Outpatient Occupational Therapy Services

We provide Occupational Therapy services to children who are not hospitalized (outpatients). Patients are treated in our state of the art outpatient site at:
 

321 Middlefield Rd., Suite 130 Menlo Park, CA 94025   Monday-Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm

Appointments: (650) 736-2000 Fax (referrals): (650) 736-3406

 
Parents participate in treatments when appropriate and are given strategies to transition newly learned skills to home.
 

New Outpatient Appointments

To schedule a new patient appointment for your child, we require a referral from your child’s health care provider. Your child’s insurance plan may require an authorization.
 
Your child’s health care provider should complete a referral form (PDF) and fax it to (650) 721-2884. After we receive the form, we will call you to schedule an appointment.
 
Once your child's appointment is scheduled, please complete a New Patient form (English / Spanish (PDF). Please bring the completed form to your child's first physical therapy appointment.

Feeding Therapy

We provide feeding therapy for children with feeding problems including:

• Food aversions
• Dysphagia
• Difficulty transitioning off a gastric feeding tube (G-tube)
• Diagnosed eating disorders

Our facility has two treatment rooms and a full feeding therapy kitchen. Infants and children are treated in a comfortable home-like kitchen setting. Patients also have access to a full range of food preparation and cooking experiences as a therapeutic option. When appropriate, children are seen in individual treatment rooms which provide a school-like setting and limits distraction.
 
We also offer a parent-to-parent support group for families whose infants and toddlers have feeding problems.
 

Sensory Integration

Sensory integration is the process of taking in sensory information through the nervous system, organizing that information so we can attach meaning to it, and acting accordingly. It is the basis for all learning, and can affect a child’s attention, alertness, self-regulation and motor skills.
 
Sensory integration deficits are often seen in children that have learning or behavior disorders, attention deficits, autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, or developmental delays. They can also be present in children who are otherwise typically developing.
 
Sensory integration therapy involves:

• Working with your child in a sensory motor gym
• Establishing a “sensory diet” for home or school

This therapy will help sensory integration become a more effective and efficient process. Building this foundation will enable your child to more easily develop motor skills, self-regulate, and gain independence.
 
Our occupational therapists that specialize in this area are Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT)-certified. This certification involves a series of courses that provide the most thorough and practical sensory integration training in the world.
 

Hand Therapy

Our Certified Pediatric Hand Therapist evaluates and treats children with a variety of problems related to the upper extremities (shoulders, arms and hands). Treatment includes postoperative wound care, rehabilitation and non-surgical injury treatment.
 
We provide therapy to improve handwriting and fine motor skills needed to be successful in school.
 
Treatment goals relate to improving upper extremity function, school success and the ability to perform daily living skills.
 

Constraint Therapy Program

Constraint treatment provides intensive therapy for children with weakness on one side of the body (hemiparesis) resulting from:

• Cerebral palsy
• Stroke
• Traumatic head injury
• Other neurological conditions

Treatment is guided by an evidence-based understanding of the brain’s ability to forge new neural connections. This increases function in children and teens with hemiparesis. Children are seen for individual treatment only at this time with the possibility of groups in the future. A molded cast, splint, glove or wrap is placed on your child’s functioning arm to enable the movement and use of the affected arm.
 

Biofeedback

Biofeedback helps children create a calmer state, increase focus, decrease pain and increase control over muscular tension and relaxation responses. It helps children with:
 

Pain management Anxiety Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Headache Abdominal pain

Muscle dyssynergy – The inability to use muscles efficiently Eating disorders Pelvic floor disorders Autonomic nervous system regulation

Biofeedback can be used on both inpatients and outpatients.
 
An external device, such as a computer program, helps children understand their internal nervous system cues. Patients then learn to control these cues.
 

Occupational Therapy in Other Packard Children’s Hospital Clinics

The Occupational Therapy team is an active participant in these Packard Children’s Hospital clinics:

• Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Unit
  • High-Risk Infant Follow-up Clinic
• Cleft and Craniofacial Center
• Epidermolysis Bullosa Clinic
• Hand & Upper Limb Clinic
• Obstetrical Brachial Plexus Palsy Clinic