Other Modalities and Techniques

Adaptive Equipment Assessment is done on a case-by-case basis for many types of adaptive equipment depending on the child’s needs. Your therapist will make recommendations for appropriate technology, bracing and equipment that can be utilized in the home to improve overall functional outcomes. Additionally, your therapist may work with outside vendors to secure funding or charitable donation of these items if it is available.

Adaptive Typing is a specific modality that is used for children with various difficulties with fine motor precision skills, auditory processing, or speech and language deficits. Computer use can help decrease possible hand weakness, spelling assistance, and encourage verbal output. Computer Dictation is another modality to assist with motor coordination difficulties and dyslexia where the child can verbalize their expressive needs without using motor skills.

Debra Beckman, CCC-SLP has worked to develop specific interventions which provide assisted movement to activate muscle contraction and to provide movement against resistance to build strength. The focus of these oral motor techniques is to increase functional response to pressure and movement, range, strength, variety and control of movement for the lips, cheeks, jaw and tongue.

Dolphin Electrotherapeutic Point Stimulation (ETPS)  locates and applies concentrated DC microcurrent to therapeutically active points (acupuncture & trigger) for the purpose of relaxing muscles, calming the nervous system, and releasing endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Additionally, this technique can be used to decrease pain, release scar tissue and enhance the effects of massage and stretching techniques.

Handwriting Without Tears applies research-based techniques for hands-on learning when it comes to teaching handwriting in a fun and interactive way. It was developed by Occupational Therapists to approach handwriting from a more developmentally appropriate approach, empowering pre-K to 5th grade children to use multi-sensory learning to strengthen their handwriting skills.

 (Alert Program) promote awareness of how we regulate our arousal status. Encourage use of sensory-motor strategies and help parents/teachers understand behavior (between organization of nervous system and child) to adapt and efficiently respond to task.

Infant Massage has been researched and shown to have positive effects on the infant’s self-regulation, digestion, sleep patterns, increasing brain activity, increasing visual acuity, and weight gain in premature or failure to thrive infants. Additionally, infant massage supports bonding and attachment between the infant and caregivers which decreases postnatal depression in mothers and enhances parental skills to promote healthy child development.

Kinesiotaping - The clinical application of the Kinesio Taping Method is the systematic application of several layers of the Kinesio Taping Technique with each layer having specific function. There are 6 correction application techniques: mechanical, fascia, space, ligament/tendon, functional, and lymphatic.

The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing® (LiPS) is designed to teach students the skills they need to decode words and to identify individual sounds and blend those sounds into words.This Visualizing and Verbalizing program develops concept imagery—the ability to create an imagined or imaged gestalt from language—as a basis for comprehension and higher order thinking.

"Loops and Other Groups" is a kinesthetic writing system that provide systematic steps for letter analysis and more efficient motor and memory cues for children. These strategies simplify the learning of functional handwriting. The student can clearly visualize and verbalize the movement pattern while experiencing the "feel" of the letter. Student will not learn the 26 letters individually in alphabetic order, instead they learn a group of letters which share common movement patterns.

Myofascial Release  involves a gentle form of stretching and compression. Also referred to as “soft tissue mobilization”, this special therapy releases the uneven tightness in fascia. Fascia is the dense, tough tissue that surrounds and covers the body’s organs, muscles and bones. To begin each treatment, the therapist finds the area of tightness and applies light pressure and/or stretch to the tight area. The therapist waits for the tissue to relax and then increases the stretch. The process is repeated until the area is fully relaxed. Myofascial release has been used to improve the health of the muscles and fascia, improve circulation and restore good posture. It has been used to treat: feeding and speech disorders, spasticity, scoliosis, pain, neurological disorders, movement dysfunction, and orthopedic disorders.

Neurodevelopment Treatment (NDT) is a type of hands-on therapy used by physical, occupational, and speech-language therapists for children with movement and muscle control challenges. These motor control issues are typically referred to as neuro-motor or neuromuscular dysfunction, and can seriously affect body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, posture and balance. This therapy uses guided or facilitated movements as a treatment strategy to ensure correlation of input from tactile, vestibular, and somatosensory receptors within the body.

