Summer camp is a wonderful experience for children that promotes independence and social skills development, as well as encourages them to try new things. At Peak Potential Therapy, we believe that every child should have the experience of summer camp, regardless of any special needs or disabilities. That’s why we coordinate special needs summer camps for children in the Greater Cleveland area through August, affording all children the opportunity to attend camp within a safe, therapeutic, and supportive environment.

These are just 3 of the many amazing benefits of summer camp for special needs children:

1. The opportunity to practice social skills. It is so important for children with special needs to have opportunities to practice communication and interaction with peers. Rather than lapse in this area of development during the summer, camp ensures that critical social skills development and growth continues throughout the summer. While children engage in typical summer camp activities, they are practicing these essential skills. They can progress and have success through the summer with the support of a speech therapist or behavior consultant.
2. The chance to experience a sense of pride and independence. During Peak Potential Therapy’s summer camps, children in S.M.I.L.E. Summer Camp™,Camp Suntastic™, and Preschool Camp A.B.C™ are presented with many new activities. Within a safe, caring environment with therapists and their peers, they can experience the pride that comes with trying a new activity. Whether it is going down a big slide at Twinsburg Waterpark or feeding long horn steer at Wagon Trails animal park, our older children experience the sense of self-pride and independence that comes when you step outside of your comfort zone and attempt something new and unfamiliar. The preschoolers in Camp A.B.C. also have opportunities to try new play-based activities with their peers.
3. The joy of having fun with peers. Above all, the most important benefit of summer camp is having a fun summer! Peak Potential Therapy’s summer camps designed for special needs children ensure that no matter their unique challenges, all children will experience that joy that comes from having fun with your peers.

Are you looking for a summer camp that is right for your child? Peak Potential Therapy offers S.M.I.L.E. Summer Camp™, Preschool Camp A.B.C™. and Camp Suntastic™. Find the summer camp that is the best fit for your child and schedule and register soon. Spaces remain for sessions this summer but will fill fast!

“Is my child autistic?”

If you are asking this question, you are likely experiencing a mix of emotions: anxiety, fear, curiosity, frustration. You are longing for an answer to your child’s struggles or behaviors. One place to start is with a self-evaluation of your child and his or her unique behaviors or potential symptoms. We do offer an Autism Screening Quiz that can help you take this first step in identifying behaviors in your child that are indicative of Autism.

The most common signs of Autism relate to the following:

• Communication: Your child may have difficulty communicating with you and your family, or his or her peers, or may be entirely nonverbal.
• Repetitive Behaviors: Your child may have obsessive tendencies when it comes to routines or keeping to a set schedule for his or her actions. Or perhaps your child will repeat saying the same word, or performing the same action, over and over.
• Social Behaviors: Your child may struggle with touch, such as holding someone’s hand or being hugged, as well as struggle to engage in conversation. He or she may disengage from peers in a social setting.

Observing these behaviors does not immediately equate a diagnosis, rather it suggests that your child should have an evaluation by a developmental pediatrician, a psychologist or a team of professionals at a specialty autism clinic such as Rainbow Babies. As you navigate a possible Autism diagnosis, remember that there are many caring, compassionate individuals, including the therapists at Peak Potential Therapy, who want the very best for your child. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact Peak Potential Therapy.

A few weeks ago, we received a note from a parent whose son was preparing to attend a horse camp at Fieldstone Farm. The parent noted how our therapists were able to help her son work through his anxiety to reach a point of being comfortable with riding and interacting with horses. She noted once her son was able to get on the horse, he loved the activity. But, it was not possible without the therapists at Peak Potential Therapy using a variety of techniques to help her son work through his anxiety.

Children with special needs often struggle with stress and anxiety. Anxiety may keep your child from joining in with other children who are playing, stop him or her from trying a new activity, or even prevent him or her from being willing to taste a new food. At times, this struggle to cope with anxiety may feel like an enormous roadblock for your child and your family. Fortunately there are ways that you can help your child deal with anxiety and stress. These are just a few of the strategies we use at Peak Potential Therapy:

• Visual Supports: Many children with special needs are very strong visual learners. Communicating a process, such as getting on and riding a horse, or caring for a horse, can be done with visual supports, such as a visual schedule or a custom My Social Stories book.
• Peer Modeling: Using this technique, a child who is struggling with anxiety and hesitating to participate in an activity can watch a peer participate and model the appropriate behaviors.
• Modeling Self Talk: The therapist working with a child can use self talk to describe each step he or she is taking. For example, if the therapist is working with a child to overcome anxiety to ride a horse, she may describe approaching the horse, feeding the horse an apple or petting the horse’s nose, and so on.
• Transitions: This is a classic area of struggle for children on the Autism spectrum. It could be as simple as changing activities, like going from reading books to playing with blocks, or a change in the child’s schedule. Or, it could be a huge ordeal to change classrooms and get a new teacher from year to year. Our therapists help children learn how to handle these types of transitions.
• Positive Verbal Support: Consistent praise can be a very powerful motivator in helping a child work through anxiety and reach a goal. Verbal praise is more effective when coming from an individual that a child has built a relationship with.
• Time: While one child may need just one visit to a horse farm to feel ready to ride a horse, another child may need a dozen visits. Every child is unique.

