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Category: Sensory Integration Therapy

Helping Children Develop Self-Care Skills

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What are types of self-care skills?

As children learn and grow, they have a drive to be independent and do things on their own. One area that an occupational therapist address in childhood development are their activities of daily living (ADLs), also known as self-care skills. Self-care skills are skills that are required to manage a person’s basic needs including:

  • Brushing teeth
  • Dressing (upper/lower body dressing, zippers, belts, shoe tying)
  • Bathing
  • Grooming (brushing/styling hair, nail cutting)
  • Self-feeding
  • Toileting

What are the building blocks necessary for self-care skills?

  • Executive functioning skills (i.e. attention, sequencing, initiation of task)
  • Fine motor skills (hand & finger strength, object manipulation)
  • Receptive & expressive language (comprehension and alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas)
  • Sensory processing (tolerating sensory stimulation in the environment, such as grooming or dressing tasks for tactile processing)
  • Coordination & motor planning (moving body through space in a functional way)

What age should my child be able to engage in self-care tasks?

It is important to understand that all children develop at their own pace and that is okay! Remember — there is no penalty for being cautious about your growing child, and if there is a problem acting early can make all the difference. Self care skills are the every day practice of the foundations skills for academic performance and not just life skills. According to the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics, below are a few of the developmental milestones pertaining to self-care skills in early childhood development.

6-12 months

  • Drinking from a cup
  • Holding a bottle or cup independently
  • Using tongue to move food around mouth
  • Feeding self small crackers or other small pieces of food

1-2 years

  • Settling themselves to sleep at night or during the day
  • Attempting to brush teeth
  • Removing own socks
  • Cooperating with dressing by extending an arm or leg

2-3 years

  • Using toilet with assistance and having daytime control
  • Attempting to manipulate large buttons
  • Distinguishing between urination and bowel movements, and names them correctly
  • Using a napkin to wipe face and hands
  • Feeding self simple meals using a fork or spoon
  • Taking socks and shoes off

3-4 years

  • Unbuttoning and buttoning large buttons
  • Feeding self without difficulty
  • Tolerating different clothing textures, seams, tags etc
  • Toileting independently
  • Brushing teeth independently or with supervision only
  • Dressing and undressing self (only requiring assistance with laces, buttons, and other fasteners in awkward places)

4-5 years

  • Choosing weather appropriate clothes
  • Dressing self independently
  • Attempting to bathe and groom with supervision only

5-6 years

  • Dressing independently
  • Able to manage morning and night time routine with supervision only
  • Settling independently for sleep
  • Able to manipulate more difficult fasteners and tie shoes

6-7 years

  • Showering or taking a bath independently
  • Independently toileting during the day and at night
  • Preparing simple meals (i.e. cereal)
  • Independent grooming (combing hair, brushing teeth, flossing)

7-8 years

  • Showering independently
  • Taking on more responsibilities (i.e. chores)
  • Preparing simple meals and helping with more complex meals (i.e. making a sandwich, using the microwave, spreading condiments, pouring from a larger container into a cup)
  • Interest in taking on more complex grooming tasks – nail cutting, tolerating hair cuts, styling hair

How can an occupational therapist help address self-care difficulties?

Create a routine: Developing a consistent routine with a child can help them know what is expected of them and when to complete their self-care tasks throughout the day. Creating a routine may require a visual schedule or reward chart, something that an occupational therapist can help your child and family plan, develop, and implement in the home!

Improve fine motor skills: Almost all self-care skills require adequate fine motor skills, such as brushing teeth, using utensils, buttons, zippers, tying shoes, and more! An occupational therapist can help improve your child’s fine motor skills to increase independence of their self-care tasks.

Sensory integration: some children may have difficulty tolerating grooming or dressing tasks which can indicate a challenge with tactile processing. They may also have difficulty with tolerating hair cuts, nail cutting, or teeth brushing. Seeing an OT to address these sensory processing concerns can help your child to improve their ability to register and tolerate tactile input to improve their ability to complete these self-care tasks using a variety of treatment strategies.

Adaptation & modification of tools and the environment: An occupational therapist can recommend different types of adaptive equipment (i.e. button hook, weighted utensils, shoe horn, etc.) to help increase independence in self-care skills. They may also get creative by providing tips for adapting the environment to promote independence in the home.

