Summer Planning Guide for Parents of Special Needs Children

We are proud to sponsor Live in the D, and excited to have joined them this month to bring Autism Awareness.

Tati Amare:
As we watch children grow, we see them develop in many different ways, from infant to toddler to child. As they grow, we celebrate milestones like first steps or first words, but what if the child in your life hasn’t reached a milestone by a certain age or at all? That’s where our sponsor, MetroEHS can help families and children thrive when developmental challenges present themselves. Joining us now here from MetroEHS is our sponsor for Autism Awareness Month is Dawn Sterling, a board certified behavioral analyst with MetroEHS Pediatric Therapy. Good morning and thank you for being with us.

Dawn Sterling:
Good morning. Thank you for having me.

Tati Amare:
This is a lot to think about, but MetroEHS prides itself as a neighborhood therapy company that is accessible to everyone because you have 14 locations and 3 more on the way. Explain the work that you do with families and what makes MetroEHS unique.

Dawn Sterling:
Yes, so we are a pediatric therapy service provider and what really makes us unique is the different variety of services that we offer all in one location. So each neighborhood therapy center has a speech and language pathologist, occupational therapy, physical therapy, applied behavior analysis. We also have dieticians and mental health professionals working with us, and what really sets us apart is our feeding therapy program. So what we do, and its uniqueness, is this wrap around the whole child. So we focus on the whole child developmentally. So whatever a family may be concerned with or struggling with, we’ve got services and support for those families.

Tati Amare:
For every need. I like that. Now if I’m a parent at home and for family members of children, what are some signs that we should look for that may indicate that there may be developmental concerns with our children?

Dawn Sterling:
That’s a great question. So we look for what is called developmental milestones. So your pediatrician is a great person to get that resource from. So if you are at all concerned about your child meeting milestones, maybe they’re not meeting them in the timeframe that you expected, or maybe they had some of these milestones and they’re dropping off, you’re going to start with your pediatrician. They may recommend evaluations. Always pursue those. It’s better to rule out any concerns than to perhaps miss it.
Sometimes what’s recommended is behavior therapy. Applied behavior analysis is one type of therapy that can really help with children with developmental disabilities, and not just autism. These therapies, speech therapy, feeding therapy, occupational therapy, they are for a variety of diagnoses, global childhood developmental delay, any sort of developmental delay that your evaluators may see, there is a related service that can support these families.

Tati Amare:
All right. Now you’ve brought in some example of the items that you use to work with children. So walk us through these tools. I’m going to hold these up.

Dawn Sterling:
Thank you, Tati.

Tati Amare:
Of course.

Dawn Sterling:
MetroEHS is a collaborative pediatric center, so we collaborate with all of our service providers such as SLPs, or Speech Language Pathologists, that may help us design core boards for learners that are not communicating fully with their words yet. We also will collaborate with our occupational therapists on staff for things that may meet a young child’s sensory needs. We are movers and shakers, so sometimes we need to have things that we can play with in our hands, it might be scented to wake up some of those senses. We also have sensory oral chews. We work with a lot of very young kids and we know developmentally young children like to mouth on things.

Tati Amare:
Yeah, this is perfect.

Dawn Sterling:
So this is food grade silicone, it’s safe, it’s safer than the wooden puzzle piece that your toddler might be putting in their mouth. And then we do work on daily living skills, and this is from our OT department, as well. When children are learning to utilize a straw, this cup can be very helpful because we can squeeze it to give them a little bit of that liquid and really show them this is something you might want as we build up their ability to have independence with eating, drinking.

Tati Amare:
And all of that stuff.

Dawn Sterling:
Again, the whole child.

Tati Amare:
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Okay, so I have to ask you before, because we’re just about running out of time, how rewarding is it for you to be in this position and have the impact with these kids?

Dawn Sterling:
It is the most incredible experience. We get to partner with families. The parents are a viable and valuable member of our treatment team, so we get to work with them and really see what their children and their families are achieving as a result of our therapies. So that is the biggest impact, is seeing progress with our kids.

Tati Amare:
That’s awesome. Dawn, thank you so much for being with us.

Dawn Sterling:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Tati Amare:
This is going to be helpful for a lot of families out there. Remember, MetroEHS has 14 locations and 3 more on the way across Metro Detroit. To find a location near you and to see how they can help your family, go to metroehs.com.

Let us reinvent your workforce for the better. Expect to receive effective and reliable staffing solutions from us.

Positive Relationships

Because METROstaffing is therapist-owned and operated, we know how important your needs are. We will handle finding and retaining your therapist and supporting them clinically so you are free to focus on running your facility!

By working with METROstaffing, we take care of everything and immediately begin to reduce your costs at the outset of our relationship.

Your facility will no longer bear the concerns and overhead for items such as pensions, disability insurance, healthcare, and administrative costs. Our experience shows an average savings of 8–10%, in payroll alone for each full-time employee.

We provide maternity, medical leave, and FMLA coverage for all of your related service needs: Speech, OT, PT, Psych & Special Ed Teachers.

We provide therapists for part and full time and can also cover both short and long term placements. We also offer Tele-Therapy services that can be used as a bridge until a ‘live’ therapist is procured; to keep students in IEP compliance and prohibit litigation possibilities.

Building A Better Business

We have developed a highly successful model that enables facilities and therapists to work together in ways that benefit both parties. Granting job satisfaction for the therapist translates into the longevity of your facility.

We provide therapists for part and full time and can also cover both short and long term placements.

From our web-based billing and payroll system to our clinical support team, we support our therapists completely so your time and effort can be directed to other areas of your business.

Innovative Remote Services

METROstaffing offers unique Tele-Practice Therapy services for rural, remote, and underserved communities, as well as to culturally and linguistically diverse populations. Through the application of telecommunication technologies, we can provide therapy services at a distance.

If your facility falls into one of these categories or if you would like more information on this great service, call us today! We would love to answer your questions about our other services such as teletherapy and pediatric therapy in Metropolitan Detroit.

Play is crucial for children’s physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Through play, children learn important life skills such as problem-solving, creativity, social interaction, and self-regulation. Play allows children to explore their environment, experiment with different ideas, and express themselves in ways that are natural and meaningful to them.

Play can take many forms, including physical play, imaginative play, sensory play, and social play. Children learn best through play that is meaningful and engaging to them, so it is important for parents, caregivers, and educators to provide a variety of play opportunities that are tailored to a child’s individual needs and interests.

What is play?

Play includes fun activities enjoyed independently or with others. Play has no rules, and people make up their own games. Play can be inside or outside. It uses things around us, like balls and sticks. Playing helps us learn how to get along with others and think about new things.

Types of play:

• Social Play is when kids play together. For example, playing soccer.
• Symbolic Play is when you pretend. You can do this from 18 months to 5 years old.
• Practice Play is doing the same thing repeatedly to learn how to do it better. For example, you might practice throwing a ball.
• Sensorimotor Play is used by infants. This means that they use their senses and move around. An example of this is shaking a rattle.
• Constructive Play is when kids make something. For example, building with legos or painting with their fingers.    

Play helps a child…

• Build Imagination and Creativity
• Foster Cognitive Growth
• Improve Literacy
• Improve Emotional Well-Being
• Encourage Greater Independence

Play is not just a fun activity for children but a vital part of their development. Therefore, it is essential to support and encourage play in children and create a safe and stimulating environment for them to explore and learn.