OUR SERVICES
FAMILY EDUCATION & SUPPORT
Dream Big Therapy recognizes the importance of a family’s community network in raising a child with challenges. As such we welcome friends, family members, and other professionals to participate in therapy sessions.
In addition, we can provide family education nights to help educate and guide your family in learning about your child’s needs.
FINE AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Fine Motor Skills are the building blocks which give children the ability to succeed in tasks throughout their day. When children experience barriers or challenges with fine motor development, functional activities such as doing up buttons and zippers, feeding themselves, brushing their teeth, and printing are impacted.
​
Gross motor skills such as balance, motor coordination, and strength are often difficult for children with extra needs. This can cause problems in their daily life as these skills are required for basic tasks like sitting upright at a desk, being able to put on your pants, and catching a ball.
​
At Dream Big Therapy Services we strive to support children in moving past these barriers by promoting developmental gains while providing strategies and adaptations to help them succeed in reaching their goals.
SENSORY THERAPY
Sensory Processing is our body’s way to experience, interpret and respond to our environment through:
-
Sight
-
Sound
-
Smell
-
Touch
-
Taste
-
Proprioception and
-
Vestibular stimulus
A typically functioning sensory system responds in the following way:
When a person’s sensory system is not processing the information properly the body receives disorganized messages that can interfere with their ability to carry out daily activities and routines.
Children may be over-responsive or under-responsive to certain stimulus. For example, you may know a child who can spin and spin, the faster the better, without ever getting dizzy or perhaps a child who is so overwhelmed by the feel of his/her clothing that getting dressed causes a major meltdown.
This is when an occupational therapist can help. By using sensory-based therapy, we can improve how your child interacts with their environment.
​
PLAY & COMMUNICATION
For young children their primary work is play. Through play they explore their environments, develop key skills, try on various roles (parent, baby, construction worker, friend etc.) and grow in their sense of self. Unfortunately for kids with various developmental delays these vital skills can be impaired by:
-
Rigid thinking
-
Narrow focus of interests
-
Limited non-verbal skills
-
Communication difficulty
-
Literal thinking
-
Sensory aversions
-
Modulation challenges
Occupational therapy sessions will help guide parents and caregivers to develop their child’s play skills. By using the ‘just the right challenge’ approach, therapy sessions provide children with an opportunity to experience successful play.
PICKY EATERS
Eating challenges are very common in children with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs).
Ranging from picky eating to serious food limitations that jeopardize nutritional health, parents often complain of difficulty getting a variety of healthy food into their children. Using the strategies based on the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) feeding model, Occupational Therapy can make improvements in expanding children’s food choices.
Occupational Therapy can make improvements in expanding children’s food repertoire. For preschool and early elementary children, “Fun with Food” group allows for healthy exploration and play with new food items. With no expectation of eating the presented food and permission to play, children can decrease their anxiety about interacting with unfamiliar foods. For those bonus moments when food makes it to their mouths the “spit out bucket” provides a safe and acceptable exit from a possibly overwhelming moment.
For older kids that continue to struggle with food we engage in "Food Science". In these sessions we explore food starting at the grocery store and ending on the table. We first analyze food based on its qualities – color, texture, shape, smell.
Then we can cut it up, cook it (if applicable) and compare before and after information.
Again, there is no expectation to sample the food. Often, due to the decreased stress after having explored the food, we get kids to lick, chew or taste the item.
This is the beginning of decreasing fear of food and eventually expanding their food choices.
INTEGRATED LISTENING SYSTEM - iLs
With a growing evidence base supporting the efficacy for auditory therapy I decided to
provide Integrated Listening System (iLs) treatment at Dream Big Therapy.
An integral therapy tool at many pediatric therapy clinics, iLs assists in treating challenges with sensory and emotional regulation, attention, and cognitive function such as memory, organization, and planning.
So what exactly is iLs?
iLs founders describes their program as “a multi-sensory program for improving brain function".
It is an enjoyable activity or “exercise” which can be customized for all ages and skill levels for implementation in clinic, school or home.
iLs programs improve emotional regulation while training the brain to process sensory information. With improved regulation and processing, our ability to focus, think, and engage successfully in social situations also improves.”
Applications
iLs has a global effect on the brain and central nervous system, influencing the following systems and their function: auditory, visual, vestibular (balance and coordination), motor, cognitive (thinking and reasoning) and emotional. As a result, it is successfully applied to a wide variety of conditions.
As a result, it is successful in helping children who have challenges with:
-
Learning – Building the skills which enable success in school: attention, reading,
visual and auditory processing, memory, self-expression, social skills
-
Performance Optimization – Improving processing speed and timing (athletics),
creativity and imagination (arts and business), self–esteem and self-confidence
(personal development)
-
Neuro-Developmental, ASD – Achieving therapeutic goals related to emotional and
behavioral regulation, sensory processing, communication and social skills; examples: Autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy
-
Psychological/Emotional – Improving attention, emotional balance and vitality
-
Rehabilitation – Recovering energy and skills related to language, movement
and cognitive function (memory, organization, planning) after a stroke or head injury
For more information and to review the most recent research related to iLs please go
