Services
- Neuro-Development Treatment™ (NDT) www.ndta.org
- NDT is the primary treatment technique for individuals with central nervous system impairment such as children with cerebral palsy or traumatic brain injury. NDT trained therapists believe that due to the central nervous system impairment atypical posture and movement patterns are used by the child for function. Unfortunately, it is the use of these patterns that lead to secondary impairments and dysfunction. NDT trained therapists use clinical thinking to evaluate a person’s movement in order to determine the focus of each physical, occupational, or speech therapy session. Therapeutic handling is used to assist in the facilitation of typical movement to gain function.
- NDT is special at Reach Therapy Center because of the high number of therapists that have been trained through the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association. In addition many other therapists at Reach Therapy Center are continuing their NDT education by taking courses from world renowned leaders in NDT. Our dedication and commitment to this treatment philosophy is evident by the ongoing continuing education courses held at our facility and the number of staff who have been trained and certified as a NDT therapist. Due to our dedication of the ongoing commitment to this treatment philosophy, we are being considered by the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association as a candidate for their clinical honor as a “Center of Excellence”.
- TheraTogs™ www.theratogs.com
- TheraTogs are an exo-muscular system for neuromotor postural and sensory training. The suit is worn under the pediatric physical therapy patient’s clothes for up to 16 hours a day and provides the patient with body awareness, bone and joint development, sensory input, assists with stability issues, provides joint alignment, and assists with motor performance.
- Kinesio Taping® www.kinesiotaping.com
- Kinesio Taping® involves the use of a special type of tape that is applied to the skin over a specific muscle or joint. This tape can be used for several purposes, but its most common use is to facilitate an increased use of the proper muscles to perform specific movements for an extended period of time. Due to increased use of the muscle, strength increases, and the quality of movement improves.
- Lite Gait® www.litegait.com
- Assists in gait training by providing correct posture, reducing weight bearing, maintaining balance, and allowing the therapist to manually assist the patient with proper gait patterns.
- Development of gross motor skills
- Gross motor skills involve the large muscles of the body that are used for functions such as: standing, walking, lifting, reaching, sitting, kicking, jumping, running, maintaining balance, and coordination.
- SPIO™ www.spioworks.com
- Stabilizing Pressure Input Orthosis (SPIO) is a fitted suit that assists pediatric patients with stability and by providing proprioception through deep pressure.
- Gait Pattern assessment and treatment
- Children may develop patterns of walking that are not functional for their bodies. This can appear in a pattern of walking that is not typical. Recognizing these early is very helpful in correcting these patterns that affect walking, running, playing and potentially all gross motor skills.
- Physical agent modalities
- This can include treatments like hot packs, icing, ultrasound, electric muscle stimulation, or massage.
- Additional Services Offered May Include: Treadmill, strengthening, endurance training of body systems or muscle systems.
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- Neuro-Development Treatment ™ (NDT) www.ndta.org
- NDT is the primary treatment technique for individuals with central nervous system impairment such as children with cerebral palsy or traumatic brain injury. NDT trained therapists believe that due to the central nervous system impairment atypical posture and movement patterns are used by the child for function. Unfortunately, it is the use of these patterns that lead to secondary impairments and dysfunction. NDT trained therapists use clinical thinking to evaluate a person’s movement in order to determine the focus of each physical, occupational, or speech therapy session. Therapeutic handling is used to assist in the facilitation of typical movement to gain function.
- NDT is special at Reach Therapy Center because of the high number of therapists that have been trained through the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association. In addition many other therapists at Reach Therapy Center are continuing their NDT education by taking courses from world renowned leaders in NDT. Our dedication and commitment to this treatment philosophy is evident by the ongoing continuing education courses held at our facility and the number of staff who have been trained and certified as a NDT therapist. Due to our dedication of the ongoing commitment to this treatment philosophy, we are being considered by the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association as a candidate for their clinical honor as a “Center of Excellence”.
