Sensory

Specialized Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services for Children Ages 0-18

Occupational Therapy Services at Steps Ahead

Steps Ahead Occupational Therapy offers specialized occupational therapy services in the comfort of your home, at your school/day care, and/or virtually. The therapist creates a sensory-rich environment with lots of opportunities to experience tactile, visual, auditory, and movement inputs. Sessions are structured so your child is challenged but successful in completing each activity. When Occupational Therapy is effective, children improve their ability to accurately detect, regulate, and interpret sensations to execute appropriate motor and behavioral responses. This assists them in performing everyday “occupations” in a functional manner.

Feeding Therapy

Children who benefit from occupational therapy intervention:

  • Children who are challenged in reaching their developmental milestones (in social, self-care, oral motor, fine and gross motor skills)
  • Children who have difficulty tolerating and navigating their environment
  • Children who have difficulty regulating emotions (meltdowns, rigidity with schedules, short fuse)
  • Children with sensory processing challenges (difficulty with attention, on the go, limited play skills)
  • Children and infants who struggle at mealtime due to an oral motor and /or sensory-based challenges (transitioning to solid foods, open mouth resting posture, gagging/coughing when eating, picky eater, Tethered oral tissues/tongue tie)

Common Conditions Steps Ahead OT can Support

   

  • Developmental Delays
  • Feeding Challenges (with bottle/solid foods)
  • Oral Motor Skills required for Feeding
  • Pre/Post Frenectomy Care
  • Challenges related to Tethered Oral Tissue (TOTS)
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Self/Emotional Regulation Difficulties
  • Visual Deficits (Motor, Perceptual, Functional)
  • Fine Motor Delay
  • Handwriting Deficits
  • Difficulty with Hand-eye and Finger Coordination
  • Gross Motor Delay
  • Sensorimotor, Bilateral Coordination, Low Muscle Tone, and Postural Instability
  • Praxis/Motor Planning Difficulties
  • Unintegrated Primitive Reflexes
  • Lack of age-appropriate play skills/toy engagement
  • Anxiety
  • Attention and Concentration Deficits (ADD/ADHD)
  • Learning Difficulties
  • Executive Functioning Deficits
  • Social Skill Difficulties
  • Neurological Disorders
  • Down Syndrome
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Rhetts Syndrome
  • Genetic Disorders
Feeding Therapy

Specialized Occupational Therapy Programs and Protocols

  • DIR Floor Time Approach
  • Sensory Integration
  • Zones of Regulation
  • ALERT program
  • Handwriting Without Tears
  • Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding
  • Beckman Oral Motor Evaluation/Intervention
  • Feed The PEDS (TOTs)
  • Astronaut Training: Sound-activated vestibular visual protocol
  • Interactive Metronome
  • Touch Massage
  • Pre-Post Frenectomy Care
  • Kinesio Taping