Services

Play is a child’s work! Our therapists help your child build upon their skills to participate in the world around them. Play-based sessions are catered to individual needs and celebrate each child’s unique development and learning style.

Individual therapy sessions combine aspects of child-directed and adult-directed therapy models. Our therapists work closely with caregivers to develop the most effective therapeutic plan to support your child’s goals. Sessions may be conducted at our clinic, at your child’s school, or in the home setting.

Developmental Therapy

Our developmental therapists support building your child’s foundational skills for learning and providing family education on child development. Developmental therapy focuses cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and addressing behavioral concerns. With the family's priorities in mind, our developmental therapists will work collaboratively with you and your child to help you achieve your goals.

Our therapists have experience and knowledge working with children with a variety of concerns including:

  • Global developmental delays
  • Play skill deficits
  • Preschool readiness challenges
  • Cognitive delays
  • Learning differences
  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Down syndrome
  • Genetic or neurological disorders
  • Seizure disorders
  • Sensory processing challenges
  • Delays of prematurity
  • Social skill deficits
  • Behavioral challenges

How do I know if my child needs a developmental therapy evaluation?

Your child may need a developmental therapy evaluation if:

  • They have a decreased attention to tasks, books, puzzles, and/or other age-appropriate play materials
  • They have a decreased attention or decreased interest in adults and peers in their environment
  • They are not yet imitating gestures or play ideas
  • They have difficulty following directions or tolerating adult-direction
  • They have difficulty accepting another’s play idea
  • They have difficulty transitioning between activities throughout the day
  • They have difficulty following along with group routines
  • They have a decreased frustration tolerance, give up on activities easily, and/or are not yet attempting to problem solve independently or using an adult as a resource
  • They have several tantrums per day and/or the tantrums last for several minutes

If you are interested in learning more about our developmental therapy services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our contact us form.

Speech Therapy

Our speech-language pathologists support your child’s speech and language skills so that they can be effective communicators. With the family's priorities in mind, our speech-language pathologists will work collaboratively with you and your child to help you achieve your goals.

Our therapists have experience and knowledge working with children with a variety of diagnoses, including:

  • Expressive, receptive, and/or mixed language delay or disorder
  • Articulation/phonological disorder
  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Social language deficits
  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
  • Motor planning difficulties
  • Auditory processing disorder (APD)
  • Fluency/stuttering
  • Down syndrome
  • Voice disorder
  • Tethered oral tissues (TOTs)
  • Cleft palate or other craniofacial anomalies

How do I know if my child needs a speech and language evaluation?

Your child may need a speech and language evaluation if:

  • They are difficult to understand
  • They are not yet imitating sounds or words
  • They are not yet saying enough words or combining words independently
  • They are not yet using appropriate sentence structure
  • They have difficulty following directions and/or answering simple questions
  • They have difficulty communicating in social settings
  • They “get stuck” on sounds, words, or phrases
  • They have a limited repertoire of food types and food groups

If you are interested in learning more about our speech therapy services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our intake form.

Social Work, Counseling, & Behavioral Therapy

PlayWorks Therapy, Inc. offers assessment and ongoing social work, counseling, and behavioral therapy services for children from birth to twelve years of age. Each child and family are effectively and sensitively supported through individually tailored services to serve their developmental goals.

Our therapists work together with a child and their family to address the following areas of concern:

  • Challenging behaviors
  • Coping skills
  • Difficult diagnoses
  • Feeding difficulties
  • Parent-child relationships
  • Preschool readiness
  • Regulation difficulties/sensory processing
  • Sibling interactions
  • Social skill-building
  • School challenges
  • Sleep disturbances

Interventions occur at home and/or in the daycare, preschool classroom, or at our clinic and may include:

  • Behavior therapy/behavior support strategies
  • Education on child development
  • Family advocacy and coordination of resources/services
  • Parenting Support/family training (e.g. developmentally appropriate daily activities, sleep patterns, feeding, play education)
  • Play therapy
  • Social skill-building

If you are interested in learning more about our social work/counseling services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our contact us form.

Occupational Therapy

Our occupational therapists ​​support sensory and regulatory needs, motor coordination delays, fine motor skills, visual motor integration, activities of daily living, and executive functioning. With the family's priorities in mind, our occupational therapists will work collaboratively with you and your child to help you achieve your goals.

