Frequently Asked Questions

Occupational therapy (OT) is a skilled health, rehabilitation, and educational service that assists people across their lifespan to participate in the activities they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations). Source: American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA).

OT, PT, and SLP in early intervention focus on the child’s interests and everyday routines to improve the family’s capacity to support the child’s performance at home and in the community. In an outpatient clinic, the focus is on improving specific skill/deficit areas, typically in a one-on-one session.

OT, PT and SLP are related services to the special education program and academic support a student receives through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504-B Plan. For example: The OT may help a student strengthen their hand muscles for an efficient grasp for paper/pencil tasks. The PT may work on improving strength and coordination to enable the student to use playground equipment. The SLP may help a student who has issues with socialization make appropriate conversation

Tummy time are periods built into the infant’s daily routines where he/she is placed on their stomach to build core strength and enhance exploration. Positioning promotes motor development in the neck and trunk, and exploration through play.

Recess provides an opportunity to improve and/or refine skills, including gross motor, eye-hand coordination, and socialization. Children learn game rules, socialization, and hobbies, and gain friendships. A comparative study of 11,000 third graders found that those who participated in more than 15 minutes of recess per day behaved better in the classroom and were more likely to learn than their peers who had little to no recess opportunities. Source: Barros, Silver, & Stein, 2009.

Individuals experiencing sensory processing delays may exhibit behavior, seeking tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive, auditory, visual sensation and/or olfactory input. A sensory diet is a program consisting of specific activities that provide the sensory input an individual needs to focus and remain organized throughout the day. For example, a child who rocks in place may have opportunities to swing or rock in a chair for self-regulation. A child who touches items constantly, may be offered a fidget or time allotted to use a tactile sensory bin.

Executive function disorder is a term used to describe a range of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional difficulties that impact efficient planning, problem-solving, organization, and time management.

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) diagnose and provide treatment for children with a number of articulation, language, fluency, voice, and feeding-swallowing issues.

A language disorder is characterized by difficulty comprehending spoken language or using spoken language to express one’s thoughts and ideas with others. Signs of a receptive language disorder may include difficulty following directions, difficulty answering questions appropriately, or difficulty attending to spoken language. Signs of an expressive language disorder may include: limited vocabulary, difficulty forming complete thoughts to share information, or difficulty with word retrieval.

Articulation is the production of speech sounds. An articulation disorder is characterized by incorrect placement or movement of the teeth, lips, tongue, velum, and/or pharynx to produce speech sounds.

Phonological processes are patterns of speech sound errors that children use to simplify speech as they learn to speak. Some examples of phonological processes are Gliding (e.g., “rabbit” becomes “wabbit” or “look” becomes “wook”) and Fronting (e.g., “cap” becomes “tap” or “go” becomes “doe”). A phonological disorder is characterized by the persistence of phonological processes beyond the expected age of extinction.

Sessions are 30 minutes or more as long as the client can participate within the allotted timeframe.