If your child is struggling with anxiety, contact our team today to learn more about the available therapies and services offered at Peak Potential Therapy.

Often, parents will speak to one of our speech language pathologists, asking whether their child’s struggle with language development warrants speech therapy, or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, if speech therapy will help their nonverbal child. At Peak Potential Therapy, we strongly believe in speech-language therapy as a benefit to all children, whether they are struggling with speech rhythm, such as stuttering, or have an inability to make speech sounds. These are just a few of the primary benefits for children:

• Speech therapy gives children a voice. If a child is nonverbal, and has difficulty producing any sounds at all, they lack a voice and a way to communicate. Through speech therapy and forms of aided communication, like technology communication devices, children learn a way to communicate with their parents and family members.

• Speech therapy teaches children expressive language skills. Speech therapy is not only about the physical ability to speak, but about language. When we communicate with others, we use so much more than simply words—we communicate through eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and so on. When children learn these methods of communication, they can more easily communicate with and understand those around them.

• Speech therapy promotes self-confidence. When a child struggles with a speech disorder or delay, they likely also struggle with a lack of confidence and self-esteem, especially in situations with their peers. Working with a speech language pathologist, a child will gain an ability to communicate, giving them more confidence to engage and interact with peers.

To learn more about speech language therapy services offered at Peak Potential Therapy, contact us today. You can also assess your child’s skills with this speech-language self-evaluation before calling to schedule a formal assessment.

At Peak Potential Therapy, we care deeply about our clients and their success, beyond the hours of a therapy session.

We are always looking for resources and tools that may aid families and provide helpful advice and insights. Recently, we had a parent who was struggling with her son’s sensory aversions to food, which made mealtime a stressful situation. One of our therapists found the “Ask an Autistic” YouTube channel of Amythest Shaber, a young woman who regularly responds to questions about living with autism. We shared one of Amythest’s videos, titled “Ask an Autistic – What Is Sensory Processing Disorder?” with the parent, hoping it might shed some light on her son. The parent responded that the video really helped her put her son’s approach to food in perspective.

We wanted to share this video and Amythest’s channel here as well, as it may be a useful resource and source of information for other parents and family members of a child with autism.

If you have questions or concerns regarding your child, please do not hesitate to contact our team at Peak Potential Therapy. We are here to help and offer whatever guidance and support we can.

We are very excited about our 2016 Summer Camps, which offer unique, therapeutic camp experiences for children with special needs. Our team is passionate about creating a positive summer camp experience for all children that helps them continue to develop important skills over the summer while also having a great deal of fun!

We offer three different camp options for children in various age ranges. Find the camp that best fits your child’s unique needs:

• Camp A.B.C. helps children ages 3 to 5 years old develop peer relationships, practice appropriate play, and develop social communication skills.

• Camp Suntastic is a part-time community based summer camp that provides children ages 9 to 13 years old with a fun, recreational camp experience focused on social and daily living skills.

• S. M.I.L.E. Summer Camp is a community-based full-time day camp for children ages 4 to 18 years old, directed by a speech-language therapist and designed for high functioning children with various disabilities. This camp offers daily field trips, providing opportunities for campers to engage in the community and experience new activities across Northeast Ohio!

Spaces are limited to create a low ratio of children to each of our therapists and camp assistants. Register early to ensure your child will have a spot.

Many children have a negative reaction toward going to the doctor or dentist for a routine checkup. They are anxious about a new environment and an unfamiliar person examining them in close proximity, and scared of the unknown of what will happen during the visit. For a child with special needs, these experiences can be even more stressful—for both the child and the parents. Help your child have a positive experience by following these tips:

• Inform your doctor or dentist’s office about your child’s special needs in advance. If you explain how your child is likely to react during the appointment, the staff may offer you some accommodations or modifications. For example, you might ask whether your child can visit the office once or twice before the actual appointment to practice sitting in the dental chair or seeing the examination room. You may also ask if there are comfort items, such as headphones or an electronic tablet, you could bring to the appointment to make your child more at ease.
• Talk to your child about the people they will meet during their visit. Explain to your child the people he or she will meet, from the receptionist in the waiting area, to a nurse or dental hygienist, then a doctor or dentist. You can role play some conversations, such as checking into the appointment or meeting the doctor or dentist.
• Praise your child for cooperation during the visit. Encourage and praise your child throughout the visit when he or she does things as asked, such as sitting still, following instructions such as opening his or her mouth for the dentist, and so on. Throughout the appointment, you can also continue to reassure your child and explain each portion of the appointment as it happens.

If you need guidance or advice on helping your child through doctor’s visits, contact the caring team at Peak Potential Therapy. We are here to help.

Are you worried that your child is too dependent on you, or looking for ways to help your child become more independent? The best way to help your child be more independent is to help him or her gain the skills of self-awareness and self-regulation. These two abilities are essential life skills. When we have self-awareness, we understand who we are and what we are doing, as well as what is going on around us. When we have self-regulation, we are able to manage our own behavior when we interact with various people, in different places and situations. If a child has these skills, he or she is secure in making choices with confidence, without dependence on a parent or guardian.

