In-Clinic and TeleTherapy Options
Pediatric Physical Therapy in San Diego, CA
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San Diego's #1 Pediatric Therapy Provider
skills We address in Physical Therapy
At My Kids Place, we focus on promoting independent mobility within a variety of environments at any age. We engage your child in activities that develop important foundational gross motor, balance, and coordination skills in order to boost confidence at home, in school, and with peers.
- Gross Motor Skills
- Balance
- Overall Coordination
- Strength and Flexibility
- Ambulation
- Motor Planning
- Motor Control
- Safety Awareness
- And More!
Why Choose My Kids Place For
Pediatric Physical Therapy?
Pediatric Physical Therapy?
At My Kids Place in San Diego, we focus on your child’s current mobility skills and their potential. We create individualized treatment plans to be implemented in the clinic and at home to help children navigate their environments with maximum independence.
Gross Motor Skills Development
Children use their gross motor skills to accomplish everyday things that involve large muscles, from running to raking leaves. These skills come quickly and automatically for most people, but gross motor skills are more complicated than you may have imagined.
Gross motor skills involved a combination of muscle activation, flexibility, balance, coordination, and environmental awareness to achieve tasks like running and jumping. Gross motor skills also form the foundation for fine motor skills that help us make small movements.
- Balance
- Coordination
- Body awareness
- Physical strength
- Reaction time
These abilities help kids successfully participate in activities at school, at home, and in the community. Imagine what gym class, recess, or playdates are like for a child with weak gross motor skills. These challenges can impact a child’s self-esteem and social life.
Common Questions About Pediatric Physical Therapy
Discuss an evaluation with your physician to address your concerns. When you contact My Kids Place, one of our pediatric physical therapists will complete your child’s evaluation. They will identify area(s) of deficits or/and delays, and create individual treatment plans and goals.
At My Kids Place, we believe the family is intricately involved in your child’s therapy, and we value your input and participation. Discussions of progress, recommendations, and home programming are provided to ensure your child receives the maximum benefit from physical therapy.
Talk to your physician about a physical therapy evaluation if you have concerns about your child’s:
- Coordination
- Balance
- Strength and endurance
- Joint motion or protection
- Movement and mobility
- Posture and positioning
- Walking
- Physical participation daily activities in home/community
- Adaptive equipment
- Developmental milestones
- Infant head shape
- Dizziness
Physical skills encompass more than just strength. While strength is a fundamental component in mobility, the brain relies on information from body awareness and balance to create smooth and fluid movement. Additionally, we rely on our sense of vision and hearing to help keep us safe in the world.
At My Kids Place, we help identify barriers to independent mobility to allow children to gain independence and promote the development of the skills they need to function.
There are numerous childhood disorders and diseases that present with movement dysfunction and motor skill issues that can be treated by physical therapy. Some include:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Down Syndrome
- Autism
- Muscular Dystrophy and associated disorders
- Spina Bifida
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Cardio-Pulmonary Disorders
- Cancer
- Arthrogryposis
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- And More!
Other orthopedic conditions that can be treated with Physical Therapy include scoliosis, back pain, sports injuries , fractures, and pre/post orthopedic surgeries.
A pediatric physical therapist’s role is to evaluate and provide treatment for children with motor skill delays by developing the strength and range of motion that children need to move through their environment quickly and effectively.
In addition to assessing flexibility, strength, posture, gait, sensory processing, balance, coordination, and skill, the pediatric therapist assesses motor development using standardized testing for age equivalents.
We engage your child in play activities that develop important foundational gross motor, balance, and coordination skills that boost confidence at home, in the classroom, on the playground, and with social participation.
Generally, pediatric physical therapy sessions should look and feel like play. PTs engage kids with exciting, age-appropriate games and activities to keep them motivated and focused. (PT should be fun, but it can be hard work!)
A pediatric physical therapist helps improve gross motor skills (tasks that involve large muscle groups, like walking and throwing) by encouraging kids to do things like:
- Play on large exercise balls to build strength
- Run/hop around to improve their coordination
- Balance on a balance beam
- Stand on one foot
A PT will also suggest activities to practice with your child at home.
