Child Development Charlotte

Arthrogryposis

Cerebral Palsy

Developmental Delay

Down syndrome

Gross Motor Coordination

Torticollis

Child and Family Development is accepting new referrals for physical therapy services.  Typically, the first appointment occurs within 1 week of the initial call to our office.  Our experienced PT team includes:

We accept insurance plans including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), Cigna, Medcost, Primary Physician Care (PPC), United Healthcare (UHC), as well as NC Medicaid and SC Medicaid. 

Visit our website to learn more about our services and therapists and call our office to schedule the initial appointment. 

Augmentive and Alternative Communication or AAC is a resource available for individuals who are unable to effectively use spoken language.  Children that may benefit from using AAC include those that may have diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, autism, genetic disorders, motor speech disorders and brain injury.  Types of AAC range from low tech to high tech.  Low tech AAC does not require the use of batteries or electronics.  Examples include a simple board of letters, words, phrases and/or pictures of symbols that a person can point to for communication.  High tech devices allow the individual to communicate using speech output.  There are many different companies that specialize in making these types of devices.  Many high tech device have the ability for the user to communicate an unlimited variety of messages.

There are great benefits from using AAC.  It allows the child to communicate with other people in the community and not just family or those familiar with the child.  Using AAC helps with development of language and literacy skills.  For children that are able to use some verbal communication, AAC does not interfere with the development of spoken language and in fact actually aids in language acquisition.

If you feel your child may be able to benefit from AAC, please discuss this with your speech therapist.  A speech therapist can complete an Augmentative Communication evaluation to determine if your child would benefit from using AAC as well as what type of AAC would be beneficial for your child.  In Charlotte, the speech therapy team at Child & Family Development offer evaluations for AAC devices.

When an occupational therapist evaluates handwriting, we not only look at handwriting samples and copying tasks, we also look at underlying factors. There are a number of underlying factors that support the development and success of handwriting. Some of these areas include postural and core support, hand and pinch strength, visual attention and concentration. More directly handwriting requires fine motor coordination, visual perceptual skills, and visual-motor integration. Motor coordination is necessary for holding and manipulating the pencil successfully. Visual perception is the ability to look at a picture and interpret it in your mind. Visual-motor integration is when you are able to combine visual perception (understanding what you see) and motor coordination (controlling the pencil) to create or reproduce images or letters. If any one, or more, of these areas are affected handwriting, per-writing, and drawing can suffer.

If handwriting is very difficult or even impossible for your child, an occupational therapy evaluation may be able to identify obstacles and help to remediate them.

The Child and Family Development Occupational Therapy team in Charlotte is ready to help! 

After her son completed the Cogmed Working Memory Training program here, a mother shared their story with Child and Family Development:
 

A few years ago, my son was diagnosed with ADD/ ADHD.  His grades were non-existent, as he forgot or refused to do his work.  His behavior was spotty at best, and when frustrated would have frequent tantrums and loud outbursts.  He was on several stimulant and non stimulant medications to try to help him control his attention, outburst, and impulsive behavior.  None worked.  Even with medication, he was a short tempered, short focused mess.  The last straw was when the medicine he was taking caused him to faint on a waterslide.  Imagine my horror!  Was there nothing that would help my child that won’t make him a zombie or cause other risky side effects?

In a final effort, we reached out to Dr. Joy Granetz.  She recommended a program that did not involve medication that would improve his attention, behavior, and memory.  This was too good to be true!  We knew we had to try this Cogmed program.

The Cogmed program was easy to install, and my son loved the exercises and rewards at the end of the day.  While not every day was “fun”, weekly phone conferences between him and Dr Granetz made him feel in control and a part of the process, while the reward system motivated him to continue.  Even when we had to go out of state unexpectedly, we were able to take the Cogmed program with us and use it on the road, wherever an internet was available.  This made it easy to stay on task, and complete the sessions on schedule.  Five week flew by quickly, and for the first time my son enjoyed the since of accomplishment from following through a program from beginning to end.

Now, 2 months later, the difference is staggering!  He no longer has outbursts in groups.  He is able to carry a conversation and finish a task without forgetting one or the other.  He no longer gets frustrated easily, but stays focused works through problems.  His grades improved from straight Fs to close to honor roll!  The best is teachers and leaders comments on how well behaved he is and how he is a joy to be around.

The Cogmed program has changed my son from a troubled child to a terrific kid.  Even after the program is finished, I still continue to see improvements on how he sees, interacts and handles the world around him.  This program not only helped a little boy, but a whole family.  Thank you, Cogmed and Dr Granetz, for finding a non-medicinal way to help us and give us our happy, healthy son back to us.

For more information about Cogmed Working Memory Training, visit their website, www.cogmed.com, To learn if this program is right for your child, contact our South Charlotte office at 704-541-9080 to schedule an Intake appointment.

About: Melissa Bradley, Pediatric Occupational Therapist at Child and Family Development in Charlotte:

"Melissa shows a genuine interest and caring for my daughter and our family. She is very knowledgeable and consistent and consistent in her treatment of my child which is wonderful! Very intuitive and goes out of her way to help parents understand what is going on in treatment and gives appropriate and recommendations. Office staff is polite and helpful too! Thank you!"

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Child and Family Development encourages the Charlotte community to join Autism Speaks in their celebration of World Autism Awareness Day on Monday, April 2, 2012 and Light It Up Blue to help shine a light on autism. 

This is the third year of this global initiative to raise awareness and show support. 

On www.lightitupblue.org, see photographs of some iconic world structures, such as the Empire State Buidling and Eiffel Tower, participating in this event. 

On www.autismspeaks.org, get ideas for how to mark this day. 

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Melinda Bumgardner, a speech therapist at Child and Family Development, recently attended a professional training course in Charlotte presented by Dynavox. 

The course titled Focus on Linguistic Competence offered tools to determine a child's communication ability level, strategies to build new skills, and materials to track and facilitate progress.

While the emphasis of the presentation was on augmentative communication devices (AAC), the information can be applied to early intervention of a variety of communication disorders.

To emphasize that point, the speaker ended with this quote: "In the midst of all of the complications that come with technology use, it can be helpful to remember that AAC technologies are simply tools that provide the child with access to language.  Most children who use AAC experience language deficits and the purpose of AAC is to provide the child with a means of overcoming these deficits.  Given these facts, the goals, objectives and intervention techniques that SLPs use with children who use AAC, should not, in many cases, be very different from the goals and techniques for children who primarily rely on speech to communicate." (Binger, 2008)

Well said- verbally or otherwise!

This month, 2 members of the Occupational Therapy team at our South Charlotte office completed training in Upper Extremity Treatment.

The course was offered by Boehme Workshops with a focus on strategies to improve a child's awareness, alignment, activation, coordination, grading and strength of upper extremities. 

Course participants practiced techniques on one another, so the ladies got to know everyone very well over the 2-day seminar.

Now, Courtney Stanley and Marion Wilm are even more hands on with their clients at Child and Family Development.

Child and Family Development is spreading the news about the 4^th Annual Cure SMA Walk-n-Roll for Gray’s Gang. 

The Walk-n-Roll will be held on Saturday, April 28^th at Alexander Graham Middle School Track and Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Join C&FD and Gray’s Gang at this event to help find a cure of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  Visit their website for more information:  http://www.graysgang.com/

Kids are typically referred for a neuropsychological evaluation if they are experiencing difficulty in learning, attention, behavior, socialization, or emotional control, a disease or developmental problem that affects the brain in some way, a brain injury from an accident, birth trauma or some other physical stress.

Testing can determine the effects of developmental, neurological and medical problems, such as epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia or a genetic disorder.

Often, a neuropsychological evaluation is part of a collaboration with many professionals, including but not limited to pediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, educators and other pediatric therapists. 

At Child and Family Development, there are two neuropsychologists on our team.