Executive functioning skills & attention to task:  If your child has difficulty with their higher level cognitive skills then self-care may be difficult. Seeing an OT could be helpful by implementing and utilizing a variety of treatment strategies for increasing attention, initiation of tasks, sequencing steps of an activity and more!

Caregiver/parent training: An occupational therapist may be able to provide tips and strategies to parents in the home for carryover of self-care skills into daily routine.

How can Carolina Therapy Connection help?

Through demonstrated excellence in clinical, school, and home-based practice, Carolina Therapy Connection’s occupational therapists provide screening, assessment, consultation, and treatment to children having difficulty with a wide variety of needs, including difficulty with self-care skills. We believe it is critical to make therapy as fun and motivating as possible by celebrating the small victories as well as major achievements. We have a strong focus on helping your child develop the skills appropriate to their age and current stage of development. We also use a holistic approach and evidence-based practices to help your child develop and grow to their greatest potential. If your child is having difficulty with any of the skills discussed above, call our clinic today at 252-341-9944 for a FREE occupational therapy screening! We currently provide occupational therapy services in Greenville, Goldsboro and New Bern, NC!

References

Holland, B. (2017, February 14). Top 10 ways occupational therapy can help children with self-care. Chicago Occupational Therapy. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://chicagooccupationaltherapy.com/articles/top-10-ways-occupational-therapy-can-help-children-with-self-care/.

Admin, K. S. W. (2016, November 27). Self care skills. Kid Sense Child Development. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/self-care/self-care-skills/.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, January 22). CDC’s Developmental Milestones. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html.

 

Carolina Therapy Connection Occupational Therapy Greenville, Goldsboro, New Bern North Carolina Help with Self-care skills

Alternative & Complementary ADHD Treatments

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What is ADHD?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common disorders among children. Per the American Psychiatric Association, many ADHD symptoms, such as high activity levels, difficulty remaining still for long periods of time and limited attention spans, are common to young children in general. The difference in children with ADHD is that their hyperactivity and inattention are noticeably greater than expected for their age and cause distress and/or problems functioning at home, at school or with friends.

ADHD Treatment

ADHD is commonly treated with medication and these medications are effective and for 80% of kids with the disorder. Some children benefit from their medication, in addition to other treatment strategies, while others are able to manage their routine with solely medication. Many parents worry about side affects of ADHD medication and are willing to try other options prior to taking the pharmaceutical route. Regardless of your decision for your child, as a parent, we understand that this can be a challenging time! An occupational therapist at Carolina Therapy Connection may be able to help your child by directly addressing these skills:

  • Organization
  • Physical Coordination
  • Controlling energy levels
  • Ability to do everyday tasks: organize their backpack, make their bed, complete morning or nightly routine, feeding etc.
  • Maintain attention to tasks
  • Time management

Carolina Therapy Connection discusses several alternative and complementary treatments for ADHD that we specialize in below.

Sensory Integration Therapy

    • Many children with ADHD also suffer from sensory processing disorder, a neurological underpinning that contributes to their ability to pay attention or focus.  Normally, we process and adapt to sensory stimulation in our daily environment. But children with ADHD are unable to adjust, and instead might be so distracted and bothered by a sound or movement in the classroom, for instance, that they cannot pay attention to the teacher.
    • Development of a sensory diet and home education program focusing on self-modulation and self-regulation skills
    • Use of our brand new, 3000sq. ft. sensory gym to elicit a variety of adaptive responses to help improve attention and sensory modulation 
      • Focus specifically on deep pressure/proprioceptive feedback and vestibular feedback.

Interactive Metronome (IM) Treatment Modality

    • Developed in the early 1990s, the Interactive Metronome treatment modality is a computer-based program that has children complete physical exercises in certain pre-determined rhythms, relying on a concept called “neurotiming” to improve a child’s focus, coordination, processing speed, and working memory.
    • The program requires the user to synchronize a range of hand and foot exercises with a precise computer-generated tone heard through headphones. A child tries to match the rhythmic beat with repetitive motor actions. An auditory-visual guidance system gives immediate feedback, measured in milliseconds, and keeps score. Over time (a typical course of treatment lasts 15 to 20 sessions), IM improves the brain’s sense of timing through exercise and practice — which, in turn, is thought to improve a wide range of other cognitive skills.
    • The principle behind both Interactive Metronome (neurotiming)  has been studied for more than 10 years. Most of the results have been positive: a 2011 study, focusing on 54 students in grades 2 through 8, found that, after training with Interactive Metronome for 20 sessions, participants’ reading and math skills improved by an average of 20 percent. Common ADHD trouble spots like attention levels, listening ability, and emotional control improved, too — by an average of 30 percent.
    • Another study, from 2012, compared traditional reading intervention methods with an interactive metronome program. Results indicated that children who practiced with the metronome program — in addition to the traditional reading intervention methods — had greater gains in reading skills than did the children who used traditional methods alone.
    • The Interactive Metronome training helps to facilitate a number of capacities, including attention, motor control, and selected academic skills, in children with ADHD.
    • Treatment with the Interactive Metronome is incorporated into a comprehensive occupational therapy treatment program and is covered by all insurances. 

