Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC

Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC is a Pediatric Occupational Therapy practice in Oak Park, IL with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in helping physically or mentally disabled children develop cognitive, motor, social, and self-care skills. Pediatric Occupational Therapists at Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC perform educational and physical learning exercises with children disabled by injury or illness. Pediatric Occupational Therapy is a medical specialty dedicated to helping disabled children gain personal independence by improving sensory, motor, visual perception, and social interaction skills. Significant diseases and conditions treated at Pediatric Occupational Therapy practices include impairments resulting from birth injuries or defects, sensory processing disorders, traumatic injuries, autism, childhood arthritis, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy, and many other conditions that affect children's motor and learning skills. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Pediatric Occupational Therapy practices include play therapy, handwriting exercises, motor planning, gross motor coordination, sensory modulation, visual perception skills, and parental education.

Occupational therapists provide services to infants, toddlers and children who have or who are at risk for developmental delays or disabilities. Occupational therapy is concerned with a child's ability to participate in daily life activities or "occupations." Occupational therapists use their unique expertise to help children with social-emotional, physical, cognitive, communication, and adaptive behavioral challenges and to help children to be prepared for and perform important learning and school-related activities and to fulfill their rule as students. Through an understanding of the impact of disability, illness, and impairment on a child's development, plan, ability to learn new skills, and overall occupational performance, occupational therapists design interventions that promote healthy development, establish needed skills, and/or modify environments, all in support of participation in daily activities.

Neurorehabilitation Occupational Therapy

Environmental Modification Occupational Therapy

Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC is an Environmental Modification Occupational Therapy practice in Oak Park, IL with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in environmental modification beyond that of a general occupational therapist. Environmental Modification Occupational Therapists at Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC perform modification of a patient's home, work, or school environment. Environmental Modification Occupational Therapy is the change or adaptation of a patient's environment to ensure their safety and independence in performing daily activities. Significant diseases and conditions treated at Environmental Modification Occupational Therapy practices include impaired senses, arthritis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Environmental Modification Occupational Therapy practices include analyzing a patient's environmental needs and disruptors, strengthening a patient's skills, providing patients with devices and assistive technology, and consulting during new construction or building rehab projects.

Occupational therapy practitioners are experts at identifying the cause of difficulties in performance of activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Occupational therapy practitioners evaluate the client, their environment, and their occupational performance in that environment, as well as make recommendations for products to improve the fit between the client, place, and activity. Occupational therapists can evaluate both the skills of the client and the environmental features that support or limit the performance of meaningful or necessary activities, thereby enhancing health, safety and well-being. Based on this assessment, they recommend modification and intervention strategies that improve the fit between the person and his or her environment.

Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy

Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC is a Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy practice in Oak Park, IL with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in helping patients regain lost mobility after an illness, injury, or impairment. Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapists at Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC perform physical exercises centered on helping patients regain physical strength, mobility, flexibility, and independence while reducing or eliminating related pain. Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy is a medical specialty focusing on helping patients regain physical strength and mobility lost or impaired due to illness or injury. Significant diseases and conditions treated at Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy practices include injury or impairment after traumatic illness or injury such as stroke, brain damage, and spinal cord injury, post-surgical recovery, athletic injury, impairment from congenital birth defects, and chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS). Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Physical Rehabilitation Occupational Therapy practices include diagnostic imaging, mobility and pain assessment, physical exercise planning and execution, assistive devices and technology, medical massage, and patient education.

Occupational therapists are experts at helping people lead as independent a life as possible. Occupational therapists bring an understanding of the physical and psychological implications of illness and injury and their effects on peoples' ability to perform the tasks of daily living. Occupational therapists provide interventions that can aide a person in completing ADL and IADL tasks, such as dressing, bathing, preparing meals, and driving. They also may fabricate custom orthotics to improve function, evaluate the environment for safety hazards and recommend adaptations to remove those hazards, help a person compensate for cognitive changes, and build a persons' physical endurance and strength. Occupational therapists' knowledge of adapting tasks and modifying the environment to compensate for functional limitations is used to increase the involvement of clients and to promote safety and success.

Low Vision Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists enable children and adults with visual impairment to engage in their chosen daily living activities safely and as independently as possible. This is accomplished by 1) teaching the person to use their remaining vision as efficiently as possible to complete activities; (2) modifying activities so that they can be completed with less vision; (3) training the person in use of adaptive equipment to compensate for vision loss, including high and low technology assistive devices; and (4) modifying the person's environment.

Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapy

Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC is a Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapy practice in Oak Park, IL with healthcare providers who have special training and skill in holistically evaluating and resolving eating and swallowing dysfunctions by addressing environmental, cultural, physiological, and psychosocial interventions. Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapists at Kidsconnect Pediatric Therapy, PLLC perform holistic care in neonatal intensive care units, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation hospitals, mental health facilities, nursing facilities, and hospices. Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapy is comprehensive management of feeding, eating, and swallowing challenges. Significant diseases and conditions treated at Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapy practices include difficulty raising food to the mouth, aspiration, dementia, and psychologically based eating disorders. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Feeding, Eating & Swallowing Occupational Therapy practices include videofluoroscopy, ultrasonography, electromyography, swallowing technique education, behavior modification program, environmental modification, providing adaptive equipment, and neuromuscular electrical stimulation.

Occupational therapists provide interventions to clients of all ages with feeding, eating and swallowing difficulties. Occupational therapists provide comprehensive rehabilitative, habilitative, and palliative dysphagia care, which includes collaborating with clients to provide individualized compensatory swallowing strategies, modified diet textures, adapted mealtime environments, enhanced feeding skills, preparatory exercises and positioning to clients, reinforcement of mealtime strategies to enhance and improve swallowing skills, and training to caregivers to enhance eating and feeding performance. Occupational therapists provide screening and in-depth clinical assessment which may include instrumental dysphagia assessments including videofluroscopy.

Mental Health Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists provide treatment for people recovering from a mental or physical illness to regain their independence and stability and to engage in normal daily occupations (work, home, family life, school, leisure). Occupational therapists provide particular emphasis on interventions that result in improved quality of life and decrease hospitalization.

Occupational Therapy (OT Assistant)

An occupational therapy assistant is a person who has graduated from an occupational therapy assistant program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) or predecessor organizations, has successfully completed a period of supervised fieldwork experience required by the accredited occupational therapy assistant program, has passed a nationally recognized entry-level examination for occupational therapy assistants, and fulfills state requirements for licensure, certification, or registration. An occupational therapy assistant provides interventions under the supervision of an occupational therapist which emphasize the therapeutic use of everyday life activities (i.e., occupations) with individuals or groups for the purpose of facilitating participation in roles and situations and in home, school, workplace, community and other settings. Occupational therapy services are provided for the purpose of promoting health and wellness and are provided to those who have or are at risk for developing an illness, injury, disease, disorder, condition, impairment, disability, activity limitation, or participation restriction. Occupational therapy assistants address the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory, and other aspects of occupational performance in a variety of contexts to support engagement in everyday life activities that affect health, well-being, and quality of life.

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois