Therapist Charlotte

Looking for a social skills group for your child this summer?  Check out Social Butterflies Club at the South Charlotte office of Child and Family Development!

Social Butterflies Club™ was founded in 2004 by Rhonda Osisek M.S., CCC-SLP in Virginia.  The Club helps children learn how to interact with peers while having fun with sensory and speech activities combined.   Thus, this club is led by both an occupational therapist and speech therapist at CFD.  The children in the group may have a variety of diagnoses, such as expressive and/or receptive language problems, sensory processing difficulties, and fine motor deficits.  The goal of the Social Butterflies Club™ is to teach the kids how to communicate with peers in a positive way that allows them to thrive outside of therapy.

Each child is screened as part of placement. The Clubs are formed based on each child’s communication skills, social ability and age.   The Club meets for 1-hour sessions, twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday at 11 over 2 consecutive weeks. Several schedule options are offered this summer.   

I am co-leading the Club with a speech therapist.  Contact her to register your child:  Michelle Pentz, 704-541-9080 x214, mpentz@childandfamilydevelopment.com

Visit www.socialbutterfliesclub.com for more details about the Social Butterflies Club™.

Visit www.childandfamilydevelopment.com for more information about the C&FD Social Butterflies Club™.

The Social Butterflies Club has come to Charlotte at Child and Family Development. 

This summer, the Club will help kids gain social skills in a way that can be easily carried over into a classroom and everyday life because they are taught social skills in natural but structured scenarios.  The Club is led by Courtney Stanley, an occupational therapist, and Michelle Pentz, a speech-language pathologist.   

Both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy are involved because so many of the kids who have difficulty with social skills, also have difficulty with sensory processing, and/or fine motor skills.  All of the kids interested in the club will be screened to determine which club groups would be the most beneficial for them, based on their social abilities.  We will be alternating movement and language tasks to help elicit social interaction in a naturalistic way.  The approximate schedule is 5-10 minutes of free play, 10-20 minutes of an opening circle time, 10-20 minutes of a motor activity, 10-20 minutes of a craft/cooking activity and 5 minutes of a closing circle.  The Club meets for 1-hour sessions, twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday at 11. Several options are offered this summer.  Kids can enroll and benefit from consecutive groups.  Each group will contain between 4-8 kids.

Social Butterflies Club™ was founded in 2004 by Rhonda Osisek M.S., CCC-SLP in Virginia.  It is widely used across the country. Visit www.socialbutterfliesclub.com for more details. 

Contact Michelle Pentz, MS, CCC-SLP at 704-541-9080 ext. 214 or mpentz@childandfamilydevelopment.com

  Ann Guild is the most experienced Speech Therapist on the Child and Family Development team in Charlotte, North Carolina.

She has the unique and perfect timing of celebrating her 23-year tenure here and Better Speech and Hearing Month at the same time- May!

We're always learning from her and recently posed these questions to this admirable professional:

Team:  How have you stayed motivated to be a great SLP for so many years?

Ann: The key for me has been to be a life-long learner and to keep refining skill sets for working with the population that I have chosen.  If you keep seeking other clinicians who know more than you do or who have different skills than you do and you keep learning from them, you stay an active in the pediatric rehab community.  Teaching also provided an opportunity to learn and organize my knowledge and to share it with others. 

Team:  What keeps you going as a professional at C&FD?

Ann:  C&FD has provided the opportunity to build the caseload of kids that I want to treat.  It also provides the environment to treat with other dedicated and skilled clinicians.  When I first graduated from school, I had a job that was not particularly fun.  I left after 1 year.  Since then, I have had only 2 jobs.  In each of them, there was ample opportunity to grow, change roles, teach, watch kids grow and learn, and learn from colleagues.  Those are the things that make a job rewarding and fun.    

Ann, thank you for your most notable contribution to this practice and so many kids and families.

What is it?

The Hangin’ with Heroes group is designed for children who have difficulties interacting with others.  Role-playing, modeling and games are used to foster social and pragmatic communication skills.

The curriculum is loosely based on Superflex®, created by Stephanie Madrigal and Michelle Garcia Winner.  It teaches kids to increase social thinking and awareness, regulate social difficulties and engage in rewarding interactions with others. 

Groups are formed based on each child’s communication skills and social ability.  There is a limit of 4 participants. 

The Group is led by a speech therapist at the South Charlotte office.

When does it happen?

The Group meets for a 1-hour session on Wednesday morning over a 3-week period.  This summer, we plan to offer the Group each month as follows:

JUNE 13, 20 and 27                

JULY 11, 18 and 25

AUGUST 1, 8 and 15

What is the cost?

