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New Social Group: Courageous Kids

July 5, 2016

Courageous Kids – A social skills group for the anxious child

Courageous Kids is a group behavioral therapy program designed by Occupational Therapist, Gabrielle Perelmuter MOT OTR/L, from Little Hands OT.

The program has been designed to support preschool and elementary aged children with various anxiety based disorders such as (but not limited to):

  • selective mutism
  • sensory processing disorder
  • high functioning ASD

The goal of the program is to support children with communicating and participating more freely and comfortably in school and other social settings.  We create a classroom-like setting that offers children a safe environment to practice verbal participation, or what we call “courageous talking”, “courageous moving” and “courageous playing”. Children are positively reinforced for being brave and courageous!

The group is co-led by Occupational and Speech Therapists and its curriculum is designed through the leading research in sensory integration, social thinking and research from the child mind institute.

Please contact us if you are interested in joining our group.

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Winter Holiday Feeding Intensive

3 Weeks - Every Wednesday (Nov. 29th to December 13th)

We are pleased to offer a 3-week Winter Holiday Feeding Intensive this year!  Over the years many of our families have expressed that the holidays can bring added stress and chaos to mealtimes, as many kids are being offered foods they only see a few times per year.  Many approaches from well-intended relatives such as “try a bite,” “everyone is eating it, so you need to as well,”  “you can have dessert if you try a bite,” etc. aren’t effective and can cause meal time avoidance, meltdowns, or increase picky eating.

Our Holiday Food School will be inclusive of all winter-holidays our families at Little Hands celebrate and we will be asking families to share any traditional dishes or foods that they would like their child to explore in food school.  We are looking forward to sharing so many exciting new dishes with the kids this holiday season.

Details:  Wednesdays from 12:45pm – 1:45pm (3-5.11 years old) and 4:15pm – 5:15pm (6-10 years old)

  • First Session: Wednesday November 29, 2023
  • Last Session: Wednesday December 13, 2023

Is Feeding Therapy Right For My Kiddo?…

  • My child eats a restricted range or variety of foods (typically less than 20)
  • My child refuses entire categories of foods
  • My child cries, screams, or is easily distressed when new foods are presented
  • My child usually eats entirely different foods than the rest of the family at meal times
  • Mealtimes are an ongoing challenge
  • I would characterize my child’s feeding habits as extremely “picky”
  • My child is over-reactive to smells or tastes to the point of gagging or vomiting
  • My child has a history of sensory-processing difficulties
  • My child has motor development challenges 

How to sign up:

  • Space is limited, sign up early to reserve a spot for your child!
  • Food School sessions will be prepaid and given the nature of the feeding intervention and pacing of therapy activities in a group setting, we will not be offering make-ups for any missed food school sessions.

How Can We Join…

  • Space is limited, sign up early to reserve a spot for your child!
  • For families who are currently receiving OT feeding therapy OR have participated in a previous OT Feeding group: Please respond to this email with your interest and complete an updated food list & update any food allergies or dietary restrictions.
  • For new families who have not received OT feeding services: To ensure appropriate peer pairings and group treatment goals, we require an initial evaluation to assess group readiness and appropriate fit for our sensory-based intervention approach to feeding. Please email our clinic coordinator, Emily at eo@littlehandsot.com to schedule an initial screening and submit our initial OT Intake and Feeding History Questionnaire forms that can be downloaded directly from our website.

Should you have additional questions about billing, please contact Emily!

Emily O’Brien |  (415)-758-2767  | eo@littlehandsot.com