Therapy Services

Children's TLC offers occupational, physical, and speech therapies. All personnel who provide the services are licensed and certified as fully qualified providers. The Physical and Occupational Therapists have received a Bachelor's/Master's Degree in Physical or Occupational therapy and are licensed to practice in Missouri and often in Kansas. The Speech Language Pathologists have graduated with a Master's Degree, have a Certificate of Clinical Competence and are licensed to practice in Missouri/Kansas. All of the therapists have pediatric experience and participate in continuing education courses.

Occupational Therapy
The Occupational Therapist at Children's TLC is a specialist who assists children to reach an optimal level of functioning in the home, school, and in the community.  Play, which is highly motivation and natural, is most often used by occupational therapists during their treatment with the children.  Therapy focuses on daily living activities including self-care, assistive devices as well as a strong emphasis on feeding and oral motor skills, which include lip and tongue control, other components needed for swallowing, oral aversion, and defensiveness.  Therapy also addresses fine motor skills including motor control, pre-writing, handwriting, and bilateral integration.  Occupational therapy can also target visual skills including visual percepiton, visual motor, eye hand coordination, and ocular motility.  In addition, our OT addresses sensory processing skills in the areas of self-regulation, attention, body awareness, sensory defensiveness, and praxis.

Currently, the Occupational Therapists provide services to approximately 70% of the children at Children's TLC. The goal of the Occupational Therapist is to address the needs of the total child so that they have the opportunity to be as self-reliant and independent as possible to function in everyday life.

Physical Therapy
Physical Therapy at Children's TLC is oriented toward improving the child's mobility and overall movement skills. The Physical Therapist works with children to help relieve pain, develop and improve movement skills and prevent disabilities. The ultimate goal is to maximize each child's skills to move safely and independently in the classroom and in the community.

The Physical Therapist provides services to approximately 50% of the student population at Children's TLC. In addition, those children who are suspected of having motor delays benefit from the consultation and recommendations the physical therapist can provide.

Speech Language Pathology
The goal of the speech-language pathologist is to target communication development including difficulties with understanding and using language, articulation (sound production), stuttering, voice, play skills, and social interaction. Targeting communication development may include a combination of speech, sign language, and augmentative and alternative communication (sign language, PECS, communication devices, etc). The speech-language pathologist also works closely with the occupational therapist to improve feeding and swallowing development. In order to promote literacy development, skills such as alphabet knowledge, phonologic and print awareness, spelling, and book skills are also targeted by the speech-language pathologist. Communication, feeding, and literacy skills are targeted in a wide variety of experiences throughout the day in classroom, one-on-one, and home-based settings.