Evaluations & Services

Click below to learn more about our Evaluations & Services: Audiological Services Psychological Services Evaluations Service Coordination Group Services Social Work Services Occupational Therapy Special Education Physical Therapy Speech and Language

Audiological Services

Audiological Services are provided to assess whether a hearing impairment may be impeding a child’s development. Assessments are conducted at our Garden City and Hauppauge locations or at a facility in close proximity to your home.

Evaluations

Birth through Three Years Old - Evaluation Process – Information for Parents
You, as the parent, are the most important person in your child's life. You know your child best. There is a wide range of normal development. If for any reason you or your doctor feel your child is not progressing at a normal pace, an evaluation would be your best course of action.

In New York State, the Department of Health is the lead agency responsible for services for children from birth through three years. Kidz Therapy Services can refer your child to the Department of Health or you can contact your local municipality's Department of Health (Nassau: 516-227-8661 Suffolk: 631-853-2318). Your case is then assigned to a service coordinator who will meet with you and explain the Early Intervention Program and your rights. If your child will be receiving an evaluation, the service coordinator will also set a date for an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) meeting to take place to discuss the results of the evaluation.

As a parent/caregiver, you will be given an opportunity to select a New York State approved evaluator to conduct the evaluation of your child. Kidz Therapy Services is an approved evaluator and provider of services. The evaluation process consists of two evaluations. One evaluation is in the specific area of concern. The other evaluation is considered a developmental evaluation which will examine the five main domains of development. The evaluator will also inquire about your child's health, birth and milestones achieved. If your child meets the criteria for services, a meeting will take place in your home. Your service coordinator and a representative from the evaluation team will discuss your goals for your child and incorporate these goals and strategies into an IFSP. Parents are advised to seek a re-evaluation at a later date, if progress is not seen or if parents still have concerns.

Committee on Preschool Special Education Evaluation Process – Information for Parents

The first step in the evaluation process begins with you, the parents. Often parents are the first to express concerns, though they may also come from family, friends, your child’s teacher or pediatrician. Parents, or legal guardians, must request an evaluation from the Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) office at their local school district. Kidz Therapy Services can assist you in contacting your local CPSE office. Your school district will provide you with additional information about your rights and the CPSE process.

If you choose Kidz Therapy Services for your child’s evaluations, your district will send a request for the evaluations to us. We will contact you to schedule the evaluations and send you a packet of forms for you to complete. Our staff is not only courteous and knowledgeable, but many of us have had personal experience with the CPSE process ourselves.

Initial referrals (the first time your child is evaluated) must include a social history and a psychological evaluation; other evaluations are conducted based on your concerns. The evaluators may also recommend additional evaluations based on their findings. These evaluations may include such areas as speech and language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, education and audiology. The results of all evaluations are discussed with you. A summary of the evaluations and all evaluation reports are sent to you and your school district’s CPSE in a timely manner.

Once the CPSE receives the evaluations, they will schedule a meeting and notify you and Kidz Therapy Services of the CPSE meeting date and time. A representative from Kidz Therapy Services attends the meeting to present the evaluations to the CPSE.

Evaluations can be conducted in numerous languages other than English. Please contact our office to see if we can conduct the evaluations in the requested language.

Group Services

Social Skills Groups can assist children with social and behavioral difficulties. At Kidz Therapy, social skills groups are designed to provide children with an opportunity to explore emotional and social problems using art materials, board games, imaginary play, and other
interesting activities.

Groups are led by a psychologist or social worker.

Group Parent Training is a service designed to enhance the natural skills of parents/caregivers. This service provides specific suggestions to improve challenging behaviors in every day or crisis situations and develop positive thoughts and attitudes necessary to carry out these effective behavior management techniques.

According to recent research, the best predictor of future problematic behavior in children ages 3 to 6 years of age is not the severity of behavior problems, rather parental pessimism. If parents feel confident, can change the way they think about a stressful situation and become more optimistic about their ability to handle it, they are more likely to follow through on behavioral intervention strategies. A licensed psychologist facilitates the parent training sessions.

Occupational Therapy

An occupational therapist addresses fine motor development, visual motor integration, visual perceptual skills and sensory integration to maximize a child’s ability to function in their everyday life.

• Fine Motor Development requires the development of strength, postural control and bilateral integration abilities. Once these skills are developed, finer movements such as grasping, manipulating objects and self-help skills can be addressed.
  
• Visual Motor/Visual Perceptual skills involve spatial awareness and coordination of eye hand movements necessary for prewriting, cutting, and constructional tasks.
  