Therapeutic Listening Program

    • Therapeutic Listening is an evidence-based form of music and sound therapy that assists people with many things such as sensory integration, poor attention and communication, and social skill deficits.  The music or sounds delivered to the individual through the headphones have been electronically modified and altered so that they stimulate the proper area of the central nervous system or brain.
    • In Therapeutic Listening therapy, an individual listens to a 30-minute session of music on specialized headphones twice a day no less than 3 hours apart from each other. While listening to music during the 30-minute session, the individual is usually engaging in behaviors that are intended to help them practice the skill of which they are wanting to improve. It can be done at home or in a therapeutic setting with our VitaLinks trained therapists.
    • Therapeutic Listening music can be altered in a way to stimulate the part of the brain that is responsible for attention, focus and hyperactivity. There have been numerous case studies to validate the efficacy of Therapeutic Listening to improve attention and focus.

Mindfulness Training

    • Occupational therapists work to help children “ground” themselves in their routines by using mindfulness techniques that help avoid and manage the stress that comes with feeling out of control.

Zones of Regulation

    • The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum geared toward helping students gain skills in consciously regulating their actions, which in turn leads to increased control and problem solving skills for kids with difficulty controlling impulsive behaviors.
    • The curriculum includes learning activities to help clients recognize when they are in the different zones (states of arousal) as well as lessons on how to use self-regulation strategies or tools to regulate the zone they are in.
    • Calming techniques and thinking strategies are explored along with sensory diet supports so students have a toolbox of strategies from which they can choose to help self-regulate.
    • To further explore the concept of self-regulation, clients gain an increased vocabulary of emotional terms, skills in reading facial expressions, perspective on how others see and react to their behavior, insight about events that trigger their behavior, and problem-solving skills. Executive functioning skills are addressed in order to increase flexible thinking, awareness of impulse control, and understanding the big picture.

If you have any questions regarding these treatments or your child’s development, call our clinic at 252-341-9944 and we will be glad to get you talking with one of our occupational therapists! Looking for more ADHD resources? Visit our resources page for ADHD HERE.

Carolina Therapy Connection ADHD Treatments Greenville, New Bern, Goldsboro NC

Making “Sense” of Our Experiences

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The Pyramid of Learning

Pyramid Of Learning

The Pyramid of Learning was developed by Occupational Therapist Kathleen Taylor and Special Educator Maryann Trott. The Pyramid of Learning is an easy-to-understand illustration that depicts a general idea of a child’s foundational skills, and what other skills build upon those. Think about it: You can’t place stones on the top until the foundation stones are in place… every block relies on the ones underneath to be strong and stable. This pyramid explains why the sensory systems are so incredibly important to support academic learning. In other words, kids NEED routine sensory input for their bodies and their brain! Our central nervous system processes and organizes the sensory information we put into it each day. Adequate sensorimotor development for things like motor planning, postural security and body awareness are built on adequate modulation and processing of sensory information that we take in every day! Sensory input can be anything such as, smells, tastes, sounds, movements, pressure, and textures.

When a child is referred to occupational therapy, it is usually for things like attention to task, handwriting difficulties, picky eating, self-care tasks, tolerating routine changes, or school readiness skills. These functional difficulties are in the “Cognition and Intellect” categories at the top of the learning pyramid. The role of an occupational therapist is to determine underlying causes of these issues and utilize specific interventions to address them. Often times, it is hard for parents to fully understand why their child is not performing at the level at which they would like them to be. Some parents may see their child become frustrated when they are trying their best to be compliant, listen and learn, but their sensory processing abilities are hindering them. These frustrations root from the child working throughout the day just to do the simple things, the things that should be automatic and unconscious for them. This may include things like listening to the teacher, keeping their balance on the stairs, standing close to their friends in line, trying a new snack, or engaging in messy play. It all begins at the bottom of the pyramid!

