state of the art treatment spaces
Our facility is a motivating and safe environment—custom designed to maximize one of the most powerful tools used by occupational therapists—PLAY! Located in Rockland County, New York—a short drive from Westchester and Bergen counties, the Giant Leaps facility is a therapeutic wonderland of playful and educational elements. Bold colors and textures were carefully designed to activate, but not overstimulate.
At Giant Leaps, we couple each child’s unique interests and imagination with our professional expertise in neural science and sensory integration theory to create the “just right” challenge. In this highly motivating and safe environment, children work to develop motor, social, and cognitive skills, as well as self-confidence.
Our two therapy gyms are matted wall to wall with professional grade five inch multi-density foam and are equipped to provide a variety of movement experiences well-suited for infants and children of all ages. A wide array of swings, Lycra hammocks, zip lines, climbing walls, scooter board ramps and a ball pit facilitate the work and play. Each gym contains hidden delights for our patients to discover: hidden stars light up the night ceiling, alphabet boxes hide figurines (and work on letter identification), plush animals from every continent make their homes within our ball pit, and much more. What will your child find?
Start the process
gross motor north room
Pictured above, and the largest of the therapy spaces, Gross Motor North contains the perfect set-up for learning big and small movements alike.
An adjustable I-beam suspension system allows therapists to safely place a swing almost anywhere across the space to help create the perfect challenge for your child.
An indoor climbing wall wraps around the gym spanning over 30 feet laterally. Children who previously would not climb have found a earning a spot on the leaderboard for a Giant leaps climbing challenge motivating to practice weekly and conquer the climbing wall!
For those that like speed a zipline spans the length of the therapy gym. Hold-on for perfectly timed and safe landing in our ball-pit.
A floor to ceiling mirror perfectly placed often provides the backdrop for tough movement or dance patterns that children are motivated to learn!
gross motor south room
A much cozier space than Gross Motor North at the moment. Therapy spaces are always changing to help meet the needs and interests of the children with whom we work!
14 layers of Lycra hammocks of various resistances stretch across the room creating a full room canopy of spaces to crawl through, hide in, and explore. What might be a cozy place to take a sensory break for one child, could also be an inviting challenge to climb through the layers and touch the glow in the dark night sky on the ceiling for another.
A full set of monkey bars, a floor to ceiling cargo net, and a hide-away scooter-board ramp provide different ways for your child to traverse the room however their body’s feel fit!
3 different ways to climb to the hammock canopy are mentioned here, but can your child think of more? Motor planning at its foundation is built into the room. Once up, alphanumeric boxes are placed just above eye level to serve as a bridge to academic and fine motor activities.
Students with difficulty regulating or “coming down” from exciting moments, or who are over-responsive to sensations often find a perfect place to regulate in Gross Motor South.
fine motor room
Our fine motor room is fully stocked with a variety of games, art supplies, toys, crafts and other tools to develop fine motor abilities. During fine motor work here, we provide classroom modifications as prescribed in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) to fully support handwriting, visual perceptual skills, activities of daily living and more–for students at all ability levels. Furniture has been carefully selected to support optimal positioning with height adjustable tables and room for flexible seating options.
Our fine motor area is just a step away from all the gross motor activity so children can easily incorporate their imaginative play into writing, drawing, crafts or activities of daily living that much easier. Continuing the thematic play eases the challenge of activities that require high levels of fine motor, visual motor and sensory discrimination skills. The children are READY to engage in seated tasks after having opportunities to modulate their levels of alertness in our Gross Motor movement rooms.
beyond giant leaps…
Treatment also extends beyond the therapy gyms and fine motor room. Where appropriate, therapy sessions may occur outside, at a local park or other community settings.
In addition to playground and outdoor skills, Giant leaps has frequently been the place many children have learned to bike, putting down their first-ever pedal strokes in our parking lot. Vestibular functioning is a huge part of biking and our sensory education is a big part of their success.
We consider each child’s needs specifically while scheduling their treatment time. If a child could benefit from having a treatment room to themselves, or where a dyad/triad social skills group is most beneficial, Giant Leaps has the clinic space available to make the appropriate scheduling accommodations.
waiting room
With a sensory play wall, comfortable seating, a community gratitude jar and open wi-fi available, our waiting room is an inviting oasis for the whole family. In addition to allowing siblings a place to play, family members often bring their laptops to complete work while waiting. For parents who drop off their students, the waiting room may become a place to begin exercises or read a book to set-up the theme for a session.
Our bibliotherapy collection contributes to the unique nature of Giant Leaps. Children and teens often read about others who have similar issues and concerns. At times, new strategies are introduced with the aid of books in our library.
Off the waiting room, our flower garden on the mezzanine is a favorite place to relax.
We invite parents and caregivers to join sessions. Many parents find participating in the session an valuable opportunity to experience the power of play and practice carryover activities and strategies to use at home. We are also in a prime location thanks to the nearby Palisades Center Mall, commercial districts on NY-59 and Route 303 and the Valley Cottage Library for parents who need to run errands during their child’s treatment.
lending library
To help children build a sense of responsibility, as well as encourage a positive reading experiences about stories they relate too, Giant leaps offers lots of books available for “check out.” Just like at the library, bring them home to enjoy and bring them back when your done.
Click the (+) signs to explore titles available both for Parents and Children to check out from our library.
Lending Library - For Parents
We have a lending library chock full of titles curated to provide support, resources, and guidance to parents on various topics related to special needs. From books on other parents’ lived experiences with various diagnoses to research based books with practical advice and strategies, we offer a curated collection of titles parents find helpful.
Available topics include:
Autism
– Engaging Autism: A Floortime approach to help children relate
– Self-help skills for people with Autism
– Ten things every child with autism wishes you knew
– Kids with special needs
– The boy who loved windows
– The curious incident of the dog in the night
ADHD
– Driven to distracted
– Taking Hold of ADHD
Mental Health
– Parenting a bi-polar child
– Treating Explosive kids
Sensory Processing Disorders
– The out of sync child
– The out of sync child has fun
and more including…
Learning disabilities, asperger syndrome, and physical disabilities
Lending Library - Children
Research supports the value and benefit of reading to children. Coined “The Million Word Gap,” it is estimated that a student who reads, or is read to, 20 minutes a day will be exposed to 1,800,000 more words per year than a peer who is not exposed to books. Twenty minutes of daily reading at home is correlated with the ability to score in the 90th percentile on standardized tests.
Sign out a book (or several) during your child’s session, and return it (well read) the next. See our Bibliotherapy collection log, pictured to the bottom left or in the waiting area to identify books for various areas of need.
START MAKING GIANT LEAPS
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