 |
|
SIPT
Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT):
This test evaluates sensory processing deficits related to learning and behavior problems. The SIPT measures visual, tactile, and kinesthetic perception as well as motor performance. It is composed of 17 brief tests.
Why should my child be tested using the SIPT?
The SIPT test is a helpful assessment in providing standardized scores which may be necessary to prove to insurance companies or school districts the need to provide occupational therapy services. In addition, the SIPT will very specifically delineate processing challenges which may be contributing to difficulties in learning or behavior.
Occupational Therapist
Our Pediatric Occupational Therapists evaluate your child's strengths and weaknesses and work with our clients to increase defined areas of concern. Occupational skills are those life skills needed to play and have fun, to perform self-care activities (such as dressing, bathing, grooming, and feeding), and to perform well in school. OT's use special tests and skilled observation to analyze the physical, emotional, and cognitive factors affecting performance.
Our Occupational Therapists practice "child-centered" therapy, in other words, we put the child in charge. We find out what problems the child and his loved ones are most concerned about, and begin working with these particular issues in mind.
We use functional activities as therapy. By specially selecting and modifying activities which are meaningful to the specific child, our OT's use controlled situations in which the child gains new skills. Some children have limitations which prevent them from performing life skills in the usual manner. Our OT's help these children identify and learn to use special techniques or equipment which enable maximum performance.
Physical Therapist
Our Pediatric Physical Therapists evaluate your child's strengths and weaknesses and work with our clients to increase defined areas of concern. Physical skills and abilities play a vital role in the overall function of both occupational and speech/language skills.
A child who has physical weakness can exhibit poor function in areas like feeding, writing, balance and concentration. Children's Therapy Works' PT team is trained to "read between the lines" when assessing your child's physical abilities. The PT team also uses information gathered from the OT and Speech/Language evaluations to indicate areas that need to be looked at in more detail.
Speech Language Pathologist
Our Speech Language Pathologists assist in all areas of your child's communication, including verbal and non-verbal communication. The Speech Team is very clearly explained at the following link to Speech Language Pathology.
Pragmatic Language
Pragmatics refers to both non-verbal and verbal aspects of communication - volume, turn taking, eye contact, attention, asking and answering questions and understanding social boundaries during conversation.
Auditory Processing
Auditory processing refers to the ability to interpret and make sense of what we hear. This is a learned skill; we aren't born being able to comprehend what is said or what sounds mean. If a child is unable to decipher the meaning of words, he or she will not be able to communicate effectively, either receptively (what is understood or read) or expressively (what is spoken or written).
Auditory processing also includes the ability to attend to and make sense of subtle changes in volume and inflection. For example the white house is not the same as a white house, and "the big man" is not the same as "the big man".
Focus areas for auditory processing include auditory memory for both verbal and non-verbal information, following and executing verbal directions and attending to what is said. A child may have normal hearing, but still not appear to comprehend what is said to him or her; this might be indicative of auditory processing difficulties.
Verbal expression refers not only to grammar and vocabulary, but also to the organization of a child's language. For example, a child of four or five who is unable to verbally state what he or she has just done or wants to do, retell a short story to you, ask questions or describe familiar events might have verbal expressive difficulties. He or she might have the vocabulary to accomplish all of the above, but the words are useless without the means to plan and execute verbal communication.
Pragmatics refers to both non-verbal and verbal aspects of communication - volume, turn taking, eye contact, attention, asking and answering questions and understanding social boundaries during conversation.
Auditory processing refers to the ability to interpret and make sense of what we hear. This is a learned skill; we aren't born being able to comprehend what is said or what sounds mean.
Auditory processing includes the following areas:
Auditory discrimination - the ability to differentiate between sounds and words.. A child with auditory discrimination difficulties may have trouble detecting similarities and differences in words.
Auditory figure-ground - the ability to distinguish sounds close by and those in the distance, to determine which sounds are more meaningful than other, and being able shut out a sound if it is not significant to the current situation. The child with auditory figure-ground problems might not be able to "listen" to the teacher's voice because the hum of the air conditioner is too distracting. Or he might not realize that the siren on the police car coming around the corner is more important than the music in his headphones.
Proprioceptive System
Proprioception is the ability to control where one's body parts are and what they are doing. Proprioception provides information on where the limbs are in space without looking. The receptors for this sense are located in the joints. It helps control the amount of force needed for different tasks, ex. petting a dog without hitting the dog. Part of this process involves oral motor skills which requires proprioceptive awareness, as we do not visually monitor mouth movement but need input from the muscles and joints in the mouth. A child with poor proprioception may have stiff and uncoordinated movements, not be able to do things without looking and have difficulty dressing and undressing.
Oral Motor
Oral Motor Therapy is a highly specialized area of Speech Language Pathology.
There are hundreds of difficulties that can be overcome by performing Oral Motor Therapy, some of them include a deviate swallow, tounge thrust, non-verbal communication, basic and complex feeding difficulties.
Myofunctional Therapy
Myofunctional Therapy involves an individualized regimen of therapeutic oral and facial muscle exercises to develop a correct swallowing pattern and appropriate tongue and lip resting postures.
|
| |
