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Our therapists focus upon a child's sensory, motor, postural, emotional development and self care skills in order to improve the child's functioning in the school, home or community. Occupational and physical therapists also provide special equipment to help a child function as independently as possible.
Who should receive occupational and physical therapy? Services are provided for children ages birth to 21 years with any developmental delay or challenges resulting from congenital birth disorder, traumatic injury, or severe illness.
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Why is occupational and physical therapy important in helping children to learn? Occupational and physical therapy help each child develop the underlying skills necessary for learning and for performing specific tasks. Some common diagnoses can include, but are not limited to:
- Sensory integration disorder
- Sensory processing dysfunction
- Perceptual impairments
- Developmental delay
- Gross and fine motor coordination deficits
- Learning disabilities / ADD / ADHD
- Down syndrome
- Cerebral palsy
- Traumatic brain injury
- Spina bifida / spinal cord injury
- Premature birth
- PDD, Autism, Asperger syndrome
- Mental retardation
- Emotional or behavioral disorders
- Amputations
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Occupational Therapy Services
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Occupational therapy likes to put the 'fun' back in functional movements. Using a child's natural ability and motivation to play, we create a challenging environment to assist the child to succeed in life tasks.
Occupational therapy focuses special interest in:
- Improved attention to task ability
- Visual motor control
- Sensory modulation difficulties
- Increased independence in family living skills
- Adaptive equipment and splinting
- Social skills / appropriate interaction with others
- Calming techniques for 'melt downs'
- Assisting children with Autistic Spectrum disorders with the ability to adjust to change
- Activity of Daily Living training (feeding, dressing)
- Therapeutic use of pool for balance and strengthening
Sensory Exploration
Being exposed to a variety of sensory input is important to help children organize their nervous systems, to develop skills, and to adapt to the world around them.
"Just as a child needs certain relationships with parents and peers to develop normally in the interpersonal domain, he needs certain sensory experiences to develop interpersonally. Sensory integration provides a child with a better foundation for learning as well as for emotional development." ~ Ayres.
Children with Sensory and Learning Disorders who attend Brazos Children's Center will have frequent opportunities to experience a wide variety of sensory experiences throughout every session. They will touch, smell, see and taste during cooking, will participate in a variety of multi-sensory experiences in arts and crafts, will jump, crash, and crawl through obstacle courses, and will listen and move to a variety of sounds during music.
Social Skills Groups
Social and emotional skills are important to healthy child development. Poor social skills often preclude children from establish meaningful relationships. Children with weak social skills are at risk for developing problems in school and later in the workplace.
We will deliver a violence prevention researched-based curriculum called Second Step. Children will be exposed to three units of study:
- Empathy Training
- Impulse Control
- Problem Solving
- Anger Management
Impulsive children are taught to respond to social situations thoughtfully rather than impulsively. To do this, they learn problem-solving steps that promote a neutral rather than hostile orientation toward peers. Art will be incorporated into the social skills groups to further express the connection between emotions and the senses. It is a physiological processing that encourages the emotional pathways to physically express themselves and show a more positive approach to releasing emotions.
At Brazos Children's Center, Social Skills and emotional development will be emphasized throughout each session. Turn taking, sportsmanship, social pragmatics, body language, facial expressions and communication skills will be reinforced at every opportunity.
Vocational Training
At Brazos Children's Center we believe that developing work-related skills is critical to a child's self-confidence, self-reliance, and independence. Children will learn pre-vocational foundation skills such as following verbal or written directions, discriminating between objects, sequencing activities, using small tools such as a three-hole punch and hammer, socially acceptable behaviors, problem-solving, counting, improving time on task behaviors for productivity, and work preparation skills (set up and clean up).
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Physical Therapy Services
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Physical therapy could be indicated for children having difficulties with:
- Balance and/or coordination
- Weakness of the trunk or extremities
- Gross motor problems such as sitting, crawling, standing, walking, running, jumping, etc.
- Tight or spastic muscles
- Sensory integration dysfunction affecting gross motor performance
- Motor planning / motor control
Treatments are play based and are unique to the developmental level of each child. Sessions may include therapeutic exercise, balance training, aquatic therapy, neuro-developmental treatment, and/or adaptive equipment assessment and training.
Gross Motor Therapy Information
Gross motor activities are important to help a child develop coordination, balance, flexibility, motor planning, skill development, and spatial relationships. Motor activity also facilitates language and learning. At BCC, gross motor activities will be incorporated into most sessions. The children will have opportunities to move during music, sports, obstacle courses, climbing on the climbing structure, and jumping on the trampoline.
Fine Motor Skills Therapy Information
Fine motor skills involve the ability to efficiently use the small muscles of the hand and forearm to grasp and manipulate small items. Fine motor skills are important for activities such as managing and manipulating fasteners and utensils during dressing and eating, holding pencils and using tools in the classroom, opening containers, and manipulating toy pieces. Fine motor activities will be incorporated throughout the sessions at BCC such as keeping score during a basketball game, or identifying objects in the sand with tweezers.
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