Speech Therapy
We are excited to announce that The Speech Pathology Group will be renting space in our clinic beginning September 1, 2015. Please check out their website if you are interested in inquiring about their services.
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Welcome back! Happy Summer!
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Adaptive Sports and Recreation
Sports and/or recreational activities are an important means for kids to get involved and establish friendships. Regardless of a child's abilities, finding an activity to do that produces these opportunities is important. We are located in an area that has access to many adaptive activities as well allowing children and adults of a variety of ability levels the opportunity to get involved. Some of these adaptive and inclusive sport and recreational activities available throughout the greater Bay Area are:
- Special Needs Afternoon Program -Redwood City offers this program to children ages 8 and up in the afternoons from 2pm - 6pm. Each day has a specific focus of programing including: fitness, bowling, trips to local destinations, crafts, and movies.
- Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP) - located on the Berkeley marina, offers several activities for adults and children of all ability levels including: Adaptive Cycling, Wheelchair Basketball, Power Soccer, Goalball, Outdoor Recreation Activities and Trips, and Sled Hockey
- BOK Ranch - located in Woodside, offers adaptive horseback riding
- Angels on Stage - located in the South Bay, offers an opportunity for children between the ages of 5 and 22 with a variety of ability levels to participate in the performing arts.
- Far West Wheelchair Association - located in the south bay, offers wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, power soccer, and a team building class.
- American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) - offers adaptive soccer teams in a variety of loctations throughout the greater Bay Area.
- Challenger League Softball - offers boys and girls ages 4+ an opportunity to play softball with kids with a variety of abilities.
- Special Needs Aquatics Program (SNAP) - located both in the East Bay and Peninsula, offers water-based classes for kids with a variety of abilities.
- The National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy (NCEFT) - located in Woodside, in addition to therapy services, offers adaptive horseback riding, adaptive carriage driving, adaptive vaulting, as well as social skills classes.
- Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) - provides volunteer led 1:1 recreational activities for children and young adults with developmental delays. A national organization, and they have a branch in San Francisco
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Participation
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines participation (in relationship to kids) as 'the act of joining with others in doing something'. At one point or another during childhood, most kids may struggle to participate in an activity that they are interested in whether because of timing, funding, level of challenge, etc. For kids that have difficulty achieving their milestones or who are delayed in various areas of development, participation in day to day activities or recreational activities may feel like an insurmountable mountain to the child and/or the family. These limitations of participation can often leave them feeling different or left out.
While it's important to aid a child in achieving milestones in development of individual skills, it is also important to look at how we can impact their participation. For example, if a child is still learning how to walk, but all their friends take dance class and that is something they really want to do, we may look at finding dance classes that allow alternative mobility, or work with the dance class that their friends are in to find ways to include the child. By looking at the big picture of how a child's limitations are affecting their ability to participate in tasks and activities that are important to them we can make a meaningful impact on the child's life, while continuing to work on individual skills.
This allows the child to: develop friendships with peers from a young age, interact within their family unit, continue to develop skills while seeing success in an areas of importance, and teaches them that, while they may do something different, they can do it. This also helps a child develop a set of interests and desires that can fuel their internal drive to want to learn 'that' skill for themselves which as pediatric therapists, we find to be one of the largest indicators of a child's potential.
As a result, we find, in order to best serve the children and families we work with, that maintaining the focus of goals and interventions on the big picture things a child and their family want to participate in results in the most meaningful, motivating, and individualized intervention, and is the key to our success as therapists.
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Thank you for reading. Have a great month!
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Sincerely,
Your Friends at Starfish Therapies
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