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At Abilities, we value a proactive approach in treating infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with the philosophy that early treatment for difficulties promotes optimal outcomes and may prevent current developmental concerns from becoming more severe.
Programs
Preschool Programs: 18 months to 5 years
Early Intervention (EIP)
Our High Peaks Program: Blended 3's & 4's
Individual Therapy Sessions
We offer one-on-one speech language pathology, occupational therapy and physical therapy in a specialized sensory gym environment or private treatment areas. We provide services to children who are experiencing developmental difficulties. Some commonly seen conditions are are Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, developmental delays and muscle tone abnormalities. We offer specialized programs such as handwriting remediation, "handwriting without tears program", therapeutic listening, and interactive metronome.
Speech & Language Therapy
Our Speech-Language Pathologists are highly-educated professionals who have a minimum of a master’s degree in their field. As in any health-care related profession, S-LPs are required to study anatomy and physiology, but they also study neuroanatomy, genetics, human and language development, linguistics, psychology, acoustics and more, which is why they are qualified to evaluate, diagnose and treat a broad range of delays and disorders. Please see below:
- Speech delays and disorders including articulation, phonology and motor speech disorders.
- Language delays and disorders, including expression and comprehension in oral and non-verbal contexts
- Fluency disorders, including stuttering.
- Voice and resonance disorders.
- Swallowing and feeding disorders in adults, children and infants.
- Cognitive-communicative disorders including social communication skills, reasoning, problem solving and executive functions.
- Pre-literacy and literacy skills including phonological awareness, decoding, reading comprehension and writing.
- Communication and swallowing disorders related to other issues. For example, hearing impairments, traumatic brain injury, dementia, developmental, intellectual or genetic disorders and neurological impairments.
Occupational and Sensory Integration Therapy
Our occupational therapists offer a wide variety of programs to address each client’s individual motor, social, and educational developmental needs. There are 3 types of primary diagnostic groups under the umbrella of Sensory Processing Difficulties:
- Sensory modulation
- Sensory discrimination
- Sensory-based motor
Our therapists utilize a treatment approach based on Sensory Integration theory in order to address many of our clients’ functional deficits from a sensory standpoint. Sensory integration is a neurological process in which sensations are organized for functional use in everyday activities. Our brain receives information from our body and the surrounding environment through our external and internal senses. When working efficiently in a typical nervous system, this information is then processed and organized in such a way that we are able to appropriately respond to our environment, often without conscious effort. Here at Abilities, each child’s unique “sensory profile” is determined through extensive observation and evaluation methods. Our occupational therapists then tailor an individualized treatment plan in order to facilitate improved awareness of and response to the sensory stimuli that are encountered on a daily basis, so that the child has more refined adaptive responses in his or her own environment.
Physical Therapy
Our Physical Therapists are highly-educated professionals who have a minimum of a doctorate degree in their field. They help children who have difficulty with functional movement, poor balance, and challenges moving through their environment successfully. Some children have low muscle tone, some have poor balance, others may not be well-coordinated, and still others may have a combination of all of the above. These are all areas that a physical therapist can address. After an assessment, the physical therapist will design and implement a program that will help to improve the individual child’s areas of need and increase overall function and participation. Gross motor skills enable children to explore and learn from their environment. Young babies’ neck muscles develop, allowing them to hold their head up and see things from an upright position. Trunk muscles strengthen, enabling children to sit and soon after crawl and begin to explore their surroundings on their own. Toddlers learn to walk, climb, and eventually run. Physical Therapists work on the following skills:
- Gross Motor Skills – using large muscles for sitting, standing, walking, running, etc.
- Balance/Coordination Skills – involves the brain, bones, and muscles in a coordinated effort for smooth movement; for example, as in climbing stairs, jumping, etc.
- Strengthening – building muscle for support and endurance; for example, to walk for a distance without becoming tired.
- Functional Mobility/Motor Planning – moving through space, day to day, for independence and efficiency; for example, to climb onto the rocking chair and make it rock back and forth.