- Sensory Integration
- Our sensory system is the way we perceive the world around us, so it affects everyone; therefore, anyone can have sensory dysfunction. Our senses include touch, hearing, sight, taste, smell, gravity, joint and muscle movement. Sensory Integration is a neurological process that provides us with the ability to combine all of these senses and enables a child to appropriately interact with people and their environment. Sensory integration is a part of normal development for most children through play and everyday activities. In children who lack the integration we see development delays, learning deficits, feeding difficulties, and behavior problems. These deficits may occur due to their inability to process sensory information appropriately or therefore sensory dysfunction. This treatment is becoming more recognized as being a typical treatment for autism. Certainly, this is not its only use, and is used with many other pediatric problems from handwriting, poor feeding, to children with Down’s syndrome.
- Handwriting Without Tears® www.hwtears.com
- Handwriting Without Tears ® is a program that evaluates and treats the child as a whole when looking at handwriting. Handwriting problems may include difficulty with letter formation, letter spacing and sizing. These problems are commonly addressed in occupational therapy by determining the underlying causes of poor handwriting or frustration with handwriting. During a handwriting evaluation, it is important to consider a pediatric patient’s visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills as well as ensure that the child has all of the pre-writing skills necessary to be successful with handwriting.
- Development of fine motor skills
- Fine motor (FM) activity is important to ensure proper development and practice of fine motor skills that are essential for functional use of hands. Examples of FM activity are: shoe tying, manipulating small objects such as buttons, zipping and unzipping, using scissors, pinching, opening and closing objects, handwriting, grasping items, and being able to isolate finger movements.
- Interactive Metronome www.interactivemetronome.com
- IM is a brain-based rehabilitation assessment and training program. This purpose of IM is to improve processing abilities that affect attention, motor planning, and sequencing. Focusing on these areas strengthens motor skills, mobility and gross motor function, and cognitive abilities such as planning, organizing, and language skills.
- Kinesio Taping® www.kinesiotaping.com
- Kinesio Taping® involves the use of a special type of tape that is applied to the skin over a specific muscle or joint. This tape can be used for several purposes, but its most common use is to facilitate an increased use of the proper muscles to perform specific movements for an extended period of time. Due to increased use of the muscle, strength increases, and the quality of movement improves.
- TheraTogs™ www.theratogs.com
- TheraTogs are an exo-muscular system for neuromotor postural and sensory training. The suit is worn under the patient’s clothes for up to 16 hours a day and provides the patient with body awareness, improved joint alignment for bone and joint development, sensory input, and assists with stability issues and motor performance.
- VitalStim® www.vitalstim.com
- A non-invasive, external electrical stimulation therapy used in the treatment of pediatric patients that have swallowing disorders or dysphagia.
- ADL training
- Activities of daily living (ADL) are the basic daily activities one does to be independent. These activities include things such as: bathing, dressing, eating, grooming, transferring to and from the bed or chair, toileting, ambulation, shopping, cooking, and housework.
- Visual Perceptual Training
- Children that have difficulty with discrimination of objects, memory, form constancy, figure ground, or tracking would benefit from visual perceptual training.
- Developmental Play Skills
- Play is a vital part of a child’s learning. If developmental milestones are not met it can signal to medical professionals and parents a larger problem, or a need for added assistance for the child. Especially, if a child is unable to sit, crawl, stand, move, or pay attention to their activity these milestones quickly become delayed. Occupational therapists address these delays during treatment.
Speech Therapy
- Articulation/Phonological Processing
- Treatment involves correcting inappropriate productions of standard speech sounds due to incorrect placement of the lips, tongue, teeth, velum, and pharynx during speech.
- Fluency/Stuttering Therapy
- Pediatric clients who stutter would be taught to use fluency enhancing techniques to reduce or eliminate the occurrences of stuttering during spontaneous speech..
- VitalStim® www.vitalstim.com
- A non-invasive, external electrical stimulation therapy used in the treatment of pediatric patients that have swallowing disorders or dysphagia.