Understanding Our Sensory Systems

  • Proprioception is our ability to sense the location, positioning, and movements of our body and its limbs. It allows us to navigate a crowded area without bumping into people and furniture in our path.
  • Vestibular sensation is housed in our inner ears and uses gravity to sense spatial orientation and movement. This system is responsible for maintaining balance during movement. If you or child is a victim of motion sickness, you have the vestibular system to blame!
  • Tactile sensation comes from receptors in our skin found all over the body. Tactile sensation includes sensations of pain, temperature, pressure, and textures.
  • Gustatory includes specific tastes (spicy, sweet, minty, bitter) and specific textures (crunchy, chewy, mushy). Taste also involves knowing the difference between food items and non-food items.
  • Olfactory or smells involve the ability to distinguish, detect, tolerate and object certain scents.
  • Visual includes noticing and tolerating visual patterns, colors, shapes, bright and dimmed lights and moving objects.
  • Auditory involves the ability to distinguish and tolerate loud sounds (fire alarms, sirens or loud music) and soft sounds (finger snapping, repetitive tapping, hearing others breathing).

How Sensory Processing Difficulties Affect Behavior

As a parent, it can be difficult when our children are having difficulty with negative behaviors. Let’s say that you receive a call from your child’s school reporting that they often seem distracted and don’t pay attention in class, bump into kids in the lunch line, can’t hold a pencil correctly, become upset when asked to switch from one activity to another, or melt down during circle time. Although these seem like behaviors that are caused by the child seeking attention or not getting their way, sometimes it can root from difficulty with sensory input. It is important for parents to work with an occupational therapist in determining the root of the problem. Sensory integration therapy or a sensory diet may be the key to diminishing these behaviors. Sometimes, just some simple routine changes can allow the child to regulate themselves. Regardless, it is important to have an occupational therapist on your team to help make those adjustments.

Sensory Integration

Sensory integration refers to how your body recognizes, processes, and responds to information received by our sensory systems on an individual and combined level. This includes our traditional 5 senses, sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing; however, we also have proprioceptive and vestibular sensory systems. Occupational therapists use sensory integration therapy by exposing a child to sensory stimulation in a structured and organized way. The goal of sensory integration therapy is to adapt the child’s brain and nervous system to process sensory information more efficiently. The OT may use a sensory gym to engage the child in these repetitive and stimulating activities.

Sensory Integration Strategies 

  • Messy play – mud, dirt, water, food play, finger paints, shaving cream, bath bubbles, etc.
  • Noise cancelling headphones or ear plugs
  • Window shades or adjustable lights
  • Include your child in meal preparation process – encourage them to help whether with their hands or using cooking utensils to interact with the many food textures and smells
  • Food play – Encourage your child to interact with new foods in the most basic manner; the SOS Feeding Approach, used commonly by Occupational Therapists, encourages the following progression with new foods: See –> Touch –> Kiss –> Lick –> Taste –> Chew & Swallow. It is important to allow your child to move at their own pace and allow them to clean off hands or spit out food at any point along the continuum.
  • Sensory toys – check out Ark Therapeutic, a leading manufacturer of innovative therapy tools and special needs products! They have great sensory toys, chews and fidgets that can help your child deal with sensory overload.
  • Finger painting – also try bathtub paint to reduce mess and give child control over cleaning off their hands
  • Listening to music
  • Having a clear visual schedule posted with plenty of preparation for transitions.
  • Providing sensory breaks such as walking in circles, jumping on a mini-trampoline and sucking on sour candy.
  • For the child who needs to move a bit, you might try an inflated seated cushion or a pillow from home so they can both squirm and stay in their seat.

How can Carolina Therapy Connection help?

At Carolina Therapy Connection, we offer Sensory Integration Therapy and play-based treatment intervention that is specifically designed to stimulate and challenge all of the senses. Sensory Integration involves specific sensory activities (swinging, bouncing, brushing, and more) that are intended to help your child regulate his or her response to incoming sensory input. The outcome of these activities may be better focus and attention, improved behavior, and even lowered anxiety. Our therapists may work on  lowering a patient’s negative reactions to touch, help them become better aware of their body in space, and work on their ability to manage their bodies more appropriately (run and jump when it’s time to run and jump, sit and focus when it’s time to sit and focus, etc.). Various techniques include swinging, deep pressure therapy, which may include squeezing, rolling, etc., jumping on a trampoline, or gross motor play such as wall climbing, balance beam, etc.