Oral motor therapy works on the oral skills necessary for proper speech and feeding development. Oral motor exercises are based on developmental norms used to assess and treat feeding disorders, assess structure and function to determine orofacial myofunctional (tongue tie) needs, and assess and treat muscles and motor-based dysfunction that impacts speech/sound productions. Exercises are specialized to improve the strength, control and coordination of the oral musculature (tongue, lips, vocal folds, and the jaw). Therapists are trained in TalkTools, Beckman oral motor, and Pam Marshalla techniques.

Orton–Gillingham is a specific, structured teaching approach that was designed to help struggling readers. It explicitly teaches the connections between letters and sounds. Many reading programs include Orton–Gillingham ideas.

The Picture Exchange Communication System®, or PECS®, allows people with little or no communication abilities to communicate using pictures. People using the PECS approach give another person a picture of a desired item in exchange for that item thus facilitating the initiation of communication. A child can use PECS to communicate a request, a thought, or anything that can reasonably be displayed or symbolized on a picture card.

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) is a more advanced manual form of flexibility and strength training, which involves both the stretching and contracting of the muscle group being targeted. PNF stretching is one of the most effective forms of stretching for improving flexibility and increasing range of motion. Additionally, PNF exercises strengthen muscles which challenge and develop proprioceptive receptors. Proprioception helps to stabilize a joint during static and dynamic functional tasks.

PROMPT is a multidimensional approach to speech production disorders that embraces the physical-sensory aspects of motor performance, as well as its cognitive-linguistic and social-emotional aspects. PROMPT is about integrating all domains and systems toward positive communication outcomes. This program may be used (with varying intensity and focus) with all speech production disorders from approximately 6 months of age onward. PROMPT is used to develop motor skill in the development of language for interaction.

The Sequential Oral Sensory approach to Feeding (SOS Approach) is a program designed to assess and address the reasons a child is struggling with eating and weight/growth issues. In the SOS Approach to Feeding, therapists assess and address all the underlying causes of the feeding difficulties. The SOS Approach uses play with a purpose, the steps to eating, and research to guide therapy. First, the child must tolerate the look of the food. It might just be tolerating being in the same room as the food. Then, the child is encouraged to interact with the food without directly touching the food to the skin, maybe by using a utensil. Next, the child’s body needs to process and manage the smell of the food. The play then extends to touching the food with fingers, hands, body and mouth. Tasting is the next step in the hierarchy with food touching the child’s tip of their tongue, or the child puts food in their mouth and spits it out. Lastly, the child practices chewing and swallowing.

Vestibular and Balance Rehabilitation in children addresses the dependent relationship between the visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems to maintain a child’s balance for functional skills. Your sense of balance relies on connections between your central nervous system (brain) and your sensory system. Your sensory system includes:
-Your vestibular canals in your inner ear: These canals send messages to your brain when your turn your head and otolith organs react to gravity and movement.
-Your vision: Your eyes send your brain impulses that show where your body is in relation to other objects.
-Your skin, joints and muscles: When your body moves, it puts pressure on your tissues. Your tissues send signals to your brain, telling it where your body is in relation to space. For example, if you’re standing up and you lean back, you put pressure on the tissues in the back of your foot and lower leg. That pressure lets your brain know you’re leaning instead of standing straight.
Your Central Nervous System pulls this information together so it can tell your body how to maintain balance. When something interferes with this system’s connection, your Central Nervous System can’t process information correctly. Vestibular and Balance Rehabilitation works to restore these connections and allow the child to have functional balance for life skills.

Vibration Platform Therapy is a newer modality within the rehab setting but there is increasing scientific evidence showing vibration therapy (VT) is an effective rehabilitation tool for children with neuromuscular disorders, including cerebral palsy (CP), autism and low muscle tone. Randomized studies show VT has been found to be effective in improving mobility, proprioception and strength, as well as bone mineral density, gross motor function, and quality of life in children and young adults with developmental delays.

VitalStim Therapy is a non-invasive approach that utilizes electrical current to stimulate muscles responsible for swallowing. It is an FDA device cleared for dysphagia (swallowing disorders). VitalStim therapy increases muscles strength, accelerates cortical reorganization and increases the effectiveness of oral motor exercises.