Severity of difficulties child is experiencing at the start of therapy

Consistency of attendance

Parents’/teachers’/other caregivers’ ability to incorporate goals into daily routines. At Kid Clan, parent training and communication with caregivers is a crucial part of therapy, facilitating carryover of newly acquired skills to other environments.

Motivation: Kid Clan’s therapists work hard to make therapy sessions meaningful and fun so that children are motivated to participate in activities, leading to more effective therapy.

Once your child has undergone evaluation and and began therapy, measurable goals will have been set, so you can constantly asses whether or not your child is making progress in therapy. Any questions or concerns can be directly addressed with your therapist, as parent and therapist are a team in helping your child reach success.

Kid Clan provides therapy for children aged infant to 21 years. We have even seen babies from a few days old!

Kid Clan is not in network, but we will work diligently to help you get reimbursed from your insurance.  We have skilled insurance billers available to our parents who will be able to tell you prior to the start of treatment whether or not you will likely get reimbursed.

Sensory integration, often referred to as sensory processing, occurs when the nervous system takes in messages from the senses and turns them into appropriate motor and behavioral responses. Sensory processing disorder results when a child is not able to organize information from sensory input into appropriate responses. Sensory areas that are involved in sensory processing include visual, auditory, tactile (touch), olfactory (smell), taste, proprioception (sense of where our bodies are in space), and vestibular (balance).

Some children may over-respond and others may under-respond to certain sensations. Often what appears to be bad behavior is a defensive response to a sensation that is perceived as threatening due to faulty processing of sensory information. To a child with sensory processing disorder, who is hypersensitive to touch, an inadvertent bump from another child may be perceived as a hard shove resulting in an aggressive reaction. Another child may be under-responsive to sensation and eat a food item that is too hot and not react. While everyone has some degree of inadequate processing of sensation from time to time (e.g. resistance to touching gooey textures, overly sensitive to loud noises) the question to ask, is how great is the impact on the child’s development and ability to function in all environments. When sensory processing disorder is significant, a child’s everyday functioning can be affected.

Sensory integration/processing disorder is treated through sensory-based occupational therapy, facilitating more appropriate organization of sensory information, leading to more appropriate responses and behavior.

Our speech therapists are highly trained with specialties in speech intelligibility (articulation, phonological processing, and apraxia), oral motor, auditory processing, receptive and expressive language in toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children. Our speech therapists are also trained in pragmatic language, fluency, and speech and language deficits related to autistic spectrum disorders.

Occupational and physical therapy overlap in many ways, however there are fundamental distinctions. While both address developmental functional goals, the primary focus of each differs.

Physical therapy focuses on developing and enhancing mobility so that children can safely and successfully participate in activities at home, in school, on the playground and in their community. Physical therapists work on strength, mobility, muscle development, balance, postural control, range of motion, coordination, endurance, motor planning and fitness. Physical therapy addresses developmental milestones such as crawling, walking, running, jumping, as well as developing strategies to accomplish more complex motor tasks such as sports related activities. We emphasize sports-related skills, as they are crucial for successful interaction with peers in school and in the community.

The goal of occupational therapy is to optimize a child’s ability to perform their occupation – which is primarily play – in all environments. The skills necessary for children to perform their primary occupation include fine motor skills, sensory processing and regulation, attention, strengthening, perception, motor planning, self-help skills, and coordination. Gross motor skills are addressed, as well, in the context of providing a strong foundation upon which fine motor skills can be developed.

When a child is taken to the pediatrician for an ailment, often there are quick solutions. Pediatric therapy of any kind requires patience and consistency, as it is an evolving process. The most optimal way for a child to progress toward goals in speech, occupational or physical therapy, is when caregivers (e.g. parents, teachers, daycare personnel) are educated by the treating therapist to incorporate therapeutic activities into everyday routines. The consistent practice throughout the child’s day enables newly acquired skills to be integrated more efficiently. An informed caregiver can also provide valuable feedback to the treating therapist, facilitating more focused and effective therapy.

We are happy to send therapists to do observations in your child’s school, but we do prefer to do therapy at our center because of the wide selection of resources and equipment available to us.