A unique therapy center in town is committed to helping kids better communicate while also building their confidence. Sierra Therapy Group provides private speech-language, communication therapy and occupational therapy, which targets improving coordination, fine motor, sensory and self-help skills. In regard to speech-language therapy, speech pathologists work on common disorders such as articulation/lisp/sounds and stuttering, but the majority of the kids that visit the clinic have ongoing, high needs due to a variety of diagnoses like autism, down syndrome and cerebral palsy. The children with autism range from non-verbal to high-functioning.Â
Sierra Therapy Group opened nine years ago and offered just two summer camps. It now fills several camps every summer – from preschoolers to high school aged students. The summer camps, which are led by masters-degree level speech-pathologists in collaboration with Occupational Therapists, aim to target the kids with higher functioning skills who are verbal. Campers have also included children who have ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Anxiety, William Syndrome, and who are Gifted and Talented. Targets include initiating conversation, staying on topic, maintaining the back and forth flow of conversation, keeping their bodies in the group, eye contact, and other nonverbal communication. The camps are a chance to target the skills in an intensive way and the kids benefit from incidental learning by watching the whole group practice the skills. Sierra Therapy Group also offers smaller groups for these skills weekly - if the kids are a good fit for the group.
To learn more about Nevada Therapy Group, log onto http://sierraspeech.com/.
