Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy Overview:

Occupational Therapy helps children improve their everyday functioning by increasing their independence in their daily “occupations”. A child’s occupations are any activities that may occupy their time throughout their day (such as dressing, grooming/hygiene, play skills, feeding etc.).

10 reasons why your Child might Need An Occupational Therapy Evaluation:

If your child is struggling to complete their activities of daily living due to:

1. Overall weakness
2. Difficulty coordinating big body movements/balance or movements of fingers and hands
3. Struggles with drawing or handwriting
4. Challenges with age-appropriate self-care tasks such as dressing, self-feeding, oral hygiene etc.
5. Difficulty sitting still to complete structured tasks
6. Picky eating
7. Challenges with body and/or safety awareness
8. Dislikes messy play or being dirty
9. Difficulty with play skills
10. Struggles with emotional regulation/organization of behavior

What If You Are Having Concerns And Your Child Might Need An Occupational Therapy (OT) Evaluation?

A comprehensive evaluation will be provided to assess your child’s current level of functioning within their daily occupations of play, self-help tasks and more. A caregiver’s input and concerns are also instrumental in the assessment of your child’s skill levels. If your child is demonstrating delays, ongoing OT services will be recommended to help in addressing your child’s needs. Concrete goals will be created to provide an opportunity to track progress throughout Occupational Therapy treatment.

What does A Pediatric Occupational Therapy Session Look Like?

During an occupational therapy session, a therapist will utilize fun, purposeful, and goal-directed activities to help foster skills and promote growth and development. Play-based methods are used to facilitate opportunities to advance everyday function to optimal levels and encourage independence and confidence in everyday occupations.

How Can Occupational Therapy Complement My Child’s Other Services (Such As Speech Therapy)?

Occupational Therapy/ Multidisciplinary treatment and support is beneficial to your child’s overall development. An occupational therapist can work with speech therapists (and other disciplines) during and outside of sessions to support your child’s overall sensory processing, self-regulation, and attention skills, which are baseline skills a child needs to access higher cognitive functioning in their brain. An occupational therapist can also provide suggestions on specific therapeutic games or activities during sessions that may help your child remain alert, regulated, and attentive during sessions and structured tasks.

Client Testimonials

We absolutely love Fox Therapy Services and we are so glad we found Jessie! After trying several other Speech Therapists we were feeling frustrated and a bit lost. Our son is 4 & I wanted him to be able to receive the help and tools he needs while still having fun in the process. Jessie as an awesome ability to make Speech Therapy enjoyable for him. He looks forward to going every week and we have seen him make amazing progress. Jessie is very knowledgeable in Speech Pathology, yet talks to me mom-to-mom, which I so appreciate. We would definitely recommend Jessie & Fox Therapy Services!

I cannot say enough about Fox Speech Services! We worked with Ms Stefanie. My daughter was extremely speech delayed. We had been at another independent therapist and I just felt that they were misdiagnosing her. Luckily, due to a change in health insurance and through the referral of our pre-school, we enrolled with Ms Stefanie and the rest is history. My daughter has fully developed in her verbal communication and is now confident in herself because she can articulate. We recommend this place all the time.

Jessie is literally a miracle worker. I am one of her older patients, so I was not sure how much work could actually be done for someone who wasn't a child. But wow. In 3 months time Jessie worked so hard with me and boy did it pay off. She helped my speech and now I can barely hear my previous sharpness in speech. And it doesn't hurt that she is also a lovely, gregarious, kind woman. Go see Jessie, she knows what she's doing!!!!

My 2.5 yr old son has been seeing the owner Jessie for almost 6 months now. When we first contacted Fox speech services we were in the process of getting my sons surgery scheduled for a tongue and lip tie release. My 2.5yr old was not talking AT ALL. I was beyond concerned and my gut was always filled with worry. I had my doubts. From the first session I still had doubts because it's play based. We're six months in and I have absolutely been proven wrong. My son who wasn't talking has over 20-25 words and is working on two word combos now and his comprehension of speech is taking off. We wouldn't be where we are right now with out Jessie and her fantastic team. They've become family to us and I'm so grateful and thankful for finding them.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are many different reasons why a child may need speech therapy. First and foremost, Trust Your Gut!! A parent knows their child best. If you have any concerns I encourage you to seek out the guidance of a speech pathologist.

Your child may need speech therapy if he or she…

• Has not begun to say words by 12 months

• Does not seem to understand questions or directions

• Has speech that is difficult to understand

• Has a diagnosis of autism or other developmental delays

• Does not seem interested in developmentally appropriate play with toys

• Has difficulty interacting socially with peers

• Cannot express themselves using sentences similar to peers

• Has a hearing loss

This is likely the most common question that I am asked by families. While I wish I was able to provide a concrete answer, the reality is that there are too many factors to consider. Every child is different and at Fox Therapy Services we tailor our services to the individual. Some factors that impact the rate at which your child will progress through therapy include, but are not limited to:

Rapport with the therapist: While some kiddos warm up very quickly, others may take several sessions to feel comfortable. Once the therapist and child have established a positive and trusting relationship, therapy sessions are much more impactful.

Behavior: A child’s behavior can greatly influence the rate of progress. While behavior is a means of communication, sometimes behavior challenges need to be addressed before we can work on therapy goals.

Family Involvement and Carryover: At Fox Therapy Services we are huge advocates of family involvement during therapy sessions. The more the family is involved, and the greater the carryover is in the home environment, the more successful your child will be in achieving their goals.

No two kids are the same: Therefore, even two children working on very similar goals will progress at different rates. One week your child will make huge strides and the next week we may see little progress. This is to be expected and is a natural part of the process.

Different sounds develop at different ages. If your child is not able to produce certain sounds (articulation disorder) by a specific age they may need speech therapy.

Learn when sounds develop.

It is also important to consider your child’s overall speech intelligibility (the percentage of your child’s speech that a listener can understand).

Age	Intelligibility
18 months	25%
2 yrs.	50-70%
3 yrs.	80%
4+ yrs.	90-100%

Fox Therapy Services is currently in-network with Cigna, United Healthcare, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser, Healthnet, Tri-Care and Blue Shield of California. You are responsible to pay Fox Therapy Services for any co-pay, co-insurance or deductible payment if your insurance is in-network. If your insurance company denies coverage or payment for the service provided, you are responsible for the full amount due.

If Fox Therapy Services is an out-of-network provider for your insurance plan, you are billed directly at the time of services and responsible for all charges. Fox Therapy Services will be happy to provide you with a Superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for possible reimbursement.

Occupational Therapy