• Sensory Integration is the ability of the child to register and integrate information from the environment via their senses. Integration of sensory information is necessary for attention, body awareness, motor planning and arousal. Treatment includes a variety of sensorimotor activities with proprioceptive, tactile and vestibular components available in our sensorimotor integration gym.

Physical Therapy

A physical therapist works to develop gross motor skills such as rolling, crawling, sitting, walking, jumping and
strengthening specific muscle groups.

Therapy may also focus on alleviating movement and postural dysfunction as well as improving balance, coordination, gait patterns, stair skills (ascending/descending), quality of movement issues, motor control skills and motor safety concerns. Our Garden City and Hauppauge facilities boast state of the art equipment including rock-climbing walls.

Psychological Services

Cognitive testing by a psychologist is a mandatory part of the assessment process for attaining services through the Committee on Preschool Special Education.

The psychologist selects the method of testing that will make the child comfortable and provide the most accurate assessment at this stage in the child's development. In addition to performing cognitive assessments, psychologists provide consultation, intervention and education for parents and their children.

Service Coordination

Through the Early Intervention Program, an ongoing service coordinator is selected to insure that the family and the child receive all services that are stated in the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and that the IFSP is reviewed on a regular basis. The ongoing service coordinator also aids the family when making changes to the IFSP and in transitioning the child to the preschool age process through the Committee on Preschool Special Education.

Social Work Services

A social worker provides the family with support services. This therapist may help the family to utilize all their resources within the community. Additionally, professionals in this area provide counseling services to the child and/or family to promote development of skills to function optimally in their environment.

Special Education

A special education teacher promotes a child's areas of strength and develops areas of weakness. This educator helps the child function to his/her potential in daily activities. Areas of focus may include developing attending skills, coping skills, turn taking skills, social skills, play skills, basic cognitive skills (matching, colors, shapes, etc...) and fine motor skills (cutting and pre-writing). Depending on the child’s age, the special educator, in conjunction with the parent and/or classroom teacher, helps a child to meet his/her potential at home, in play groups, at nursery/preschool settings or in other community based settings. The special educator is referred to as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) in the CPSE process.

Speech and Language

Speech and language therapy is individualized to the child's level of need. The speech-language therapist focuses on promoting language development and helping the child to effectively communicate his/her needs.

Therapy may address articulation, dysfluency, feeding concerns and oral motor concerns. It may also be designed to improve expressive language skills such as increasing vocabulary, combining words together to form phrases, sentences and questions and developing the social use of language.

Therapy may also focus on developing a child's understanding of language (receptive language skills), such as following various types of directions and responding appropriately to questions. Improving listening and attending skills may also be targeted.

Kidz Therapy Services offers many specialized services and programs in treating children with various concerns in their speech and/or language development.

• Pragmatic Language Groups
  
  The purpose of pragmatic language groups is to provide children with the tools necessary to communicate effectively and appropriately with adults, as well as peers. Typically, children in this group demonstrate difficulty in several of the following areas:
  
  
  • Using words to initiate or maintain conversation
  • Establishing and maintaining eye contact
  • Respecting the listener’s space (proxemics)
  • Yielding the conversational floor
  • Adhering to the rules of social language
  • Maintaining relevance
  • Using the appropriate vocal intensity
    
    
• The Lidcombe Program of Early Stuttering Intervention
  
  The Lidcombe Program is an evidence-based behavioral treatment program. The Lidcombe Program has proven to be extremely effective throughout the world. Our results have been similarly remarkable. It requires a commitment by the parents to provide a daily structured 10 – 15 minute session with their child. The parent is trained to keep data and must bring the data to all office visits. The speech language pathologist’s (SLP) role is to train the parent to administer the treatment. The program is comprised of two stages:
  
  
  • Stage One involves both child and parent coming to the office once weekly for one hour. This is when the training occurs and strategies are demonstrated and practiced. All techniques are demonstrated by the SLP and practiced by the parent while the SLP observes. The parent then provides a structured session daily for the week. Games or books are used initially. Eventually, the therapy is done during everyday activities to ensure generalization of fluent, stutter-free speech.
  • Stage Two is designed to monitor the child’s speech and avoid relapse. Therapy, if needed, is delivered during natural situations during the child’s day.
    
    
• Techniques to address articulation and phonology issues include:
  
  • Talk Tools® approach for oral-motor therapy
  • PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)
  • Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Technique
  
  

  Adoption of Provider Compliance Program
  
  Kidz Therapy Services, PLLC, has implemented written policies and procedures which follow the guidelines established by the Office of Medicaid Inspector General. In accordance with Part 521 Title 18 of the Codes, Rules and Regulation of the State of New York, these policies ensure the integrity of services we provide.