Helping Hands Children’s Therapy Services, Inc. — New Lenox, Illinois

Services

Group Services

Children will be grouped according to skill level, not necessarily age. If you have any questions regarding these groups please feel free to call our office at 815-462-4928.

The Helping Hands office is located at 185 S. Marley Road in New Lenox, Illinois. We are also reachable through email.

Current Groups

Bits & Pieces

This group is run by a speech therapist and is designed to help those children who struggle with feeding whether it be limited variety and/or volume of foods in their diet, maladaptive behaviors surrounding eating, or difficulty controlling foods in their mouth. The focus of this group is to help children develop a positive relationship with food to assist with decreasing meal time struggles and to eventually help children add new foods to their diet. This group is appropriate for children of all ages and will incorporate oral motor and sensory aspects of feeding and meal time.

Goals for Bits & Pieces
  1. Child will tolerate presentation of foods of various tastes, smells, textures, and temperatures.
  2. Child will interact with foods of different shapes, textures, color, and consistency.
  3. Child will “play” with foods to assist in building a positive, non-stressful relationship with food.
  4. Child will sit at table for duration of meal and/or snack time.
  5. Child will improve oral motor skills to safely consume a variety of foods.
  6. Child will increase variety and quantity of foods in their diet.
Tools 2 Talk

This group was designed to help your little one improve articulation, phonological awareness, and language skills. Not only will your child expand their speech and language skills, but hey will also enjoy social interaction with their peers. This group is designed for children ages 3-6 and targets a variety of skills, including the following: improving overall articulation skills, increasing phonological awareness skills for pre-literacy, following directions, using language to communicate wants and needs, improving turn-taking skills, and facilitating appropriate interaction with peers.

Goals for Tools 2 Talk
  1. Child will improve production of speech phonemes such as p/b, t/d, f/v, k/g, s/z, l, and r.
  2. Child will increase phonological awareness skills to improve articulation and assist with pre-literacy skills.
  3. Child will improve understanding of language to assist with following directions and increase play skills.
  4. Child will improve understanding and use of spatial concepts.
  5. Child will increase use of language to communicate wants and needs to adults and peers.
  6. Child will improve turn-taking during play, games, and conversation.
  7. Child will use appropriate interaction with peers during a variety of activities.
"Short" Sports

Come join a fun filled class of learning the basics to the most popular sports. Each week a specific sport will be covered: basketball, football, soccer, baseball, and gymnastics/tumbling. We will learn drill related skills, aerobic skills, strengthening skill, and stretching skills. Every week will end with core (trunk) strengthening exercises that we all need to improve our balance and endurance. The focus of the class will be for ages 4 – 6 and last up to one hour.

Goals for "Short" Sports
  1. Child will increase overall high level balance skills by half a grade: i.e. go from fair to fair+.
  2. Child will increase overall strength, especially core strength, in order to perform specific sport being performed.
  3. Child will be able to perform one specific skill related to sport of the week at the end of the session.
  4. Child will be able to participate for a full 30 minutes without requiring a rest (increase endurance).
  5. Child will increase coordination between arm/leg and hand/eye with specific sport skills of the week.
  6. Child will be able to interact and participate with children of own age in a specific skill.
Sports & Fitness

This group is appropriate for children ages 6 – 9 and is run by a physical therapist. The class is designed for children who need to enhance their gross motor skills and fitness levels. The focus will be on improving strength, balance, and endurance while incorporating cardiovascular activities.

Goals for Sports & Fitness
  1. Child will increase endurance to be able to participate for 30 minutes of an activity without requiring a rest break.
  2. Child will increase their overall strength to be able to perform sport specific activities.
  3. Child will be able to perform one sport specific skill related to the sport of the week at the end of each session.
  4. Child will increase their higher level balance skills by one half grade; i.e. from fair to fair+.
  5. Child will be able to interact and participate appropriately with peers in sport and fitness activities.
Interactions

This group is designed to facilitate development of social interactions skills. The group is run by a speech-language pathologist and is appropriate for children 6-8 years old. Specific skills addressed include: asking and answering questions with peers, understanding nonverbal communication, communication exchanges, identifying emotions, and conflict resolution. All skills will be addressed in a positive, fun environment with motivating activities to encourage social interaction.

Goals for Interactions
  1. Child will improve ability to answer and ask questions to/from peers.
  2. Child will improve ability to maintain topic and take-turns within conversations and games with peers.
  3. Child will improve ability to negotiate and problem solve during games and activities with peers.
  4. Child will improve understanding of nonverbal communication including gestures, facial expressions, body language, and vocal tone/volume.
  5. Child will demonstrate understanding and expression of emotions specific to events/ situations.
  6. Child will initiate interactions and introduce/explain activities within the group.