Pediatric Services Offered at Kids' Perspective Physical Therapy

What to Expect When You’re Expecting…To Have a Pediatric Physical Therapy Evaluation!

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What will we talk about in an eval?

Your first visit to physical therapy will most likely be an evaluation. During this process, a physical therapist will meet with you and your child to discuss his or her current status and your concerns. Together, you will review topics such as:

• Your pregnancy and your child’s birth history
• General medical and health history such as medications, significant illnesses, or allergies.
• Age at which gross motor milestones were achieved and what your child can do now
• Home and social environments, including school and extracurricular activities, when applicable
• Your child’s ability to keep up with peers and your specific concerns which bring you to therapy

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Based on your input and concerns, the physical therapist will pick a variety of assessments and tests to evaluate your child, creating a baseline of their current level of function. These baseline values will be utilized throughout your child’s time in physical therapy, should they qualify for services, to assess their progress toward goals. 

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What is the Physical Therapist looking for in my child?

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Depending on your child’s age and areas of difficulty, a physical therapy evaluation will look at a variety of skills such as:

• Rolling, crawling, sitting, standing
• Tolerance of tummy time
• Walking
• Running, skipping, galloping
• Ascending and descending stairs
• Jumping and hopping skills such as jump rope or hopscotch
• Ball skills such as throwing, catching, and kicking
• Play skills such as accessing a playground, playing tag-based games, and playing safely with other children

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While assessing these skills, your physical therapist will also be looking at the underlying skills of:

• Strength

• Range of motion (flexibility or muscle extensibility)
• Balance
• Coordination
• Proprioception (your child’s ability to know where their body is in space)
• Muscle tone
• Motor planning
• Symmetry of movement (does your child use both sides of their body equally?)

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If your child already has equipment such as assistive devices (i.e. a walker or wheelchair) or braces (i.e AFOs or twister cables), your therapist will also assess these pieces of equipment for fit and functionality. 

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What should I bring to the eval?

In order to best prepare for your evaluation, we recommend you bring the following to your first appointment:

• Photo ID and insurance cards
• Previous therapy reports or school reports, if applicable, and relevant medical notes from your pediatrician or any other specialist which your child has seen. 
• Any equipment your child currently uses to help them navigate their environment (such as orthotics or assistive devices)
• Clothes which allow free movement for your child to wear during the evaluation

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A referral to pediatric physical therapy may sound intimidating, but consider your new therapy team as your child’s newest and biggest fans and cheerleaders. We are here not only to help your child achieve his or her goals (or your goals for your child), but also to help support you through the process of your child’s development.

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WHAT SERVICES DO WE OFFER?

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Some of the diagnoses that we are specialize in include:

Torticollis

Developmental Delay

Cerebral Palsy

Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury

Muscular Dystrophy

Low tone

Balance and coordination disorders

Orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries and impairments

And more….

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At Kids Perspective Physical Therapy, we put our patients and their families first. We will provide you with a thorough evaluation that assesses your child’s gross motor skills as well as recommendations for goals and an appropriate plan of care. 

After the evaluation, we will work with you to start a comprehensive treatment plan that includes:

• activities to be done in our clinic with one-on-one guidance from a physical therapist. 
• exercises and activities that can be done at home to maximize your child’s potential for improvement 
• any equipment, orthotic, or specialist recommendations that may be needed

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Other services that we offer at our clinic include:

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Orthotics or Durable Medical Equipment (DME) recommendations: If your child needs any orthotics or DME (equipment that is needed for repeated use, such as walkers or wheelchairs), we will work with your vendor of choice, or provide recommendations if needed, to make sure it is appropriate for your child and fits properly.

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Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill: The Alter G technology allows our patients to improve their walking/running mechanics and lowers the impact on their joints by providing a weightless environment to exercise in. 

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Whole Body Vibration: Our Galileo machine is a vibrating platform that can simulate a movement pattern similar to gait. The vibration can also help with strength, flexibility and functional performance by stimulating the stretch reflex that activates the muscles in the body.

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Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES): NMES uses sticker-like electrodes placed on various muscles on the body to stimulate muscle contractions using electrical impulses. This can help increase strength, reduce pain and improve flexibility, mobility and balance.

Kinesiotaping: Kinesiotape is a therapeutic elastic tape applied to the body to help facilitate proper movement and can improve the lymphatic drainage by lifting up the skin. This allows the body to heal faster, prevent injury and promote good circulation. 

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And more…

These are just a few offerings that we have at our clinic but it is not a complete list. Our therapists are continually learning new techniques and skills so that we can provide the most up-to-date effective treatments for our patients. Please contact our clinic if you have any questions about what we provide or if you would like to learn more about our physical therapy clinic.

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