Having Fun With A Purpose
Pediatric Therapy Brings Rewards for Kids & Adults

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BY ANNA WILSON
BLUE RIDGE HEALTHCARE

MORGANTON - Five-year-old Jeremiah has difficulty in forming certain letters and understanding the concept of “over” and “under.” He’s had a few developmental delays due to being born two months prematurely.

For a little more than six months, he’s been coming to Blue Ridge HealthCare’s pediatric rehabilitation center, called Grace House, on the sixth floor of Grace Hospital. Last week during his session at Grace House, Jeremiah was finger-painting letters using shaving cream and a mirror. He had to form the letters either above or below a line drawn in the cream depending on what his therapists told him.

With his hands covered by the white cream, Jeremiah concentrated on making a line with a hook to form the first letter in his name - J. “A line with a hook,” he dutifully repeated, making a hook with a flourish. “Like this?” he asked.

“That’s wonderful,” said Sheri Toner, MS, OTR/L, an occupational therapist working with Jeremiah on his fine motor skills. Helping Jeremiah with his language skills is Kari Jarvis, MA, CCC-SLP, a speech and language pathologist. She’s the one teaching the “over” and “under.”

“Now, draw it under the line,” Jarvis said.

Jeremiah studied the mirror a bit before pointing under the line and saying, “Umm…right here?”

“Yes! That’s right,” Jarvis said and the two share a sticky high five.

“I love coming here,” Jeremiah said, before going back to work drawing a W.

Toner, Jarvis and physical therapist Sarah Thoreson, MS, PT, are part of a unique team at Grace House. The three work with patients ranging in age from birth to 18 to provide occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. They have access to a pediatric gym, two smaller treatment rooms, aquatic therapy at Phifer Wellness Center, and a parent resource library.

“I love working with kids,” Toner said. “It’s all about making rehab fun.”

Thoreson and Jarvis agreed, and all three said that’s why they went into therapy - to help children.

“They can be persuaded to do something a lot easier than adults can,” Jarvis said. “And I can play Hi Ho! Cherry-O to target articulation sounds when the kids think we’re just playing.”

Each therapist has her own specialty.

Jarvis works with children who have speech problems - speech that is difficult to understand, developmental delays, disorders that affect the lips and tongue, difficulty in swallowing, stuttering, etc.

“I work with a lot of younger children who don’t have language skills yet,” she said. “They need language stimulation so they can communicate better. I also work with children who can’t say certain sounds so when they talk it sounds garbled. I teach them to say cat instead of tat.”

Teaching the lips, mouth and tongue to move correctly is not always easy, she says, because most children do not like to have their tongues held or mouth manipulated. “They can be kind of combative,” she said. “But I try to make it fun by using lollipops, flavored tongue depressors and Fruit Loops.”

Thoreson works with children on their gross motor skills - rolling, sitting, crawling and walking or as they get older, skipping, hopping and jumping. She also deals with any decreased movement in arms or legs, decreased balance or coordination, muscle tone, fractures or other types of injures caused from sports.

As Jarvis and Toner work with Jeremiah, she’s in a small treatment room working with 21-month-old Mallory, who suffered a shoulder injury (called a brachial plexus injury) during the birth process. For four months, her right arm was totally limp and she only used her hand to grasp.

Although her movements have improved with age, she still favors her left hand and arm and has problems turning over her right hand.

“I’m working on strengthen her right arm so she’ll use it more,” Thoreson said, gently holding Mallory’s left hand so she’d have to use her right hand to work the puzzle. She also had Mallory crawling through a colorful plastic tunnel, which forces her to use her right hand and put weight through it for increased strengthening.

Toner helps children who have fine motor skill delays or difficulty completing self-care activities that are appropriate for their age. They may have difficulty coloring, writing, cutting, putting on their clothes, fastening their clothes, tying their shoes, etc.

“Sometimes I’m not sure what they need until I start working with them,” she said. “Kids should be able to do certain things by a certain age. If they can’t do some of these things or have trouble, I try to help them overcome those problems or adapt the task so it’s easier for them.”

If a child is in school, the Grace House therapists can work with the school therapist to coordinate treatment if the parent provides permission. “Sometimes the kids need to get school therapy and outpatient therapy,” Toner said.

The three generally can work with a child for a longer period of time as well whereas a school therapist’s time may be limited.

At Grace House, parents are more than welcome to participate or observe their child’s therapy or they can wait in the waiting room. “Sometimes they can motivate the child,” Thoreson said. “Or they can see what we’re doing so they can follow up at home.”

In the future, Grace House may offer home therapy visits for children birth to 3 years of age so they can be treated in their natural environment.

“When dealing with children birth to 3, studies have shown it’s better to work with them in their home or preschool instead of taking the child to a foreign setting,” Jarvis said. “We’re looking forward to getting this program started.”

Currently, Grace House is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. However, the therapists offer flexible hours when it comes to working with their young clients.

“We try to accommodate them the best we can,” Toner said.

For more information about Grace House, please call 580-6820 to speak with one of the therapists.

Anna Wilson is a writer and graphic artist in Blue Ridge HealthCare’s Marketing and Public Relations Department.

The second largest employer in Burke County, Blue Ridge HealthCare serves a four-county area and includes Grace and Valdese hospitals, Blue Ridge Home HealthCare, Grace Heights and College Pines Health & Rehabilitation Centers, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and a number of physician practices.