Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy utilizes play in a child-centered and fun environment to promote development and improve skills in the areas of: sensory processing skills, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, visual motor skills, visual perceptual skills, feeding, selfcare, and self-regulation skills. Prairie Grit Therapy is able to utilize the unique spaces within the YMCA (including the basketball court, climbing wall, track, swimming pool, and more) to make therapy more exciting and applicable to real-world environments and activities.

Who may benefit from OT?

Some signs or symptoms your child may be experiencing which could benefit from Occupational Therapy (OT) services include:

• Difficulty achieving developmental milestones

• Difficulty with handwriting

• Picky eating

• Sensory avoiding or sensory seeking behaviors

• Delayed independence with self-care skills such as dressing, shoe tying, and more.

Occupational Therapy can help children ages 0-18 years who have: birth injuries or birth defects, developmental delay, autism, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome, sensory processing disorder, traumatic brain injury, ADD/ADHD, or other diagnoses.

Physical Therapy

Pediatric physical therapists (PTs) provide services to patients who demonstrate or who are at high risk for developmental delays. Physical therapists are movement experts and help with gross motor development and body function (e.g., strength and endurance). Treatment sessions may include therapeutic exercise, neurodevelopmental facilitation, gait training, coordination/balance activities, manual therapy, aquatic therapy, and taping techniques. These services are delivered through mentally and physically stimulating play activities. The goal of these activities are to help your child reach their maximum potential of mobility and participation, whether it be at home, in school, or in recreational activities in the community. 

Some signs or symptoms your child may be experiencing which could benefit from Physical Therapy services include:

• Difficulty achieving independent mobility

• Delay in developmental milestones

• Coordination/balance deficits 

• Toe walking

• Flatness of skull

• W-sitting

• Prematurity

• Pain with movement

• Recovery from injury/surgery 

Who may benefit from PT?

Physical Therapy can help children ages 0-18 years who have: birth injuries or birth defects, developmental delay, torticollis, skull flatness in infants (plagiocephaly, scaphocephaly, brachycephaly), prematurity, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down syndrome, spinal muscular atrophy, muscular dystrophy, scoliosis, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, genetic disorders, sensory processing disorders, traumatic brain injuries, orthopedic conditions, sports injuries, or other diagnoses.

Speech Language Therapy

Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, and diagnose a variety of disorders relating to communication including receptive/expressive language disorders, articulation/phonological disorders, social language disorders, orofacial myofunctional disorders, infant feeding, and any/all diagnoses that may impact communication such as Autism, Down Syndrome, Apraxia, and/or Auditory Processing Disorder.

Who may benefit from Speech Language therapy?

Some signs or symptoms your child may be experiencing which could benefit from speech/language therapy services include:

• Difficulty expressing wants, needs, and other communicative messages or understanding written and spoken messages

• Difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently

• Difficulty participating in conversations or using socially appropriate behaviors

• Literacy concerns (reading, writing, and spelling)

• Concerns with feeding and swallowing safely and efficiently