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www.FredParent.NET • 19 Sponsored Material Join us May 12 for the live conversation on Do you have questions for Fleming Therapy Services? Ask live on our Facebook page during Ask The Expert May 12 at 8 pm. facebook.com/FredericksburgParent a sk t h e e x p e rt Q: Who would be a good candidate for speech therapy? A good candidate for speech therapy is a child who may not be developing their vocabulary or language on an age appropriate level. A rule of thumb is 18 words by 18 months. A good candidate is a child who may not be using their speech sounds by age 3-4 correctly or a child who may not be putting words together or beginning to exchange in a small dialogue back and forth by 2-3 years of age. Another candidate is a child with medical diagnosis that impacts his overall speech and language development. We see children who need additional services after school. If a parent is unsure if their child needs speech therapy, we offer free consultations with our assistant directors who will discuss the concerns and make a determination if or what can be done next. Q: How do I know if my child needs pediatric physical therapy? Pediatric physical therapy is our newest department and we are pleased to see how much this service has helped so many children. Pediatric physical therapy assists children with sitting, standing, crawling, walk- ing and climbing. We see many children with varying global developmental disabilities and medical diagno- ses. Physical therapists use many different methods such as the use of treadmills, bicycles and stairs. They will provide stretching techniques for those children with tight muscles related to their medical diagnosis. Our physical therapists also work to assist our fami- lies in getting their children wheelchairs, walkers and standers as deemed appropriate. If a child is having difficulty with any of the above areas, it would be appropriate to consult with the family physician to see if pediatric physical therapy would be beneficial. Q: What is occupational therapy? Is the focus of occupational therapy different in children than in adults? Pediatric occupational therapy focuses on addressing a child's sensory process- ing deficits and developmental milestones related to basic self-help skills, as well as fine motor difficulties. The occupational therapists help the children with sen- sory processing deficits to learn to take in the environ- ment around them. These children may have difficulty with sounds, lighting and touch. These children may have difficulty being in a crowd of people, difficulty with emotions, or difficulty with transitions and overall dif- ficulty making friends. Our occupational therapists work very hard to address these sensory processing areas to assist the children and families on coping mechanisms. They assist children in self-help skills related to sequential steps in dressing, wash- ing hands, tying shoes and brushing hair. They also assist children with handwriting, drawing, cutting and overall fine motor difficulties associated with the use of their hands and fingers. These services vary slightly when working with adults. Q: What causes feeding disorders? We see many children with feeding difficulties. These feed- ing difficulties range from being a picky eater to having difficulty orally manipulating the food in the mouth to swallow. We don't have an answer as to how or why a child has a feeding disorder. Many factors can play a role including a medical diagnosis, a child on a feeding tube, a child may have sensitivity to a type of texture of a food, or a child may have limited tongue and lip movement to be able to move the food around. Upon our initial consultation, we are able to determine which of these areas is most impacting the child in order to determine if a speech therapist or occupational therapist would best help the child. Our therapists are trained in many differ- ent approaches and use many different techniques to help the child learn to eat better. The family is an active participant throughout the treatment in order for these skills to be transferred to the home. Q: Is it common for children to need to see more than one type of specialist? It is not uncommon for a child to receive multiple services. We have the opportunity to collaborate extensively amongst the disciplines in order to better assess each child's needs and design the treatment for each child in the best collaborative environ- ment, keeping the therapy in sync. We look at the entire child upon our initial consultation. We look to see the child's balance and stability in standing and walking, how the child uses their hands and fingers, and how the child uses their mouth to speak. We recognize how important the balance is to overall speech clarity and ability to articulate. Often parents will come in and have concerns with a child's articulation skills. While we assess the child for articulation, we will also screen the child's overall gross stability because we have to have stability to get mobility of speech. In this case, we may consult with one of our physical therapist or occupational therapist to assist us to achieve the goals and in most cases at a quicker pace. When a child receives multiple services, we provide additional management and oversight for our team. This keeps therapy in sync as they work closely to ensure the child's goals are being targeted while receiving all services. This collaborative approach, called "Therapy in Sync" is something we at Fleming Therapy Services, Inc. are proud to offer and look forward to continuing as we help families throughout Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg. are being targeted while receiving all services. This collaborative approach, called "Therapy in Sync" is something we at Fleming Therapy Services, Inc. are proud to offer and look forward to continuing as we help families throughout Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg. Q: What are PROMPT techniques? PROMPT therapy is a method used in speech therapy to assist children with the oral sequential movements for speech sounds. This approach provides tactile cueing to the lips, cheeks and jaw to assist in the facilitation of speech sounds. Many of our speech therapists are trained in this approach; however, this is not our only approach to treating a child with a speech disorder. We screen each child to determine which approach would work best.