• Joy Granetz, Ph.D. @ South Charlotte office
• Gretchen H. Hunter, Ph.D. @ Midtown office

Contact our office to schedule an Intake appointment. 

My Disclaimer...

This blog is going to be for a step by step guide to my child's developmental milestones  I have a girl, please note that girls typically develop speech milestones faster, whereas boys typically develop physical milestone faster.  It can be used as a guide for other families, but please keep in mind that all children develop at different rates and should you have any concerns about where your child should be, you should speak to your pediatrician or schedule an appointment with a therapist in our office. 

My daughter's 2nd month...

My baby, in month 2, is still advanced as far as I am concerned.  You see I am a pediatric speech therapist in Charlotte, NC who rarely gets to see a typically developing child, so anything she does just looks superior to me. 

In her second month of life my daughter began to lift her head and chest off the tummy time mat.  Tummy time is very important; all of my coworkers at Child and Family Development have mentioned this to me time and time again, so we do it multiple times a day.  The doctor saw her for her check up this month and he said something to the effect of, “I am not going to ask you if you do tummy time because it is very obvious that you do”.  I mean I am not trying to brag or anything, but I did tell you my daughter is advanced in my last blog.  I haven’t yet had the heart to tell the pediatrician that I am a pediatric speech therapist; I just want all of the glory of how well my daughter is doing.

She watches me as I move around the room and had been doing this for a couple of weeks, when the doctor said I should begin to notice it.  Do you think my daughter will be brilliant and have better than average visual perceptual skills?  I do, but like I have said before….I AM biased.

She is cooing, lots of aaaahhhh and oooohhh’s.  Maybe an occasional /m/.  I as a speech therapist and thrilled to see this!!    

She copies facial movements, like sticking out her tongue when she sees here daddy, because she knows he likes it and he will laugh at her.  AND she began to smile…at 5 weeks.  Oh how I love to see her do that.  I thought it was a fluke the first time, but it continues to happen.

She watches everything.  I have even had to start turning off the television.  I remember articles and research that have been done about how too much tv/video games and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are related somehow.  I don’t remember the statistics, but if we can avoid adhd at my house, we are going to, so no tv for the 2 month old!

Speaking of hyperactivity…She moves her arms, legs….oh my goodness I hope she isn’t as active as her daddy, but it is appearing she may be.  She can get on her side.  Sometimes she appears to be spasming, I am sure that it is just a normal phase and she will become more coordinated, please, please.  Man if she gets something in her hand she does not let go, no matter what it is.  Bye-bye earrings, bye-bye hair, bye-bye necklaces, etc…I will miss you.

Hmm she now weighs 10 plus lbs and is now 24 inches long.  She is in the 98 percentile for height, 95 percentile for head circumference, and 40 percentile for weight.  I suddenly have a giant.  She has grown 6 inches since birth…it doesn’t seem fair that they grow so fast. 

March 2012 is an important month for these members of the pediatric therapy team at Child and Family Development:

Michelle Pentz, M.S., CCC-SLP– 4 years  Michelle has been a speech therapist at our South Charlotte office since 2008.  She enjoys little ones, especially when she helps kids learn the power of speech.  Michelle is a new mommy to her daughter, Avery, and is loving parenthood. It’s no surprise to her co-workers that she balances it all with ease. 

Hollie Bowling, M.A., CCC-SLP– 2 years  Hollie loves the excitement and fun of her profession.  In fact, she recently spoke to a Girl Scout troop about what to be when they grow up- a speech therapist!  Hollie gets great satisfaction from building rapport with kids and parents and helping children be successful communicators.  Holly’s top clinical interests include early language development and fluency. 

Both of you are an important part of our mission- to provide comprehensive, quality and integrated services to children and families in Charlotte.

Happy C&FD Anniversary!

Could it be autism?
This is a question that arises more and more often for parents, teachers and physicians. At Child and Family Development, we not only answer the question but also provide direction.