- Neuro-Development Treatment ™ (NDT) www.ndta.org
- NDT is the primary treatment technique for individuals with central nervous system impairment such as children with cerebral palsy or traumatic brain injury. NDT trained therapists believe that due to the central nervous system impairment atypical posture and movement patterns are used by the child for function. Unfortunately, it is the use of these patterns that lead to secondary impairments and dysfunction. NDT trained therapists use clinical thinking to evaluate a person’s movement in order to determine the focus of each physical, occupational, or speech therapy session. Therapeutic handling is used to assist in the facilitation of typical movement to gain function.
- NDT is special at Reach Therapy Center because of the high number of therapists that have been trained through the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association. In addition many other therapists at Reach Therapy Center are continuing their NDT education by taking courses from world renowned leaders in NDT. Our dedication and commitment to this treatment philosophy is evident by the ongoing continuing education courses held at our facility and the number of staff who have been trained and certified as a NDT therapist. Due to our dedication of the ongoing commitment to this treatment philosophy, we are being considered by the Neuro-Developmental Treatment Association as a candidate for their clinical honor as a “Center of Excellence”.
- Early child and school-aged language intervention
- Children may have difficulties comprehending and/or using spoken and written communication. These deficits may be identified in the form, content, and function of the language system. Functional language approaches focus to improve the child’s ability to communicate basic wants and needs. Improving the overall use of spontaneous communication, social skills, vocabulary improvement, syntax, and grammatical understanding and use are also commonly treated in speech therapy.
- Interactive Metronome www.interactivemetronome.com
- IM is a brain-based rehabilitation assessment and training program. This purpose of IM is to improve processing abilities that affect attention, motor planning, and sequencing. Focusing on these areas strengthens motor skills, mobility and gross motor function, and cognitive abilities such as planning, organizing, and language skills.
- Voice Therapy
- May involve correcting abnormal pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or quality of voice that interferes with communication.
- Kinesio Taping® www.kinesiotaping.com
- Kinesio Taping® involves the use of a special type of tape that is applied to the skin over a specific muscle or joint. This tape can be used for several purposes, but its most common use is to facilitate an increased use of the proper muscles to perform specific movements for an extended period of time. Due to increased use of the muscle, strength increases, and the quality of movement improves.
- Augmentative communication
- Augmentative and alternative communications are forms of communication (other than oral speech) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. It includes things such as facial expressions, gestures, symbols, pictures or writing. Pediatric speech therapists work on implementing and using these alternatives.
- Cognitive therapy
- Children with speech/language impairments may also have cognitive deficits. Cognitive impairments may present areas of weakness in memory, perception, reasoning/judgment, attention, and problem solving. Speech-language pathologists work with children to improve their overall “thinking” skills.
- Developmental play therapy
- Children learn by playing. Therapists play with children during therapy to create an atmosphere for learning, to help children use their senses to explore objects, and to improve the child’s overall thinking skills.
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- Therasuit Program® www.suittherapy.com
- The Therasuit is a soft dynamic proprioceptive orthotic primarily used to restore alignment and proper function of postural muscles to allow the pediatric therapy patient to relearn proper motor patterns for functional movement. The Therasuit and Universal Exercise Unit (UEU) has been developed and is used in treatment primarily indicated for patients with neurological disorders such as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, spasticity, hypotonia, athetosis, ataxia, etc. This system combines skilled therapy intervention and principles with European technology to target tone management, increase range of motion, increase strength in specific muscle groups, improve correct motor patterns of movement, inhibit compensatory/reflexive movement patterns, and improve overall functional mobility. The UEU and Therasuit can be used together or separately for individual treatment sessions or during an intensive 3-week program. The 3-week intensive program will consist of therapy three hours per day, five days per week, for a 3-week period. This program is provided by a Therasuit trained therapists in one on one sessions.
