Two Trees Physical Therapy in Santa Paula

We provide quality, comprehensive treatment for patients who are injured or suffering from any type of movement or function disorder.

As a key member of today's dynamic health care team, we prescribe a goal-oriented program of evaluation, treatment, and prevention for our patient's specific needs. 

Conditions we treat include but are not limited to: 

• Orthopedic and sports injuries
• Pre/post surgical rehabilitation
• Back and neck injuries/pain
• Work injuries
• Auto accident injuries

The benefits of physical therapy include: 

• Relief of pain and muscle spasms
• Improved mobility and increased range of motion
• Increased or maintained strength and endurance
• Decreased swelling and inflammation of joints
• Decreased physical stresses

Pediatric cccupational therapy is focused at facilitating a child’s development, functional ability, and independence within the family, community, and school. A common question for most parents is, “What is important about occupational therapy? My child isn’t old enough to work.”

An occupation is a basic human need that is a necessary and important determinant of health. Health can be strongly influenced by a person’s engagement in meaningful occupations. Occupations serve as a means of organizing time, space, and materials. It is through occupation that patterns, habits, and roles evolve through the organization of occupation. Occupations change over the life span, representing occupational development.

Play is the primary occupation for children that is used as a therapeutic medium and reflection of development. In each occupational therapy session, play is used for the development of motor, social, and cognitive skills. Occupational therapy treatments may utilize sensory strategies, which expose a child to various types of sensory input through play to promote an appropriate adaptation and response to their environment. Each activity provided will help the child understand cause and effect relationships, explore new environments, learn through sensor-based experiences, and recognize rules that guide social interactions.

The occupational therapist (OT) will observe, evaluate, and treat the child often in the context of play and education. The OT will determine the child’s level of development in performance areas and performance factors. The OT analyzes the daily occupations in which the child is expected to participate (e.g. school, sports), determines factors that influence performance (e.g. strength, coordination, hand dexterity), and uses some of these occupations (e.g. finishing a writing activity, throwing a ball, joining a group activity) to facilitate the child’s performance; in short, the occupation will be the intervention and the outcome.

The goals for the OT will be to facilitate development, assist in the mastery of life tasks, and promote the ability to cope with life expectations. The dynamic process by which the child will develop will be non-linear, complex, and adaptive in relation to the child’s innate characteristics, the sensory-rich environment, and the interactive learning of occupation over time. Our occupational therapist will engage the child with creative and fun goal-directed gross and fine motor activities and play to improve functional participation in daily activities.

Common diagnoses treated by the OT  include:

Delays or deviations in development that have not yet been assessed or are not fully addressed. Oral motor, feeding, or eating dysfunction. School difficulties (writing, PE, manipulating tools) Self-care difficulties/delays Sensory processing problems affecting function in the home, school, or community Assessing for motor and sensory co-morbidities commonly associated with ADHD, ADD, or speech delays Executive Skills (planning, organization, working memory…)

• Independent Living Skills in Adolescents
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Torticollis
• Handwriting/Fine Motor Difficulties

References

• Case-Smith, J., Allen, A. S., & Pratt, P. N. (2001). Occupational therapy for children. St. Louis: Mosby.
• Gray, J. M. (1998). Putting occupation into practice: Occupation as ends, occupation as means. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 52, 354-364. doi:10.5014/ajot.52.5.354.
• Kielhofner, G. (1997). Conceptual foundations of occupational therapy (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
• Wilcock, A. (1998). Reflections on doing, being, becoming. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 65, 248-256.

Pediatric physical therapy facilitates and improves motor development, strength and endurance in kids while providing learning opportunities to assist with daily caregiving. Physical therapists (PTs) at Two Trees Kids work with children, from infancy through adolescence, and families to assist each child in reaching their maximum potential in home, school, and community environments. We are experts in movement and apply clinical reasoning through the process of examination, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention. Our full-scale pediatric gym offers a setting where children can be comfortable and enjoy themselves.

Commonly treated diagnoses include developmental delay, toe walking, torticollis, scoliosis, and other orthopedic, genetic, and neuromuscular related diagnoses.

References

Practice Committee of the Section on Pediatrics, APTA. Fact Sheet: The ABC’s of Pediatric Physical Therapy. Section on Pediatrics, American Physical Therapy Association. 2009. Web. 18 May. 2016.

Speech and language are essential for communication starting at a young age. Language involves incorporating social rules to determine word meanings, how to put words together, and determining what word combinations are best in different situations. Speech includes how speech sounds are made, the use of our vocal folds and breathing to produce sound, and the rhythm of speech.

Communication disorders can involve speech and language difficulties in isolation or in conjunction with one another. Speech-Language Pathologists (informally known as Speech Therapists) assess, diagnose, treat and help prevent disorders related to speech, language, cognitive-communication, voice, fluency, and swallowing. Our Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists specialize in evaluating and treating various speech and language disorders in children including the following:

Apraxia: difficulty sequencing the sounds in syllables and words.

Stuttering: disruption in the fluency of speech

Voice: vocal production characterized by differences in pitch, quality, or loudness

Speech Sound Disorders: difficulties with articulation (making sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns).

Language Disorders/Receptive/Expressive Language Delays: difficulties understanding and expressing language.

Social Pragmatic Language Disorder: difficulties with social interaction, social cognition, and pragmatics.

Cognitive-Communication Disorders: impairment of cognitive processes including attention, memory, abstract reasoning, awareness, and executive functioning (e.g. self-monitoring, planning, and problem-solving)

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): systems and devices that assist individuals with communication disorders