Carol Capehart, MA, LPA (Midtown office) and Chris Vrabel, Psy.D. (South Charlotte office) are highly trained and experienced to work with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Our comprehensive evaluation begins with a thorough clinical interview with the parents and caregivers. A review of medical history and detailed information about early development, family dynamics, family history, daily life, and current concerns are also gathered. A thorough inventory of standardized tests is also available.

We help families negotiate through the IEP process, communicate with school administration and teachers, attend IEP meetings and offer advocacy support when needed. In addition, they help families find the community resources. Here, we offer individual therapy, family therapy, social skills groups and parent support groups.

Contact us for more information about the Autism Spectrum Disorder services, We currently have openings for ASD evaluations with no waiting lists. We work with families to maximize any available insurance benefits and offer payment plans.
 

Recently, a Cogmed representative shared these research updates with Child and Family Development:

• Cogmed was highlighted in Science in the article "Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4 to 12 years old" (Diamond & Lee, 2011) describing computerized training as the most researched approach for improving executive functions in the early school years.
• In addition, results have continued to emerge from a large study of younger and older adults providing evidence for the feasibility and efficacy of improving working memory and attention in both age groups (Brehmer et al., 2009, 2011; Bellander et al., 2011)

You can find summaries of the published and ongoing research at www.cogmed.com/research.

To learn about the research and to determine how your child may benefit from the Cogmed Working Memory Training, contact our South Charlotte office to schedule an initial appointment with Dr. Joy Granetz.  She is a licensed clinical psychologist and Cogmed Qualified Practitioner. 

As parents and students anticipate the end of the school year, preparation for end-of-grade testing becomes part of the daily routine.  Understandably, it creates concerns, questions, and even anxiety at times.  However, a few steps may prove helpful.

• An important part of moving forward is determining where you have been.  Set up a meeting with your child’s teacher in order to touch base.  Teachers continually assess students’ performance using both formal and informal measures.  They can provide you with detailed information about your child’s strengths and weaknesses.  Teachers can help you figure out the subject areas, and even the types of questions within those subjects, that prove most difficult for your child.
• Preparation involves advance planning.  Begin the review process now.  By the spring, many students have a hard time recalling the skills taught in the fall.  End-of-grade tests cover instructional topics presented throughout the year, and students may become stressed and anxious if they feel that they must “cram” during the last few weeks prior to the tests.  Go over little bits each night.  If you start with the material covered at the beginning of the year, students will become increasingly confident as they start to see the more recent topics that they remember best.
• Working with parents can at times create “homework battles”.  Children rely on the love, comfort, and support of their parents.  It may be helpful to enlist the help of a “coach” to assist in guiding students through difficult learning.  Assure your child that a learning coach is like a coach on a sporting field.  He/she will help them go through practice and strategize for what is ahead.
• Create an atmosphere of encouragement and relaxation at home.  Try to avoid frequent comments that can cause uncertainty or undue worry.  Encourage children and let them know that their best effort is all that matters, regardless of the outcome.  As the test draws near, plan fun family outings and time away from the books.

Martha Knight is an Educational Specialist at Child and Family Development in Charlotte, NC.

My Disclaimer...

This blog is going to be for a step by step guide to my child's developmental milestones  I have a girl, please note that girls typically develop speech milestones faster, whereas boys typically develop physical milestone faster.  It can be used as a guide for other families, but please keep in mind that all children develop at different rates and should you have any concerns about where your child should be, you should speak to your pediatrician or schedule an appointment with a therapist in our office. 

Her first month...

I want to make sure that as a first time mom I do not wear blinders and miss something in my child's development that might not be normal.  I mean I think my daughter is the cutest, most advanced child on the earth, but does that mean she really is?  Probably not...I know, but it doesn't prevent me from thinking it.

As a speech therapist in Charlotte, NC, I of course want to insure that my child is on target for meeting all of her developmental milestones, and I don't just mean her speech milestones.  Therefor, In her first month of life I brought my daughter to lunch with my friends and collegues to show her off, of course, but also to have them check her and to get confirmation of her gifted abilities.  :-)  I know I am going to be that mom, but I just can't help it.