Carolina Therapy Connection now has the largest and most state-of-the-art sensory gym in all of Eastern North Carolina!  Check out our 360° view of our sensory gym HERE. Our sensory gym is fully equipped with a zip-line, monkey bars, slides, scooter board ramps, ball pit, trampolines, rock climbing wall, and an expansive set of swings to offer a wide-variety of sensory experiences for each child.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a screening for your child, call our clinic at (252) 341-9944 to learn more about what you can do and how we can help!

 

References:

Pyramid of Learning by Taylor and Trott (1991)

Amy Hathaway, OTR/L DEVELOP, LEARN, GROW

Kids First Children’s Services 

Sensory Blog

Sensory Sensitivities: What Can I Do?

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What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

Sensory processing disorder occurs when a child (or adult) experiences more than one significant sensory sensitivity that interferes with everyday life. One’s body must first register the arrival of new sensory stimuli in order to process and respond to it. Some kids have poor registration, meaning they have difficulty recognizing and attending to new sensory stimuli; other kids might have high registration, meaning they feel constantly bombarded by stimuli, even those that are insignificant to a typical person in their environment. Your child might also display sensory seeking or sensory avoidant behaviors in response to their differences in processing. It is important to remember that symptoms and behaviors may be inconsistent, with varying triggers, intensity, and frequency.

Sensory Avoidant Children

The many types of sensory stimuli typically elicit a calming or arousing response. When faced with an extremely arousing, alarming type of stimuli, our body’s fight or flight system can be activated. This leads to behaviors including, but not limited to, running away, yelling or crying, physical aggression, or self-injurious behaviors. Kids who experience sensitivities to certain types of stimuli typically exhibit avoidance behaviors towards the sources of this stimuli. It is possible to desensitize children’s experiences with certain sensory stimuli; however, this process should be designed and monitored by a licensed Occupational Therapist.

Sensory avoidant behaviors might include:

  • Difficulty with washing or brushing hair
  • Difficulty with tolerating hair cuts
  • Difficulty with brushing teeth
  • Difficulty with trimming nails
  • Upset by unexpected touch
  • Difficulty adjusting or tolerating being in a loud, crowded environment
  • Prefers solo play
  • Prefers stationary activities – avoids running, climbing, jumping, etc.
  • Gagging or other extreme response to certain food smells or textures

What is Sensory Integration?

Sensory integration refers to how your body recognizes, processes, and responds to information received by our sensory systems on an individual and combined level. This includes our traditional 5 senses, sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing; however, we also have proprioceptive and vestibular sensory systems.

SENSORY SYSTEMS:

  • Proprioception is our ability to sense the location, positioning, and movements of our body and its limbs. It allows us to navigate a crowded area without bumping into people and furniture in our path.
  • Vestibular sensation is housed in our inner ears and uses gravity to sense spatial orientation and movement. This system is responsible for maintaining balance during movement. If you or child is a victim of motion sickness, you have the vestibular system to blame!
  • Touch, or tactile sensation, comes from receptors in our skin found all over the body. Tactile sensation includes sensations of pain, temperature, pressure, and textures.
  • Taste 
  • Smell
  • Sight
  • Hearing

Understanding Sensory Overload & What You Can Do

Maintain a positive mindset: 

  • Move at your child’s pace. Never force a sensory experience on them. This will lead to broken trust – Remember that your child is experiencing these stimuli as an attack to their state of wellbeing and you are there to support and encourage them.
  • Start slow – simply tolerating being near aversive sensory stimuli is something to celebrate!
  • Give your child aspects of the situation to control by using conditional choices
    • “Would you like to brush your teeth first or take a bath first?”
    • “Would you like to try the peas or the carrots today?”
    • “Would you like to use the green or the blue finger paint?”
  • Desensitizing your child and creating new habits takes time! Progress can seem slow, but don’t get discouraged.

