Clay County Medical Center offers a full range of therapy services for infants, children, and teens who have an injury, developmental condition or illness. Our services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Occupational Therapy
Pediatric Occupational therapists focus on helping children become as independent as they can be in all areas of their lives. A child's "occupations" are playing, self-care, learning and interacting with others. Pediatric Occupational therapists assess the following skills and areas:
- Fine and visual motor skills
- Gross motor and coordination skills
- Self-care tasks
- Self-regulation
- Sensory processing and discrimination
- Communication and social skills
- Cognitive skills
A treatment program is made specifically for each child using fun and educational activities. The child's program may include working one-on-one with a therapist, doing a home program, making a splint for the hand or arm or educating family and other caregivers. Occupational therapists also help with changing physical barriers, adapting equipment for the child's use and working with other therapists and teachers.
Speech Therapy
Speech therapists help infants, children and teens who have problems with communication, learning, and feeding or swallowing. There are children who are hard to understand, cannot understand what is said to them, cannot hear well, or have a problem putting words together. Some infants and children have trouble with the movement of their lips, tongue and jaw that cause problems with speech or eating. Speech therapists are able to perform a video swallow and decide how well a child swallows food and liquids. Speech therapists assess the following areas:
- Child's ability to put words together
- How many words the child knows
- How well the child makes certain speech sounds
- What the child's voice sounds like
Speech therapists also test how well the child understands the words used by others, follows directions, remembers things, and solves problems. Pediatric Speech Therapy (ST) addresses the skills necessary for effective communication and swallowing. Our goal is to maximize your child’s success by developing skills for good communication.
Pediatric ST focuses on communication and feeding abilities instead of focusing on disabilities. Family involvement is a crucial key to the child’s communication success. Speech therapy is most often addressed through play activities, which gives the child a more comfortable environment to succeed.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapists help infants, children and teens to develop, regain and improve their ability to move. Depending on the age of the child, or the child's physical limitations, moving may be learning how to roll or to sit on his/her own. Physical therapists assess the following skills and areas:
- Muscle strength
- Range of motion
- Movement
- Balance
- Motor skills
- Comfort
- Pain
- Special equipment
Pediatric Physical Therapy (PT) emphasizes the gross motor development of a child by addressing motor planning, motor execution, strength, and range of motion deficits. Pediatric PT allows a child to challenge their balance and coordination to develop more control of day-to-day movements and interactions with daily activities. Pediatric PT also utilizes various modalities to address deficits, including a swimming pool, various other equipment, manual techniques, and specialized taping techniques along with a more play-based treatment plan.
Feeding Clinic & Sensory Gym
Clay County Medical Center offers a feeding clinic, which provides a team approach toward improving feeding behaviors and safe eating habits in children. We have a speech therapist who is certified
in the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) approach to feeding. This important program is a comprehensive, research-based assessment and treatment of feeding difficulties for infant, toddler, grade school children, and adolescents. The SOS approach to feeding is a systematic desensitization program to treat feeding issues. We are also equipped with a sensory gym and have OTs certified in treatment of children who have a Sensory Processing Disorder.