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 14409 Edison Drive in New Lenox, Illinois. We are also reachable through email.
Current Groups
“Sense-Ability I” Sensory-Motor Group
This group is designed for children ages 3–6. In this group children will explore the seven senses through weekly activities which will include gross and fine motor activities; exploring through touch and taste, strengthening and endurance; and social skills while incorporating calming and self regulation techniques.
This group is led by 2 occupational therapists and will run on Wednesdays from 4:15–5:30 PM. Please call for additional information and to register.
“Sense-Ability II” Sensory-Motor Group
This group is designed for children ages 7–9. In this group children will explore the seven senses through weekly activities which will include gross and fine motor activities; exploring through touch and taste; strengthening, balance, coordination, and endurance; and social skills while incorporating calming and self regulation techniques.
This group is led by 2 occupational therapists and will run on Wednesdays from 5:30–6:30 PM. Please call for additional information and to register.
“Bits & Pieces” Feeding Group
This group is designed for children ages 3–6. In this group children will explore food through touch and taste in a non-threatening environment. Oral motor strengthening, appropriate postural control, increasing tolerance to touch and taste will be incorporated to enhance the feeding process.
This group is led by a speech-language pathologist. Please call our office for dates and times.
Summer Groups
“Write–On!” Handwriting Group
This group is designed for children ages 4–7. In this program, Handwriting Without Tears will be used to encourage writing readiness and printing skills. Handwriting Without Tears is developmentally based and incorporates visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic learning styles to enhance pre-readiness skills. This program enhances letter formation, spacing, elimination of reversals, and writing legibility.
This group will be lead by an occupational therapist. Please call for information regarding this group.
“Highs & Lows” Self-Regulation Group
This group is designed for children ages 5–10. In this group parents and children will learn how to recognize arousal levels and which activities can be incorporated to increase organization so learning and interaction can occur. This program is adapted from How Does Your Engine Run?® A Leader’s Guide to the Alert Program® for Self-Regulation by Williams and Shellenberger.
This group is led by 2 occupational therapists. Please call our office for further information.
“Tools 2 Talk” Speech Group
This group is designed for children ages 3–5½. The focus of this group is to improve expressive and receptive communication skills utilizing a variety of methods. Additionally, children will learn appropriate peer interaction while attending to adult-directed instruction.
This group is led by a speech-language pathologist. Please call our office for further information.
Interactions (Social Skills Training)
This group is designed to work on pragmatics or the social use of language. This group focuses on understanding non-verbal communication (body language, gestures), understanding communication exchanges, identifying emotions, answering questions appropriately, and conflict resolution.