A little of my reasoning on why I did this...My daughter was born breech and at birth the doctor recommended an ultrasound as a precaution to ensure that the ball and socket joint in her hip had grown appropriately.  Evidently it is common for the socket to not grow around the ball joint when a child is breech, don't know why, just know that is what they told me.  After finding this out, as a psychotic  parent to her her first child, I had Erin Harkins, DPT, one of our Physical Therapist at Child and Family Development, check her hips to see what she thought.  Erin very gently checked my daughter's hips and reflexes, (although she did eventually make her cry) and reassured me that she too thought everything looked great.  We had the ultrasound in December and low and behold nothing is wrong with her hips.

I had Marion Wilm, OTR/L, an occupational therpist at Child and Family Developemt check out her neck control.  I think she is crazy advanced in this department, as when I burp her she picks her head up, turns it and then burps.  It was really crazy to watch her at weeks old do this.  Marion also confirms she has great head control.

So in her first month of life she cried when she was hungry, this really was the only time she cried.  She slept in everyone's arms, which of course makes everyone love her even more.  She slept 3-4 hours a night.  She breast fed like it was her job.  She had very active bowels.  She lifted her own head to burp.  And she began to notice things and people in a room, or is she just staring off into space pretending I am not staring at her?  

It is amazing how little a baby at this age can do, but how much a new parent will stare at them and completely loose a whole day doing so.  I know I did and I was okay with doing it because everyone keeps telling me how fast she is going to grow up so I should be savoring every second, right.  At her 1 month appointment she has aready grown several inches, although some of this is due to her having been breech and she has stretched out her legs some.  She has put on over a pound, making her a little over 8 lbs.

Looking for pediatric therapy services near Weddington, North Carolina?

Child and Family Development has an office in South Charlotte that is just about 10 miles from there and easily accessible from the 485 loop.

Our multi-disciplinary clinic has been helping children and families since 1980. The team of experienced therapists can assess and treat a wide range of childhood concerns, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities or special needs. Our core services include Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Child Psychology and Education. In addition, we offer many specialty services, like aquatic therapy, feeding groups and social skills groups.

The Contact Us tab on our website will link you to our address and Mapquest.

Bounce on down the road to see us!
 

This month, 2 more Child and Family Development pediatric therapists have completed the SOS training. 

SOS stands for Sequential Oral Sensory and is a transdisciplinary approach for assessing and treating children with feeding and weight or growth difficulties. It was developed Dr. Kay Toomey, in conjunction with experts across many disciplines including pediatricians, occupational therapists, dietitians, and speech therapists.

• Courtney Stanley, M.S., OTR/L, Occupational Therapist
• Jayne Walton, M.A., CCC-SLP, Speech Therapist

Courtney and Jayne will collaborate with the other SOS-trained therapists at both Charlotte offices to use this knowledge in the evaluation and treatment of children with feeding difficulties. 

Recently, a handful of the Child and Family Development pediatric therapy team members attended a local education course titled Mealtime Success for Kids on the autism spectrum: Holistic Nutrition for Picky Eaters. 

SOUTH CHARLOTTE OFFICE
Kati Berlin, Occupational Therapist               
Hollie Bowling, Speech Therapist
Beth White, Occupational Therapist 

MIDTOWN OFFICE
Melissa Bradley, Occupational Therapist
Abbey Sipp, Occupational Therapist

This training is useful for both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy services since we regularly evaluate and treat children with feeding difficulties.

 

Looking for pediatric therapy services near Waxhaw, North Carolina?

Child and Family Development has an office in South Charlotte that is under 20 miles from there and easily accessible from the 485 loop.

Our multi-disciplinary practice has been helping children and families since 1980. The team of experienced therapists can assess and treat a wide range of childhood concerns, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities or special needs. Our core services include Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Child Psychology and Education. In addition, we offer specialty services, including aquatic therapy, feeding groups and social skills groups.

The Contact Us tab on our website will link you to our address and Mapquest. 

We are just a hop, skip and jump away!