Activity ideas: 

  • Messy play – mud, dirt, water, food play, finger paints, shaving cream, bath bubbles, etc.
  • Noise cancelling headphones or ear plugs
  • Window shades or adjustable lights
  • Include your child in meal preparation process – encourage them to help whether with their hands or using cooking utensils to interact with the many food textures and smells
  • Food play – This is crucial when trying to expand your child’s diet. Encourage your child to interact with new foods in the most basic manner; the SOS Feeding Approach, used commonly by Occupational Therapists, encourages the following progression with new foods: See –> Touch –> Kiss –> Lick –> Taste –> Chew & Swallow. It is important to allow your child to move at their own pace and allow them to clean off hands or spit out food at any point along the continuum.
  • Sensory toys – Check out Ark Therapeutic, a leading manufacturer of innovative therapy tools and special needs products! They have great sensory toys, chews and fidgets that can help your child deal with sensory overload.
  • Finger painting – also try bathtub paint to reduce mess and give child control over cleaning off their hands
  • Listening to music

Check out this video of our AMAZING Occupational Therapist, Kelly, helping a child overcome a sensory fear.

How can Carolina Therapy Connection Help?

At Carolina Therapy Connection, we offer Sensory Integration Therapy and play-based treatment intervention that is specifically designed to stimulate and challenge all of the senses. Sensory Integration involves specific sensory activities (swinging, bouncing, brushing, and more) that are intended to help your child regulate his or her response to incoming sensory input. The outcome of these activities may be better focus and attention, improved behavior, and even lowered anxiety. Our therapists may work on  lowering a patient’s negative reactions to touch, help them become better aware of their body in space, and work on their ability to manage their bodies more appropriately (run and jump when it’s time to run and jump, sit and focus when it’s time to sit and focus, etc.). Various techniques include swinging, deep pressure therapy, which may include squeezing, rolling, etc., jumping on a trampoline, or gross motor play such as wall climbing, balance beam, etc.

Carolina Therapy Connection now has the largest and most state-of-the-art sensory gym in all of Eastern North Carolina!  Check out our 360° view of our sensory gym HERE. Our sensory gym is fully equipped with a zip-line, monkey bars, slides, scooter board ramps, ball pit, trampolines, rock climbing wall, and an expansive set of swings to offer a wide-variety of sensory experiences for each child.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule a screening for your child, call our clinic at (252) 341-9944 to learn more about what you can do and how we can help!

 

 

Sensory Sensitivities

Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Activity at Home

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Alphabet Scavenger Hunt Activity at Home

Try this fun activity at home with your child- it can be adjusted for any age!

Instructions for the activity:

  • Make alphabet flash cards for your child to pick from
  • Have your child find something inside or outside that begins with that letter
  • Encourage your child to say the letter and the object
  • Talk about what the object does or how it is used
  • Have them write it out for extra practice!

How will this activity help my child succeed?

  • The alphabet scavenger hunt will help your child experience meaningful, hands-on alphabet practice
  • It integrates real-world identification with letters and sounds
  • This activity can provide necessary social interaction skills and even be made into a friendly competition with other children

We want to see your scavenger hunts.. tag us in your pics on social media!

 

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Scavenger hunt

Carolina Therapy Connection Expands into Goldsboro

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Now offering Occupational Therapy Services in Goldsboro, NC!

With our Greenville expansion and renovation completed, we are now developing therapy services in Goldsboro, NC to carry out our mission of “informing families, enriching lives, changing futures.”  Serving the Goldsboro area aligns directly with our vision “to be the regional leader of skilled processionals providing diverse, collaborative services for children and their families.” 

We are excited to open a satellite office that will encompass occupational therapy services and grow to include speech language therapy.  We offer occupational therapy services in the home, community, and in an office setting for those in and around Goldsboro.  Occupational therapy works with children, birth thru adolescence, to develop their skills to engage in everyday activities to their best of their ability.

Diagnoses we serve:

  • Developmental Delay
  • Autism Spectrum
  • ADHD/ADD
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Downs Syndrome
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Fine Motor/Gross Motor Delays
  • Feeding Delays (Picky eaters)
  • Behavior Issues
  • Handwriting Concerns

Treatment techniques we use:

Occupational Therapists may…

  • help kids work on fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills
  • address hand–eye coordination to improve kids’ play and school skills (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.)
  • help kids with developmental delays learn basic tasks (such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves)
  • help kids with behavioral disorders maintain 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)
  • teach kids with physical disabilities the coordination skills needed to feed themselves, use a computer, or increase the speed and legibility of their handwriting
  • evaluate a child’s need for specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs, splints, bathing equipment, or dressing equipment
  • work with kids who have sensory and attentional issues to improve focus and social skills

Interested in learning more about our services in Goldsboro?

Contact us today by phone or email to learn more about our services for your child!