What To Expect From Pediatric Physical Therapy

What To Expect From Pediatric Physical Therapy 

You are exploring the idea of finding a Pediatric Physical Therapist to work with your child. Whether it’s developmental delays, an injury, or concerns about your child meeting milestones, a Pediatric Physical Therapist can work with you and your child to address these concerns and put you at ease.

Our own team of pediatric physical therapists answer some of the questions about what they need from their patient’s parents to ensure the child’s goals are reached.

What’s the first step once you’ve made the appointment? Congratulations! You actually made the first step by deciding to consult a Pediatric Physical Therapist. Once you arrive for the appointment, the therapist will begin an evaluation. This involves a parent interview, observing how your child interacts with toys and moves in their play environment. The therapist can gain perspective on how your child is functioning when compared to other children his or her age. All of this information is carefully considered by the therapist as how a parent describes their child’s strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation is a time for you to discuss your concerns and ask for help in areas that you see are difficult for your child.

Beyond the Evaluation A Pediatric Physical Therapist will assess the needs of each child and collaborate with you and your child to determine goals that target the child’s functional deficits or delays.

What to Expect During Treatment: Children learn by playing! Don’t be surprised if you look in on your child’s session and it appears as if the therapist is ‘just playing’ with your child. Yes, we do play! Therapy sessions involve fun, engaging activities to help promote and improve things like strength, motor development, range of motion, endurance, balance, coordination, gait and endurance. Your child will learn new skills and gain new abilities by the therapist skillfully guiding a play session in order to provide a ‘just right’ challenge for your child. It is this challenge that will help your child to grow!

Therapists will also often educate parents on their children’s weaknesses, make suggestions for home exercises and create ways to modify tasks outside the gym to help your child meet their goals.

Our goal is that fun and challenging therapy, coupled with providing answers and education for parents, will help your child make progress. Learning new skills and becoming more independent in all areas of childhood are so important for you, your child and your family. So please…ask questions, attend sessions, observe and work hard at home with your child. They will thank you!