Family-centered practice is redefining the approach to pediatric therapy. Moving beyond traditional clinic settings to involve the entire family in dynamic, real-world settings. Occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists, and physical therapists are increasingly embracing this holistic method. Using play as a medium, they are integrating therapeutic activities into everyday life.
How Clinicians Enhance Child Development Through Inclusive Play
By taking therapy outside the confines of the clinic and into natural settings, these clinicians are creating meaningful, engaging experiences that promote development and strengthen family bonds. This blog post explores the transformative impact of family-centered therapy through play in natural environments.
Engaging in activities in natural environments, such as parks or community centers, allows therapy to seamlessly integrate into the child’s daily routine, fostering development in a familiar and comfortable context. This blog post highlights inspiring stories of clinicians who are enhancing child development and family dynamics through innovative, inclusive play-based therapy in natural settings.
- Do you struggle to draw the line between empathizing with parents and collaborating on strong clinical goals?
- As you write out your session notes, do you worry about whether you met your full clinical obligations?
- Do you find yourself in an ethical grey area when deciding on home programs, while weighing the complexities of cultural competence? If you can relate to any of these- check out our CEU accredited Ethics course: https://precisioncpd.com/ethics/
Grandfriends Program – University Presbyterian Preschool, North Carolina
‘The “Grandfriends” program at our preschool matches a five year-olds in our class with senior citizens from our church community, and organizes a lunch hour for them to spend together once a week. The same pair meet each week so that they can really get to know each other and form a friendship! In addition to eating lunch, we have an activity each week that the Grand-friend pair can do together e.g. board games, books, art projects, or Show & Tell.
The project just began this year with fourteen children and sixteen senior citizens, and we learned which activities were better at building connections like board games, classroom tours, and projects that they could do together.
We began this program to encourage empathy and social skills in the children, and also to help reduce feelings of isolation in the older people of the church community and increase their sense of value. Extended families are so often spread out in modern society. Many young children are missing out on the experience of having adults who can fully focus their attention solely on them and just connect with them. Simultaneously, many older people are missing out on seeing and experiencing their young grandchildren who do not live nearby. It has been wonderful to see how mutually beneficial the experience has been.”
ABC: A Beautiful Child – Portville, NY
“What’s my hidden agenda? It’s completely transparent. My name is Carly Painter – my cup overflows when I’m helping others. I love meeting new people and learning from them. I want to teach and educate others in a better way. I help run ABC: A Beautiful Child, the play-based, family-centered learning and community center in the heart of Portville, NY. Our small community offers family-friendly activities that foster young bodies, hearts, and minds, through play and learning in a healthy way. While our school provides many opportunities for our students and their families, we still need more of the outside-of- school environment to alleviate some of the burden. We ALL need help. I want to model and help families succeed and thrive in a safe, loving environment free of judgment.”
My Kid’s Place – Colchester, CT
“My name is Lauren and I run My Kid’s Place, an indoor play space with the goal of giving caregivers a place to bring their children for open play during the day. A goal was to provide a space for caregivers to meet other caregivers and make connections. Many parents meet here for play dates, and love the open concept and the free play in a safe environment. During Covid, I spent a lot of time researching and learning about the importance of play, as my baby was unable to participate in any community programs. After having my second child I began to discover there were just not enough indoor play options in our area! I focused on the Montessori method and purchased simple, well-built toys to spark creativity. My Kid’s Place is geared towards littles, seven and under, and we are open six days a week for open play. Since opening a year ago, we have had around 600 families attend our open play and events.”
The Talk Spot – Calgary, CA
Felicity Lof shares about her play pedagogy project, based out of Calgary, Canada: “Play is my love language! I run a ‘play pedagogy project’ with the many parents, volunteers, prospective speech-pathology students, and private practice team members that walk through The Talk Spot’s doors. The goal of the project is elevating adult-child connection. By exploring the science of play, diving into the significance and beauty of child-led exploration, and encouraging intentionality in how we, as adults, participate in the work of the child.
The second initiative of the project is infusing the workplace with play through ‘gamification’ of seemingly monotonous tasks, regularly scheduled playful recharges throughout the day, and advocacy for the LIFE component in work-life balance. By incorporating play, we create a happier, more cohesive team that is excited to collaborate and innovate. I don’t just preach play, I practice it!”
SDUSD Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Infant Program – San Diego, CA
“The SDUSD Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Infant Program provides early intervention services for around 260 families in the San Diego area who have children with an identified developmental delay, or are at risk for a developmental delay. Each child has an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), which is created by the family and the teacher. This plan addresses both developmental needs of the child and the family needs.
We have a variety of program options, including home visits, toddler groups, Parent Connections Group, Toddler and Me and Baby and Me groups. Play Groups are provided at two locations in our school district, both in English and in Spanish. This year we started a Playground playgroup, helping families locate adaptive playgrounds and make friends in the community. We use a play based curriculum for all home visits, toddler classrooms and we use play based opportunities both inside and outside for our play groups.”
Family Friday at Ups for Downs – Illinois, USA
Colleen Dallmeyer shares: “I have been a physical therapist for 15 years (13 years strictly pediatrics). I had twins 8 years ago and found out at birth that my son has Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome). It was a complete shock, and I soon realized that there were limited resources for families like mine. I found a couple of local organizations but that’s when the idea of Family Friday came along.
Family Friday is a play group for families who have a child aged 0-12 with Down Syndrome or any other developmental disability or autism. We meet once a month on a Friday, and I help organize facilitated play through activities such as obstacle courses, fine motor stations, sensory motor activities and endurance/coordination activities. In addition to the activities, I find speakers for each meeting e.g. speech therapists to share how to increase communication, assistive technology gurus, occupational therapists to share on how to increase independence in self care, etc. I recruit high school volunteers to help with the activities, so the parents can really listen and engage. Thanks to word of mouth we have grown so much in the last few years, we now have 40-70 participants each month.”