Our therapists have experience and knowledge working with children with a variety of concerns including:

  • Sensory processing and regulation
  • Fine motor (including handwriting, grasping, visual motor, and visual perceptual skills)
  • Executive functioning (including problem solving, impulse control, sequencing, planning, organizing, working
    memory, and emotional control)
  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Social-emotional challenges
  • Activities of daily living/Self-help skills
  • Motor planning (Apraxia)
  • Behavioral challenges
  • Prematurity (e.g. low tone, positioning, motor delays)
  • Down syndrome
  • Genetic or neurological disorders

How do I know if my child needs an occupational therapy evaluation?

An occupational therapy may be beneficial if your child:

  • Seeks sensory input (e.g. increased need for physical play, toe-walking, difficulty understanding physical boundaries with peers or adults)
  • Avoids sensory input (e.g. covers ears, avoids clothing textures, distressed when hands or body gets messy)
  • Demonstrates difficulty completing two-handed tasks or difficulty manipulating small toys
  • Has messy handwriting or demonstrates difficulty holding a crayon or pencil
  • Demonstrates a decreased attention span, increased impulsivity, or difficulty sitting still
  • Falls down often or frequently bumps into objects
  • Requires increased time to complete simple tasks
  • Demonstrates difficulty transitioning, inflexible thinking, or decreased frustration tolerance

If you are interested in learning more about our social work/counseling services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our contact us form.

Physical Therapy

Our physical therapists support your child’s gross motor skills (e.g. crawling, walking, stairs, jumping), improve their mobility, strength, balance, and coordination. With the family's priorities in mind, our physical therapists will work collaboratively with you and your child to help you achieve your goals.

Our therapists have experience and knowledge working with children with a variety of diagnoses and conditions including:

  • Delayed milestones (late walking, crawling, rolling, etc.)
  • Torticollis
  • Toe walking
  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Muscle weakness
  • Hypotonia/Hypertonia
  • Balance concerns
  • Motor planning (Apraxia)
  • Prematurity
  • Seizure disorders
  • Orthopedic injuries
  • Club foot
  • Scoliosis
  • Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
  • Genetic syndromes including: Down syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Angelman syndrome, Sotos syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, and others
  • Neurological disorders including: Cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, traumatic brain injuries, hemiplegia and quadriplegia, spinal cord injuries, and others
  • Post tone management procedures including: post selective dorsal rhizotomy, tendon lengthening or transferring, Botox, serial casting

A physical therapy evaluation may be warranted if your child:

  • Is behind in their gross motor milestones (rolling, sitting, crawling, walking)
  • Prefers to turn their head only to one side
  • Demonstrates muscle weakness or imbalances
  • Frequently walks on tiptoes
  • Decreased overall coordination and/or balance
  • Has difficulty keeping up with their same age peers (running, jumping, stairs, ball skills)
  • Is recovering from an injury or surgical procedure of the lower body
  • Has been given a neurological or genetic diagnosis
  • Has pain in their joints or muscles with regular activity

If you are interested in learning more about our physical therapy services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our contact us form.

Feeding Therapy

Our feeding therapists support your child’s interaction with foods to foster a positive mealtime experience for the whole family and expand food repertoire. Our therapists use a variety of feeding therapy approaches to create mealtime goals, including aspects of the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding, the Get Permission Approach, and the Beckman Oral Motor Protocol. With your family's priorities in mind, our feeding therapists will work collaboratively with you and your child to help you achieve your goals.

Our therapists have experience and knowledge working with children with a variety of feeding challenges, including:

  • Reduced and/or restricted diet
  • Delayed oral motor skills, including difficulty chewing, drinking, and/or swallowing
  • Difficulty transitioning between milestones (e.g. breast/bottle to purees, purees to solids, etc.)
  • Picky eaters

How do I know if my child needs a feeding therapy evaluation?

A feeding therapy evaluation may be beneficial if your child:

  • Demonstrates aversions to specific food groups, textures, or temperatures
  • Tolerates less than 15 foods
  • Gags, chokes, or vomits during mealtimes
  • Demonstrates ongoing poor weight gain or weight loss
  • Has a history of nasal or gastric reflux
  • Has a history of a traumatic choking incident
  • Has difficulty transitioning to age-appropriate foods (bottle to purees, purees to solids)
  • Is an infant who cries and/or arches at most meals

If you are interested in learning more about our feeding therapy services or to set up your first appointment, please contact us at (773) 332-9439 or fill out our contact us form.