. A variety of factors impact that development. Our pediatric physical therapists encourage strength, coordination and gross motor function to improve independence and a child's participation within their environment, utilizing a variety of modalities and equipment to aid in addressing the whole child in improving physical independence and habilitation of walking, balance and functional motor skills for independent play and navigation of their environment. 

Physical Therapists work with your child in the following areas:

Ordering and maintaining adaptive equipment (helmets, wheel chairs, walkers, AFOs)

• Completing intensive strengthening and ROM exercises to support ambulation and mobility

• Evaluating children/teens suffering from pain and ROM difficulties attributed to injuries

• Completes  neuro-reeducation in cases of genetic disorders, Cerebral Palsy and other neurologically-based disorders. 

• Completes manual exercises program and education for infant/toddler mobility and ROM deficits. 

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