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

Services

Group Services

2011 Summer Groups will run from June 13th - August 11th. No groups will be held the week of July 4th. For more information call 815/462-4928 or email us at christie@helpinghandstherapy.org

You can print out the registration form here

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 is designed to enhance sound productions, follow directions, build vocabulary and answer questions while strengthening interactions skills with peers and adults. This group is lead by a speech-language pathologist and is designed for children ages 3-6. The following goals will be targeted:

Goals for Tools 2 Talk
  1. Child will improve production of age appropriate speech sounds in isolation, words, and sentences.
  2. Child will demonstrate an understanding of temporal and spatial concepts.
  3. Child will demonstrate understanding of weekly vocabulary words.
  4. Child will demonstrate appropriate socialization skills such as greetings, turn taking, and topic maintenance.
Fitness Club

This class is designed for kids who need to enhance their gross motor skills and fitness levels. The focus of this group will be to improve strength, endurance, balance, and coordination while incorporating cardiovascular activities. This group is lead by a physical therapist and targets the following goals:

Goals for Fitness Club
  1. Child will increase endurance by participating in 30 minutes of physical activity.
  2. Child will demonstrate stretches to improve flexibility and strength.
  3. Child will increase overall strength while participating in physical activities.
  4. Child will demonstrate improved coordination to enhance skills related to target sport.
Sense-Ability 1

This group is designed for children ages 3-6 and run by an occupational therapist. In this group children will explore the seven senses through weekly activities which include gross and fine motor activities; exploring through touch and taste, strengthening and endurance; and socal skills. This group will also include strategies to improve calming and self regulation.

Goals for Sense-Ability 1
  1. Child will complete gross motor sequencing activities to enhance body awareness, strength, balance, and endurance.
  2. Child will explore a variety of media to improve perception of touch, taste, and tolerance to textures.
  3. Child will participate in movement activities to enhance body in space and spatial awareness.
  4. Child will complete motor tasks given visual and or auditory directions.
  5. Child will demonstrate improved multi-sensory processing.
Sense-Ability 2

This group is designed for children ages 7-9 and run by an occupational therapist. In this group children will explore the seven senses through weekly activities which include gross and fine motor activities; exploring through and taste, strengthening and endurance; and social skills. This group will also include strategies to improve calming and self regulation.

Goals for Sense-Ability 2
  1. Child will complete gross motor sequencing activities to enhance body awareness, strength, balance, and endurance.
  2. Child will explore a variety of media to improve perception of touch, taste, and tolerance to textures.
  3. Child will participate in movement activities to enhance body in space and spatial awareness.
  4. Child will complete motor tasks given visual and or auditory directions.
  5. Child will demonstrate improved multi-sensory processing.
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.