Struggles with food impact the entire family. Meal and snack times are stressful. Going out to dinner as a family may be limited, and social events can be a challenge.

Sometimes, picky eating leads to too few calories being consumed, poor growth, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. If left untreated, a child’s intellectual, emotional, and academic development can be impaired.

As for why your child might be a picky eater, we can break down most issues into one of four main causes. For answers to your questions about your child’s picky eating, schedule a free consultation today.

Parents should trust their gut when it comes to their child’s speech. Warning signs in young children could be: saying only a few words, speech most people can’t understand, not using sentences, and having trouble playing and talking with other children.

Speech issues are treatable, but it’s important to act early. Untreated speech and hearing issues can lead to problems with reading and writing, school, making friends, behavior, and more. If you believe your child may need some help with speech, please schedule a free consultation today.

Most people think of ADHD when they see a child who can’t sit still, but there are other possibilities. Kids who fidget or squirm a lot may have issues with sensory integration. We all take in information from our senses. Children with sensory issues may have a “traffic jam” that keeps these senses from working together. When a child constantly fidgets, appears unable to focus, or is easily distracted, they may have one of these “traffic jams” in their sensory system. If you have these or similar concerns about your child, please schedule a free consultation today.

We’ve all had an annoying scratchy tag in our shirt, but a child who hates jeans, the seams on socks, some types of fabrics, anything with tags, and certain shoes, could have sensory processing disorder (SPD). For children with SPD, information from their senses isn’t received and organized correctly, making them overly sensitive to touch, textures of clothes or foods – even hair washing!

Because the brain is more flexible and easily changed in a young child, therapy for SPD is best started as early as possible. If your child’s sensitivity to clothes or other items concerns you, please schedule a free consultation today.

Young children are often clumsy, especially when they first learn how to stand, walk, and feed themselves. Some kids seem especially accident-prone or awkward, though. They may fall a lot, struggle with utensils, or bump into furniture often. They could also have trouble tying their shoes or going up and down stairs.

Physical therapy helps improve strength, balance, coordination, endurance, and sensory issues in kids. If your child frequently falls or seems clumsy or uncoordinated, schedule a free consultation today.

Tantrums are natural for young children but while all children will have tantrums, some children have meltdowns. Meltdowns are “over the top” reactions to feeling overwhelmed, being tired, hungry, or scared, or feeling frustrated. Meltdowns are often due to a sensitive sensory system.

Noise, lights, crowds, and touch can cause children with sensory sensitivity to become confused and scared, leading to meltdowns. Frequent meltdowns can be tough not just for the child, but for the whole family, and can lead to problems later in school and with their peers. To speak with a therapist about a child with who may be sensory sensitive, schedule a free consultation today.

Learning to walk is an important development milestone for children. Some walk as early as nine to ten months, while others take their time, waiting as long as 18 months to hit their stride. Later walkers may have more laid back temperaments, or simply don’t spend as much time on the floor playing as other children.

If you’re worried about your child’s inability to walk, pay attention to his/her muscle tone, strength, and whether or not he/she uses both sides of the body equally. Any weakness should be checked out, as should children who aren’t close to walking by 20 months. Our physical therapists can identify obstacles to progress and help your child develop this and other gross motor skills. Schedule a free consultation today.