Why we took this leap into our next step
We are Amanda and Jackie and we are so excited to introduce you all to Next Steps Therapies, a pediatric physical and occupational therapy private practice in Massachusetts. We were both born and raised here, and after Jackie returned after several years in Colorado a dream was formed about helping her local community and the families that live here. Her next step if you will. At the same time Amanda was beginning to wonder about what were the best ways to help families as the world began to open back up following the pandemic. Working in a school, she was seeing the difficulty parents were having carrying over what is done in the classroom or clinic to their everyday lives. She began to dream of how her next step could involve supporting caregivers in making their daily routines easier and more enjoyable. Yes, we are here to support children's literal next step and their next steps towards independence, but we are also here for our communities next step, where care and support is embedded into their everyday lives.
Next Steps is currently enrolling new clients for occupational and physical therapy, as well as planning Spring/ Summer community groups and parent workshops, providing parents with the skills to be confident, kids to be happy, and families to make big gains.
Confident Parents, Happy Kids, Big Gains
We believe that by providing services in the home and the community we can work with parents, giving them the tools to be confident in supporting their children. Instead of just working with a child and assuming they will carryover those skills and ideas after a 15 minute chat with a parent at the end of a session or a yearly IEP meeting, we want to work with caregivers to show them, in their natural environment, how to support their child and help them grow their skills and independence. When we work with parents we believe that they become more confident supporting their child within their every day lives. When parents have the confidence, they are more likely to use those strategies to support their child promoting faster growth towards their next skill and overall growth.
We believe that therapy sessions should be fun! We want children to enjoy their therapy sessions and we want to support them in being happy kids. We also believe that when we make strategies engaging, using each child's individual strengths and preferences, they are not only more likely to be happy but also make faster progress. At Next Steps we presume competence in each child and believe in their potential. When we start each session with respect and joy for what child prefers we can build trust and build skills together, all while having fun.
We believe that when you combine supporting parents and using whatever brings your child joy the result is parents who feel confident helping their child make big gains. With our in home service model, no longer do you need to wait for the carryover from a treatment space to your real lives. The gains are made in the home right away, where parents can be confident in knowing how strategies can be implemented immediately, allowing for big gains.
Looking Ahead
So what are our Next Steps? We can't wait to take our next steps together where we can support our community, bringing confidence, happiness, and big gains to your family. Besides in home therapy our next steps include upcoming groups we are hosting in our communities ( keep an eye for more info soon!) and upcoming parent modules, where you can learn on your own time while also building community and support with like minded families who may be wondering about the same things as you.
We are also excited by our next step of expanding what our parent coaching model can do for you. This is the perfect service if you feel progress is slow in translating into your everyday life or you don't know how to translate a therapy session into your life. We will coach you through exactly what to do and say in the moments of difficulty. Things we most often help with include meltdowns during transitions, mealtimes and feeding, and dressing.
We would love to hear from you! Check in to our website for updates on groups and parent modules on our Website or on Facebook. We are also on Instagram @nextstpes.therapies where we also share tips and tricks, breakdown complex ideas you may be seeing or hearing related to development or sensory regulation, and teach about overall development.
Email us at nextsteps.therapies@gmail.com or signup for our newsletter for more in-depth learning and ideas here
Comments