A family may pay privately or use Insurance.  Private pay cost is $50.00/ group session.  Regular deductibles and co-pays apply.  Authorization, medical necessity approval and evaluations or screens may be required.  All payments are due at the time of service.       

Want to learn more?

∙  Schedule the first appointment by calling our front office at 704-541-9080

∙  Contact the therapist:

Jayne Walton, M.A., CCC-SLP

704-541-9080 ext. 213

jwalton@childandfamilydevelopment.com

∙  Read more online:

www.childandfamilydevelopment.com

blog.childandfamilydevelopment.com

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Child and Family Development is pleased to announce a new offering at our South Charlotte office:  Social Butterflies Club™

Social Butterflies Club™ was founded in 2004 by a speech therapist in Virginia.  It is widely used across the country. Visit www.socialbutterfliesclub.com for more details.  

The Club helps kids learn how to interact with peers while having fun with sensory and speech activities combined.  It may be beneficial to children with expressive and/or receptive language difficulties, sensory processing disorder, social stressors and fine motor deficits.

Here, groups are co-led by an occupational therapist and a speech therapist. 

Contact Michelle Pentz, M.S., CCC-SLP to learn more about it. 

• 704-541-9080 ext.  214
• mpentz@childandfamilydevelopment.com

There's more room in the ball pit!

Child and Family Development is growing the Occupational Therapy team at our Midtown office in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We are seeking a NC-licensed Occupational Therapist or a NC-Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant with pediatric therapy experience. 

Take a look at the Careers tab on our website to learn more about this practice and how to apply.

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,not to mention she should since I am a pediatric speech therapist,  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 speech, pysical, or occupational therapist in our office.

Her 4th month....

She continues to drool.  No swollen gums, no redness, just chews her hands, chews her dresses, chews my hands, my arm, shoulder, basically anything and everything that she can get in her mouth.  No one really tells you how gross it is to always be slimed by your sweet adorable cute baby.  I really don't want a finger sucker, I am a believer in it is much easier to get rid of a pacifier than it is to get a kid to stop sucking fingers.  She sucks her thumbs all the time.  Does anyone think it would be bad to paint her nails with that bitter stuff they use on older kids?...Just Kidding.

She sits in her Bumbo seat now for short amounts of time, while playing with toys, or waiting on mom and dad to finish eating dinner.  That is some hard work for her.  She sits in her exersaucer...shhhhh don't tell Erin Harkins or Jessica Sapel, Physical Therapists in our south charlotte office.  I only do it for short amounts of time and I have put a book under her feet so her feet fully touch the bottom, I know they have told me it is not good for a baby's hips to be in that position for a long amount of time.

Tummy time is still not her favorite, but she is tolerating it for longer amounts of time, and she does it without a pillow under her.  She is soooo close to rolling over.  I keep swearing that she is going to do it, but then she doesn't.

When on her back, she kicks so much that she can move herself around on a mat, or turn herself completely around in her crib, while swaddled (I believe I have a Houdini, b/c she can certainly get out of a swaddle if she wants to bad enough, especially if her daddy put her in it ;) ).  She can lift her hips up off the floor.

When lying down on the floor or in your arms on her back, she does what I refer to as baby crunches.  She tries to lift herself into a sitting position.  Again, I think this stims from being nosey...kind of hard to be nosey lying down on your back.

Her cooing has changed.  She changes the pitches of her voice now...the cat does NOT like this, the cat's tail is huge when she comes to see what is going on!!  She is beginning to have more sounds...daddy is mad, still no dada.  She talks more when her hand is in her mouth.

Check out what a parent had to say about Leslie Holmes, Pediatric Physical Therapist in Charlotte, NC.

"Leslie is wonderful and I can see the results of her wonderful work with my son."

Child and Family Development is accepting new referrals for speech therapy services.  Typically, the first appointment occurs within 1 week of the initial call to our office. 

With diverse expertise, interests and experiences, we are ready to provide a wide range of evaluation and treatment services. Our SLP 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. 

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

Greetings!

I am so excited to be a part of the Child and Family Development pediatric therapy team!  I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself. 

I moved to Charlotte from Ohio in 2006, after completing my undergraduate and graduate work at Ohio University in Athens, OH.  Since moving here, I have worked with children ages birth to 15 years in a variety of settings including public schools, private schools, home, daycare, and preschool settings.  I have experience working with children with hearing loss, language disorders/delays, learning disabilitites, Autism, developmental delays, articulation/phonological disorders, apraxia, augmentative communication, and other difficulties. 

Since starting at C&FD, I have been extremely impressed with the quality of services and level of knowledge the therapists display, as well as the love, support and motivation of the families and children that come here.  I am so glad to be a part of this TEAM.

To learn more about me, read my biography on the C&FD website.

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! 

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!"

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!

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!