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- Aquatic Therapy
- Aquatic therapy is water-based physical, occupational, and speech therapy treatment. It includes exercise or therapeutic activity/movement that benefits our patients who exhibit difficulty with weight bearing activities or have an inability to move their bodies against the weight of gravity. This could have been caused by injuries or physical disability. The water allows buoyancy, helps reduce joint pain, and provides resistance during therapy based activity. All disciplines have been trained including physical, occupational, and speech therapists. Each discipline uses this environment to help meet the outcomes specific to the goals set for the patient. We utilize many aquatic therapy techniques and principles including NDT-based aquatic techniques, Bad Ragaz Ring Method, Halliwick, Watsu-type movements and general swim stroke training modifications.
- The many benefits of Aquatic Therapy can be improved balance, coordination and posture, increased respiratory capacity and breath control, decreased pain and stiffness in muscles and joints, improved circulation, increased sensory feedback and body awareness, increased phonation and language production, increased range of motion, strength and endurance.
- Children including infants who have a variety of diagnosises such as .....
- *Cerebral Palsy
- *Arthritis
- *Down’s Syndrome
- *Spina Bifida
- *Muscular Dystrophy
- *Autism
- *Sensory Integration Dysfunction
- *Orthopedic Problems
- *Scoliosis
- *Developmental Delay
- can benefit from aquatic based therapy.
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- This clinic was developed because as a therapist we frequently see NICU babies that have delays in achieving developmental milestones and mastering skills. These delays are often only apparent to specialists. Brain development is most rapid in the first 2 years of life, making this the ideal time to identify and correct delays. Studies have demonstrated that early detection and intervention provides the best opportunity for progress. We use standardized developmental evaluations to detect these delays so that services can begin if necessary. These evaluations are performed by physical, occupational, and speech therapists and generally last about an hour.
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- Oral Motor / Feeding Therapy
- Due to medical complications, many of our patients do not develop oral skills required to coordinate sucking and oral exploration during early development. A lack of oral skill development often leads to difficulties in oral feeding. We work with feeding on all levels from enteral to oral feeds. Some children are not born with feeding issues, but develop feeding problems as a result of NICU hospitalizations, sensory impairments, sensory-motor impairments, or failure to thrive. These children may have oral aversion, limited food choices, poor appetite, poor intake or weight gain. After an extensive evaluation, the best-individualized treatment approach is chosen and implemented.
- Encouragement Feeding Program
- Our Encouragement Feeding Program is very unique to Reach Therapy Center as no other intensive feeding programs exist in Houston. Our program is based on the idea that children with feeding difficulties and/or are tube dependent are to be treated in an environment that exposes them to wellness and holistic treatment. These children need to have improved sensory integration, increased oral competence and internal motivation to learn to eat in the most normal, age appropriate manner. The program goal is to begin weaning children from their supplemental feeding tubes while promoting normal, age appropriate eating behaviors. This is accomplished by immersing children in sensory integration and oral functional therapy in the most normal and least restrictive manner. All of our children are fed in the kitchen/dining atmosphere with parents present and normal for age behavior management techniques are used when appropriate. We teach our families the proper division of eating responsibility; it is the child’s responsibility to eat and it is the family’s responsibility to provide the right environment, foods, and opportunities to eat. We believe that through comprehensive, holistic treatment of sensory integration, oral competence and internal motivation; these children will become independent, normal eaters. This program is 2 weeks long, 6 days a week, for up to 6 hours a day.
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- Our orthotic clinic provides an onsite opportunity for an orthotist and your child’s therapist to work together to evaluate your child’s orthotic needs. Your child will be evaluated, casted and then scheduled for a orthotic fitting onsite. This convenience decreases the amount of time necessary to drive to additional appointments and allows for immediate collaboration of medical professionals and parent.
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- If a child is having trouble functioning in any area of their lives, there is usually someway at therapist can help. Even if the body’s ability is not expected to change, we frequently adapt the environment. Typical equipment assessment and use can include wheelchair adaptation/ordering, standers, walkers., ADL equipment, and augmentative communication divides. Physical, occupational and speech therapy work together to address these needs.
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