Our
Mission: To guarantee the person dignity of people with developmental
disabilities and to promote their personal achievements based on their dreams,
desires, and abilities.
SPICE provides pediatric
therapy services for families with children from birth through age twelve, who
have developmental disabilities or delays or who are at risk for delay due to
environmental or medical concerns.
SPICE provides wide variety of Therapy Services to meet
the needs of you and your child. Services are based on your child's individual
needs and are provided in a fun learning rich environment that enables your child
to reach their full potential. Services are provided in individual and group sessions
based on your child's needs. SPICE therapists receive extensive training
in pediatrics and specialize in working with children birth to age twelve.
All SPICE therapists maintain State of Illinois
Licensing and credentialing to enable them to provide the high quality of therapeutic
care that Central Illinois has come to expect from the SPICE program.
Pediatric
Therapy Services include:
(click on bullet points to learn
more)
Aquatics Therapy
Water Based Therapy provided
in a warm water pool experience. This enables children with developmental disabilities
or acute injuries to benefit from the buoyancy, hydrostatic pressure, and warm
temperature of the water to meet developmental goals.
Counseling Services
Services for families and
children with developmental disabilities. Counseling services can address a wide
variety of concerns related to a child with special needs being a part of your
family.
Developmental Therapy
Provide global/over all
developmental evaluations and on-going treatment focusing on play skills and developing
learning rich environments.
Feeding Therapy
Provide examination, evaluation,
and on-going treatment of children experiencing difficulty with feeding.
Hippo Therapy
Horse based therapy with NARRA
certified therapist trained to use the horse to meet the child's goals related
to mobility, strength and life skills.
Occupational Therapy
Provide examination, evaluation,
and on-going treatment of children experiencing limited function related to fine
motor skills, sensory processing, and self care skills.
Orthotic Support
Therapists work closely with the family and
the orthopedist of their choosing (therefore respecting family choice) for orthotics
and braces.
Physical Therapy
Provide examination, evaluation,
and on-going treatment of children experiencing limited function or mobility due
to neurological, orthopedic, or developmental disabilities.
Sensory Integration Therapy
Provide examination,
evaluation, and on-going treatment of children experiencing difficulty with sensory
processing.
Speech Therapy
Provide examination, evaluation,
and on-going treatment of children related to expressive communication, receptive
communication, and oral/motor development.
Family Support services provided through
the SPICE program:
(click on bullet points to learn
more)
Case Management
Support through the process
of developing a plan individualized for your child and your families needs. Assist
in coordination with medical professionals, school personnel, or childcare centers
to ensure a team approach as everyone works with your child.
Resource Library
Loaning of educational materials
including books and DVDs to be of assistance to families.
Equipment Lending Library
Loaning of equipment
to help families determine what equipment works best for your child's needs and
then assistance in ordering adaptive equipment that is successful for your child
that you need in your home on a permanent basis.
Family Outings
This is a social opportunity
for parents and families to get together held in the local community at child
friendly locations. This is a chance for family fun and to meet other families
that have children with special needs.
SPICE begins a new program - Creating Connections!
Our
therapists are excited about working with you and your child. This program requires
a time commitment and active engagement during the therapy sessions with the therapist
and your child. A description of the program and how it is implemented with your
family follows.
Your first visit with the therapist will
involve an assessment. This assessment will look at your child’s current
ways of communicating and what your child is communicating. The therapist will
also complete a Social-Emotional Assessment. Within 2 weeks of your first appointment
you will receive an overview of these assessments. These assessments will be repeated
every 6 months (during your scheduled therapy sessions) so we can track progress
in your child’s development.
Therapy sessions will
occur weekly. Once per month you will complete a video session with your therapist.
These video sessions will last about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Other non-video sessions
will be 1 hour in length.
If you have any questions
regarding Creating Connections please contact Christy Kosharek, Associate Director,
SPICE of marcfirst, at 309-452-0069 EXT 203 or at christykosharek@marcfirst.org
What is it like to parent a child with special needs?
Parent support groups are a terrific way for parents facing similar, challenging
situations in life to offer each other encouragement, share ideas, and reduce
stress.
Meet the 2nd Thursday of every month beginning on February 10,
2011 5:00-6:30 p.m. at marcfirst/SPICE, 1606 Hunt Drive, Normal, Illinois
Supervised
playtime will be available for children, reservations are required. For more information
or to RSVP, please call or email Leigh
Hayes at (309) 452-0069, ext. 260.
SPICE provides
monthly community outings to provide social support and growth experiences as
well as exploration of childhood environments in McLean County.
Transition
classes for children 2 1/2 to 3 years of age with classes centered on developing
skills for school.
We want to ensure that everyone
is aware of the potential costs to services. Therefore we have safeguards in place
to ensure that you would not be surprised by any costs to services. These safeguards
include:
Financial agreements that allow us to
determine what payment options are available to you as a family and to ensure
accurate billing of services.
Families receive communication regarding
an estimated cost to services.
For families that have co-payments or self
pay, they receive a monthly statement showing the cost of services.
Methods
of payment: SPICE of Marcfirst accepts a variety of payment options including:
Illinois Department of Public Aid
Kid's
Care
Traditional private insurance
Division of Specialized Care
for Children (DSCC
A sliding fee scale is utilized
to make services available to individuals that may not otherwise have the financial
resources available to receive services.
This chart will guide you through the growth and development
of an average child during the critical ages from birth to three years. Please
remember that every child is unique---growing and developing at different rates.
Most of the time differences between children of the same age are nothing to worry
about. But for one child in 10, the difference can be related to a developmental
delay.
At age one month, most children can...
Raise their heads slightly when lying on their
stomachs
Briefly watch objects
Make "noise in throat"
sounds
Pull away from a cloth or blanket on their faces
At age three months, most children can...
Lift their heads and chest when lying on their
stomachs
Show vigorous body movement
Follow a moving person
with their eyes
Recognize a bottle or breast
Smiles when someone
speaks to them
At age six months,
most children can...
Sit with minimal
support
Roll from their backs to their stomachs
Turn to locate
and identify sounds
Transfer objects from hand to hand and from hand
to mouth
Respond to friendly speech with a smile or coo
At
age of 12 months, most children can...
Pull themselves up to stand and may step with support
Pick things up
with a thumb and one finger
Nod their heads to signal "yes"
Give affection
Say two or three words
At
age 2, most children can...
Hand over
toys upon request
Kick a large ball
Turn pages in a book (two
or three at a time)
Ask for items by name
Recognize a familiar
picture and know if it is upside down
Use two or three words together,
such as more juice
Aquatics Therapy 
