Occupational Therapy: An Occupational Therapist works with a child on regulating and integrating sensory input. This includes tactile (touch), deep pressure (proprioception), and movement of the body in space (vestibular). OT is used to improve the following functional areas:

• Fine motor, handwriting (individual sessions and groups)
• Visual motor skills
• Upper body strengthening
• Activities of daily living (i.e. getting dressed)
• Appropriate play skills
• Social/emotional development
• Attention span
• Implementing home programs and parent education
• Organization
• Coordination
• Body/spatial awareness

A Speech/Language Pathologist helps a child improve his or her:

• Articulation
• Socialization
• Language comprehension
• Oral motor skills
• Feeding issues
• Pragmatics: Expressive communication using appropriate social language
• Play skills
• Socialization Groups
• Attention span
• Phonemic awareness (rhymes, sounds)
• Voice and fluency

*At Making Milestones, individual speech sessions, as well as language/socialization groups, are offered. If you think your child would benefit from a group setting, please inquire about ongoing groups and classes.

Intensive therapy is an approach that combines various elements of rehabilitation into a treatment approach for neurological disorders including cerebral palsy, developmental delay, traumatic brain injury, hypotonia, post fracture/post surgical retraining, sensory integration disorder/ autism and developmental coordination disorder. The intensive physical therapy schedule is much more rigorous than traditional therapy.When participating in an intensive program, children are seen for three hours a day three to five times a week for 3 consecutive weeks. Through the use of a the universal exercise unit (monkey/ spider cage) children can maximize their physical potential and demonstrate results much faster than traditional outpatient therapy. With three hours of therapy a day, the PT and OT are able to practice movement patterns with the child over and over. This repetition builds the child’s strength and endurance leading to the development of new skills. The Universal Exercise Unit (UEU) is a 400 lb metal structure that consists of a pulley suspension system.The child’s limbs are suspended via pulleys and exercised in a straight plane of motion with gravitational forces eliminated. Children with neurological involvement often have difficulty isolating movement of one extremity from another and performing movement against gravity. The UEU or “monkey cage” allows for the strengthening of the appropriate muscle groups without the weight of gravity. The child will receive a specific strengthening protocol in the UEU that will result in re-education of the nervous system, improved isolation of one limb from the other and increased independent movement. After the monkey cage, the child is placed in the “spider cage.” The spider cage uses the UEU with a system of eight bungee cords attached to a waist belt. The spider cage allows children to experience more independent movements, weight shifting and assisted movements such as sit to stand, jumping and squatting. The pediatric physical therapist or occupational therapist assists in guiding children through movement patterns that strengthen muscles and allow the child to perform the movement more independently. Call (212)595-1705 to inquire about cost and availability. Intensive programs are individualized for each child.

A Pediatric Therapist helps to facilitate a child’s age appropriate gross motor development by working on:

• Strength
• Endurance
• Coordination
• Balance
• Motor planning
• Motor control
• Body/spatial awareness
• Gross motor skills
• Strength and Endurance Groups

We can send a therapist into your child’s school to do an assessment and consult with the child’s teacher.

​Home based services are offered if a parent feels that his or her child would benefit more from the therapy if the services took place in the home. If interested in hearing more about the home based services or to inquire if a therapist in your area is available to come to your home, call our office at (212)595-1705.

Making Milestones also has therapists working within many private schools in Manhattan. If you would like to inquire about having a therapist come to your child’s school, please call our office at (212)595-1705.