Testimonials

“Working with Michelle has been a wonderful experience. We can see so much improvement with our son. Within the first month, he was doing activities that he previously struggled with a lot. Michelle has been patient and loving to him. We couldn’t ask for a more wonderful first-time experience. The entire experience has us looking for the same qualities in other therapists. She is definitely one in a million.”

“I am forever grateful that we found Michelle. She was the first therapist to make a positive difference in my son’s development, and the first one to make me feel affirmed and validated as a parent. We had seen a number of therapists before, but only Michelle took the time to get to know my son fully and meet him where he was. On our first visit, I could immediately tell she had seen many children with my son’s same issues before and had a variety of tools to address them. She saw that his hands were clenched and used vibration to help relax them; she saw that he was afraid of rolling and used a gentle swing to introduce motion; she saw that he was uninterested in inanimate toys, so she used switch-powered moving toys to catch his attention. During our 18 months with Michelle, my son transformed from a disengaged and frustrated baby to a playful, motivated, and sociable child. It was a gradual process, and Michelle was incredibly supportive throughout. If my son was having a bad day, she would choose calming activities. If he was excited or motivated by something, she would use it to maximize his participation and stretch him a little further each time. She was always sensitive to my concerns as a parent and cooperated well with the other members of my son’s care team. She would always check in about his general well-being and offer great insights about caring for children with extra challenges. We are sad that Michelle has moved away — my son still misses her — but excited for other parents and kids to benefit from her caring personality, hard work, professionalism, and depth of experience!”

“We have had the pleasure of working with Michelle as our 11-month-old daughter Eliza’s Occupational Therapist since Eliza was around 5 months old.  Eliza was born with a genetic disorder resulting in brain anomalies and cortical visual impairment.  When we began working with Michelle, Eliza had little purposeful movement and would rarely interact with toys, even at the most basic level.  She could not grip objects for more than a second or two, had difficulty looking at faces or visually fixating on objects, kept her hands mostly fisted, and had a preference for her left side.  We also faced feeding difficulties, as Eliza’s tongue thrust and gag reflex had made the transition from bottle to solids very challenging.
 
From day one, Michelle focused on Eliza’s strengths and how she could leverage those strengths to help Eliza rise to her full potential.  For example, she discerned that Eliza was very tactile and positively responsive to physical touch, loved music, and would engage best visually with certain categories of toys.  By devising strategies that centered around Eliza’s strengths, Michelle has brought about an amazing transformation in Eliza in a short period of time; we have been absolutely thrilled.  Eliza will now bat at, grab, and play with toys in a variety of challenging positions—for example, sitting with limited support or on her tummy—and we are seeing her range of motion expand more every day.  Her social engagement has also transformed; she loves clapping, singing songs, and giving high fives.  We have also seen huge strides in her eating, as Michelle has guided us through a range of oral-motor exercises and creatively devised interventions to quiet Eliza’s tongue thrusting and enhance her enjoyment of new flavors and textures.
 
Eliza’s progress has been measurable and so encouraging, and Michelle is an absolute expert when it comes to a holistic and tailored clinical plan that focuses on progressing a child from one goal to the next.  But even looking beyond “measurables,” I’d be remiss in failing to mention that Eliza adores”