Mandarin’s Great Strides Offers Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine in Northeast Florida

Occupational therapy Provides Comprehensive Evaluations and Habilitation Activities

Occupational therapists work with your child to maintain, improve, develop or restore abilities and functions. Each is trained to direct a child’s response to a specific activity or play to promote the development of individual skills. This can result in learning or developing through habilitation. If skills are lost, we help a child to redevelop and relearn these skills through rehabilitation.

The following skills are addressed, such as:

• Sensory Integration/Neuro-Developmental Treatment facilitates the child’s ability to organize and process sensory input during meaningful activities, such as balance, body scheme, self-image, eye-hand coordination and motor planning
• Oral-Motor Feeding/Swallowing involves initial sensory awareness or tolerance, then follow-up with biting, chewing and swallowing
• Fine Motor Skills Assessment and Treatment involves the assessment and treatment of hand strength, grasp patterns, dexterities and the ability to use tools, such as computer keyboards, scissors and crayons
• Visual Processing/Perception works the remediation of children with weak visual coordination, focus and processing
• Activities of Daily Living includes feeding, toileting, dressing and other hygiene tasks

Our Professional Credentials 

Our occupational therapists hold either a Masters or Doctoral degree from an accredited occupational therapy program. Our occupational therapists must pass a national accreditation exam and attain a Florida state license. Continuing education is required for renewal of the Florida license every two years.

How We Determine Your Child Needs OT

Here are a few potential signs to look for:

• Poor fine motor skills, such as inability to do simple age-appropriate tasks (using a spoon, holding a pencil correctly)
• Extra sensitivity to smells, sounds, touch or tastes
• Falls frequently, clumsy movement or poor coordination (running, skipping, jumping)
• Avoids playground activities or being touched
• Difficulty with daily living skills
• Weak/poor muscle tone

Physical therapy Provides Mobility

Physical therapy is a profession of which utilizes treatment techniques to promote the ability to move, reduce pain, restore function, prevent disability and promote gross motor development. Physical therapists help children to become successful and independent in their abilities to perform gross motor functions such as walking running, jumping and hopping to enable them to play with their friends and improve their confidence.

With skilled physical therapy, functional mobility skills, such as safely walking on various surfaces (such as grass and sand) and climbing stairs, can be safely mastered.

Physical therapy is often indicated after injury and surgery to promote healing and improve or return a child to greater independence. Our physical therapists can teach patients, their family and caregivers how to prevent or manage their condition in order to achieve long-term health benefits.

The following skills are addressed, such as:

• Crawling
• Walking
• Running
• Hopping
• Skipping
• Jumping
• Throwing
• Strength
• Endurance

Our Professional Credentials

Our physical therapists hold either a Masters or Doctoral degree from an accredited physical therapy program. Our physical therapists must pass a national accreditation exam and attain a Florida state license. Continuing education is required for renewal of the Florida license every two years.

How We Determine Your Child Needs physical therapy

If she or he is:

• Not meeting the expected developmental milestones during the first year of life (ie. rolling, sitting, standing, walking)
• Has a strong preference for turning their head to one side or using one side of their body
• Walking up on the balls of their feet or in an atypical/awkward manner
• Having difficulty keeping up with their peers during play
• Not able to perform the same gross motor tasks (ie. hopping, jumping, skipping) as their peers
• Frequently trips and falls when walking
• Complaining of pain when performing gross motor tasks
• Was injured and not able to perform at the prior level of function

Speech and Language Therapy

Speech-Language Pathologists are equipped to evaluate, diagnose and treat a variety of communication problems. Each child is individually assessed using standardized and evidence based assessments to determine appropriate goals to help them achieve their communication potential. This may take the form of verbal or non-verbal communication methods. Parents are included in the evaluation process and are encouraged to participate in therapeutic activities through observation, in session participation, or activities sent home to maximize progress.

Problems with communication can take a variety of forms. These include:

Speech Sound Disorders

Language Delays and Disorders

Literacy

Social communication

Voice

Fluency

Cognitive-Communication

Feeding and Swallowing

Common causes of problems in these areas in the pediatric community are premature birth, genetic disorders, hearing loss, brain injury, intellectual disabilities, and developmental disabilities such as autism.

Common areas addressed during speech and language therapy for children with autism are:

Receptive Language

Expressive Language

Social Skills

Alternative and Augmentative Communication

Feeding difficulties

Our Professional Credentials

Our speech-Language pathologists hold a minimum of a masters degree from an accredited program and a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). SLP-CCCs must also pass a national accreditation exam and holds an active state license. Continued education in clinical areas of interest is required to maintain both a Florida license and ASHA certification.

How we determine your child needs speech and language therapy

If she or he:

Is not meeting expected developmental communication milestones

Has difficulty expressing their wants and needs

Has difficulty using a variety of new words

Has difficulty following directions

Has difficulty eating and swallowing

Has difficulty staying organized

Has difficulty learning to read and write

Has speech that is difficult to understand

Has difficulty making specific speech sounds

Has difficulty speaking fluently

Has difficulty making friends