There are so many ways to encourage your child’s development in the areas of self-awareness and self-regulation. Consider these examples of questions and subsequent ways to encourage your child’s development.

• How much does your child pay attention to his surroundings, such as the behavior of a friend or family member or watching events occur? For example, if you are at the park, you may see a family eating a picnic lunch or playing on a playground. Help your child by asking questions to encourage him to pay attention, such as asking what is going on or what do you see the family doing.
• Does your child identify or describe the emotions, and intentions, of those around her? It is so important that your child gain an ability to react to and identify the emotional reactions of those around her, as this is a fundamental piece of being able to communicate. You can help your child be continually describing and modeling feelings and intentions of actions. For example, if your brother is crying after you took away his toy, what does that mean?

In those times where you feel like your child is struggling to become independent, keep in mind that there are circumstantial factors that could be affecting your child’s behavior. For example, your child might be feeling stressed or overwhelmed, or you may simply be introducing too many questions at once. Patience and continuing practice will be so important on your child’s journey to independence.

The caring team at Peak Potential Therapy can aid you in helping your child become more independent. We have a number of services, such as our social skills groups and interactive camp experiences, that will help your child develop essential skills that contribute to self-awareness and self-regulation. Give us a call today to schedule an initial consultation.

This is a question the Peak Potential Therapy team often discusses with parents. Many parents aren’t sure if their child speaks at an appropriate ability level, or if their child is too young to begin speech therapy.

One place to begin is by completing an age-specific self-evaluation of your child to determine whether you should meet with a speech therapist for a standardized formal evaluation.

A self-evaluation will help you assess your child’s speech and language. Some questions on the evaluation relate directly to speech language skills, such as whether your child can follow simple directions, can show you an object upon request, enjoys listening to stories, or asks questions. Other questions relate specifically to your child’s ability to articulate sounds, like “b as in ‘baby’” or “w as in ‘we’”. Finally, a speech therapy self-evaluation should also include questions regarding your child’s eating, as this can help diagnose dysphagia, a difficulty in swallowing which also affects speech and language. (Peak Potential Therapy offers self-evaluations for children at ages one, two, three, four, and five years.)

You may be surprised at the comprehensive benefits of speech therapy for your child, whether he or she has delayed speech or another special need. We believe that this therapy is so critical for a child both at school and at home, and is particularly important for building confidence that promotes lifelong success. For example, the speech therapists at Peak Potential Therapy work with children who have a range of needs, including:

• Inability to make speech sounds, or to make them clearly.
• Problems understanding and producing language.
• Issues with speech rhythm and fluency, such as stuttering.
• Oral motor problems causing eating and swallowing difficulties.

If you are hesitating to have your child’s speech and language evaluated, remember this: Early referrals will usually avoid problems later on. In fact, speech therapy is found to be most effective when children are younger than three years of age. Call Peak Potential Therapy today to schedule a formal evaluation of your child with one of our therapists and to discuss speech therapy services we have available for your child in the Greater Cleveland-Akron areas.

A trip to a busy shopping mall or grocery store can be grounds for sensory overload for many of us, but especially children with autism. There are many bright lights, crowds of unfamiliar people, and so much to look at and take in. Knowing the experience can be challenging, preparing your child in advance for a shopping excursion can go a long way in making the activity less overwhelming. Here are some tips to consider:

• Avoid unexpected shopping trips. Children with autism generally cope with situations better when they know what to expect. Taking your child on an unexpected or last-minute shopping trip—even if it is just to pick up one or two items—can become a very stressful experience. It is best to prepare your child in advance for any visit to a store.
• Explain the reasoning for the shopping trip. Talk to your child about where you are going and why you are going; for example, explain you go to the grocery store every week to buy the food that you keep at home and eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or, if you are going to the mall, tell your child you are going to a shoe store to pick out new tennis shoes to wear at school. Give a reason and an expectation for the trip.
• Start with short trips for practice. The first time you take your child to the store, aim for a short trip—a time when you have only a few items on your list. As the store and the activity becomes more familiar, over time, you can gradually increase the length of your trip.
• Include the activity of shopping in your child’s daily schedule. Many children with autism benefit from visual aids, helping them visualize every part of their daily routine. Create a visual aid for the activity of going to the mall or going grocery shopping. When the activity is an expected part of your child’s normal routine, it becomes less unfamiliar.
• Consider your child’s mood before the trip. Is your child not feeling well or particularly tired? Then it might not be a good time to plan a shopping outing.

Prepare for your child’s personal preferences. Some children with autism are particularly bothered by the overhead fluorescent lighting in grocery stores. In this case, as an example, your child might feel better if he wears a cap or sunglasses while in the store. Anticipate potential triggers for your child and do what you can to prepare for them in advance.

The team at Peak Potential Therapy is here to provide caring advice and support for you and your child with autism. Let us know if there are questions we can answer. Give us a call today!