Physical Therapy Services
CLC provides physical therapy assessments, consultations, and sessions for a variety of concerns in the area of gross motor skills:
- Functional Mobility
- Motor Planning
- Playground skills
- Gait training
What is physical therapy?
Physical therapy assists in helping a child perform all physical functions required for their day such as rolling, crawling, sitting, standing, walking, running, jumping, playing, and climbing. During the early years of development, it is essential to challenge and help build a strong physical foundation in order to encourage a child’s growth towards independence, peer play, and overall health and fitness.
Physical Therapy incorporates child-friendly “exercise” in the form of games, obstacle courses, and concentrated skill development in a fun gym environment. Parent and caregiver collaboration are encouraged in order to reach individualized goals. Your child’s therapist will work with you and your family to build on the skills learned in treatment sessions by developing home programs and providing you with the information you need to help meet your child’s needs.
What is a physical therapist?
Physical Therapists (PT’s) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat delays that negatively affect a child’s physical performance. Practicing PT’s may have either a master’s (MPT) or doctoral degree (DPT) in physical therapy from an accredited physical therapist education program and pass a state licensure exam.
The following is a list of skills that an Physical Therapist could work on with your child during a session:
- Developmental milestones (sitting, rolling, crawling, walking etc.)
- Strengthening (climbing, stairs, jumping, hopping)
- Ball skills (throwing, kicking, catching)
- Physical endurance (running, obstacle courses)
- Coordination (galloping, skipping, imitation, jumping jacks, jump rope)
- Fall prevention and gait training
- Balance reactions
What can I do about my child’s physical therapy related difficulties?
If you have concerns, you should have your child evaluated. Please contact Children’s Learning Connection to set up an evaluation. Your pediatrician may also be able to provide you with referrals.