Building Confidence & Independence for a Life Well Lived

Therapeutic listening is sometimes used by occupational therapists who are trained in therapeutic listening protocol as a sensory integration modality to treat children with autism and other sensory processing disorders occasionally. It’s often used to assist children with auditory perception, movement, language, and learning difficulties. It works by using electronically altered music to affect a child’s vestibular-cochlear function. The music is transmitted through a high pass filter to allow certain high frequencies to be accentuated and low frequencies to be muted. Using the vestibular-cochlear mechanism in the inner ear, the brain becomes trained to filter low sound frequencies and tune in higher frequencies, like the human voice.

Goals of therapeutic listening:

• Increase receptive language
• Decrease auditory defensiveness
• Increase expressive language
• Decrease sensory seeking behaviors
• Increase vestibular function

Therapeutic Listening can also encourage calming behaviors and establishing sleep patterns.

Sensory integration therapy is provided by occupational therapists and involves the child’s ability to take in information through the five senses and movement to combine the resulting perceptions with knowledge already stored in the brain. The therapist will assess the child’s development levels and determine if sensory-motor processing is delayed.

To a child, sensory integration therapy is play. The activities are carefully chosen to stimulate development in the areas the child is deficient in. For example, hypersensitive children may be exposed to relaxing activities with soft music in a softly lit room. Various materials may be used, such as play dough or finger painting. The therapists may also provide rewards to encourage children to tolerate activities they tend to avoid.

Feeding and oral motor therapy helps infants and children with various feeding and oral motor difficulties. Addressing feeding problems is important for preventing or eliminating nutritional concerns and growth concerns, including failure to thrive and unsafe swallowing, which can lead to aspiration, pneumonia, and future poor eating habits.

These may include:

• Oral motor deficits such as weakness and/or lack of function or control
  Reduced or limited intake
• Food refusal
• Food selectivity by type and/or texture
• Dysphagia (swallowing difficulty)
• Delayed feeding development
• Food or swallowing phobias
• Mealtime tantrums

Our therapists will assess your child’s needs and ensure they are paired with durable medical equipment that works best for them, whether a walker, wheelchair, leg braces, etc. We will also work closely with local medical vendors so that a team of experts can help your child be comfortable with their new equipment and learn to use it to have a better quality of life.

The Wilbarger Protocol is a therapy program designed to reduce sensory or tactile defensiveness. Children who exhibit symptoms of tactile defensiveness are extremely sensitive to touch. This can cause fear or resistance to being touched, difficulty transitioning between activities, and/or lethargy.

Our therapists will work patiently with your child to help increase their comfort with touch and live with less fear.

Handwriting Without Tears uses child-friendly, multisensory teaching materials to make learning how to write a fun and enjoyable experience for kids. It’s interactive and available for children from Pre-K through fifth grade. Being an online platform, parents can participate in helping their children learn this necessary skill.

Sports injuries happen, and with the proper techniques, children can usually make full recoveries. Our licensed physical therapists can help your child prepare for a sport or recover from a sports injury. We will work with them to rebuild their muscle and regain their range of motion so they can safely get back to their sport.