Lander # 307--332-5508 Riverton # 307-856-4337
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Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy, commonly referred to as “OT”, helps people achieve independence in all aspects of their lives. For children specifically, Occupational Therapy helps to promote development of self-help skills (feeding, dressing, grooming); hand-eye coordination; sensory integration (ability to process sensory input such as sound, light, touch, smell); taste, textures, motor skills, regulatory behavior skills, and play skills.
If a child qualifies for OT Services through the developmental screening and evaluation process, those services will be provided by an Occupational Therapist or Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant in a child’s natural environment. For children ages birth through two years this is usually the home or a childcare setting. For children ages three through five years it is often a preschool or other educational setting. The goal of Occupational Therapy is to develop or improve a child’s skills for daily living and independence.
Main Areas of Focus for Occupational Therapy
Motor Skill Development
Motor skill development involves learning sequences of movements that when combined will produce a smooth, efficient action so that a child may master a particular task such as writing or cutting. Many factors contribute to a child’s motor skill abilities and rate of development. Uncontrollable factors that influence a child’s motor skills include genetic or inherited traits and/or learning disorders. Controllable factors include the environment/society and the child’s culture. Occupational Therapy focuses largely on fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are those skills that allow a child to do such things as write and manipulate small objects.
Self-Help Skill Development
Self-help skills allow children to be independent and do things on their own. The primary areas of self-help skills include: self-feeding, independent dressing and grooming, hygiene and toileting, and cooperative and play skills.
Sensory Processing Concerns
Children experience a variety of sensory issues while exploring and interacting within their environments. However, if these sensory concerns continue and/or escalate, it may hinder a child’s ability to learn or function appropriately in his/her environment. Sensory disorders in children need to be identified early so a child may receive proper treatment and intervention. The categories of sensory function include the following: tactile (touch), auditory (hearing), and visual (sight), taste, olfactory (smell), vestibular (movement and gravity), and proprioceptive (body awareness, muscles, and joints). Occupational Therapy helps children to organize and process sensory messages so that they can be successful in everyday activities.
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Speech Therapy
Speech & Language Therapy assists children in developing communication skills that allow children to engage in daily activities and verbally interact with peers, adults and their family.
Areas of Speech Language Development/Therapy:
Indirect Language Stimulation
Language stimulation techniques are enrichment activities that are taught to a child’s family and caregivers to facilitate a child’s language development. Indirect language stimulation is a valuable part of all speech language therapy and is used by SLPs during the intervention sessions.
Receptive Language Development
Children with a receptive language delay may have difficulty comprehending or understanding what is said to them. They may not appear to be listening when spoken to and have difficulty following directions. The SLP focuses on developing the child’s ability to follow verbal directions, understand language concepts, and understand complex sentences.
Expressive Language Development
Children with an expressive language delay may have difficulty developing spoken language. They may use gestures instead of words and rely on short, simple sentences to attempt to communicate with others. The SLP focuses on assisting the child in developing functional communication skills so that the child is able to request, ask/answer questions, and share information with others. The SLP also assists the child in learning to format grammatically correct sentences, complex sentences, and to carry on a conversation.
Articulation/Phonological Development
All children make some pronunciation errors when they are learning to communicate. A child whose speech is difficult to understand may have an articulation or phonological delay. The SLP works with the child to correct a child’s articulation or phonological delay by teaching correct placement and production of speech sounds and/or sound patterns. The focus of therapy is to decrease the child’s sound pattern errors and sound omissions, substitutions, and/or distortions that are persisting beyond the age at which the majority of children have mastered production of sounds.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
This includes all forms of communication (other than oral speech) that are used for functional communication; including expressing thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. We all use AAC when we make facial expressions or gestures, use symbols or pictures, or write. AAC users do not stop using speech. The AAC aids and devices are used to enhance their communication. SLPs work with the child and his/her family to determine the most appropriate communication system and assist the child in learning to use the system.
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Physical Therapy
Physical Therapy commonly referred to as “PT”, helps to improve an individual’s gross motor development which involves a person’s larger, stronger muscle groups. For children in particular, Physical Therapy helps to enable a child to hold his/her head up, sit, crawl, and eventually walk, run, jump and skip.
If a child qualifies for PT Services through the developmental screening and evaluation process, therapy services will be provided by a Physical Therapist or Physical Therapy Assistant in a child’s natural environment. For children ages birth through two years, this is usually the home or a childcare setting. For children ages three through five years, it is often a preschool setting or another educational setting. The goal of Physical Therapy is to improve a child’s motor skills and increase his/her independence through developing muscle strength, coordination and flexibility.
Targeted Areas for Motor Skill Development:
- Developing head and trunk control
- Balance and transitional movements
- Posture
- Range of Motion
- Coordination through the use of developmental sequences
- Development of protective reactions, and inhibition of “primitive reflexes”
- Tone adjustment techniques, and special equipment
- Sensory Integration
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Developmental Screening & Evaluation
Child Development Services offers free developmental screenings for children birth through age five.
A developmental screening is a quick and easy check-up to see if your child's development is on track. Children's Resource Center provides free developmental screenings to all children birth through age five living in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming. Developmental Screenings are completed by a team of professionals at a time that is convenient for parents and in a natural environment for the child ie. in your home, daycare center, CRC center, or another site of your choice . Screenings take place year-round and are a tool used to gather information on the child's functioning in the following areas: Cognitive development, Fine and Gross Motor development, Speech and Language development, Social and Emotional development, Hearing and Vision. Screening results are shared with parents.
Once a screening has been completed, if results indicate a potential delay in one or more developmental areas, Children's Resource Center will recommend that the child receive a comprehensive evaluation by CRC professionals in the specific areas of delay to determine if the child is in need of Early Intervention Services or Special Education and Related Services, depending on the age of the child. An evaluation is simply a more in depth look at where a child is developmentally. Sometimes, a child needs a little extra help to get on track, and CRC offers a variety of early intervention services that can do just that.
Developmental screenings for children ages birth through 5 include:
- Vision and hearing screenings
- Behavioral health screenings
- Gross and fine motor
- Cognitive, speech and language skills
- Social, emotional and self-help
All developmental services are FREE, regardless of income. The only thing you cannot afford to do is wait.
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Specialized Education
Preschool classes are generally offered according to a traditional school calendar year. Preschool services are provided at no cost to families for children with special needs and are provided for a monthly fee to families with children without special needs. All preschool classrooms are instructed by an Early Childhood Educator or Early Childhood Special Educator who has a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Education or related field and is certified by the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board. The Assistant Teachers in the classrooms have a minimum of a Child Development Associate Certification (CDA) or equivalent or are working towards a CDA Certification.
The Preschool Program implements a curriculum which is developmentally appropriate, research-based, and focuses on the whole child. The plan for curriculum considers and addresses all areas of development which includes the following areas:
- Social-Emotional
- Physical
- Language
- Cognitive
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- Social Studies
- The Arts
Daily Lessons are organized and planned by a teaching team that focus on “key experiences” that help young children to develop the skills they will need to be successful in Kindergarten.
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Social & Emotional Development
Services for social and emotional development promote a child’s ability to manage their own feelings, understand other’s feelings, and interact positively within their world.
If a child qualifies for Social and Emotional Development Services through the developmental screening and evaluation process, those services will be provided by a Behavior Interventionist in a child’s natural environment. For children ages birth through two years this is usually the home or a childcare setting. For children ages three through five years it is often a preschool or other educational setting. The goal for providing services for social and emotional development is to help a child have emotional regulation, maintain positive interactions with others and effectively engage in their environment
