2007-08-30 BUSINESS POST
ETS aids children with special needs Center provides occupational, physical, speech solutions
by Scott Sowers	write the author
(SCOTT SOWERS/Post) Essential Therapy Services’ co-owner and occupational therapist Irma Alvarado demonstrates how the use of a swing for occupational therapy. September 06, 2007 If you trek up Ga. 400 past Browns Bridge Road where the access control ends, you'll soon come across a beautiful new building which holds Essential Therapy Services Inc. This new center will provide comprehensive therapy solutions to area children with special needs. Essential Therapy Services is the brainchild of Irma Alvarado, a local licensed occupational therapist. She has been dreaming of a facility like ETS for years but has spent the last three actually going through the process of making this dream a reality. Teaming with her partner, Tina Black – also a licensed occupational therapist – they have worked diligently to see the fruits of their labors realized. The clinic is designed to offer children with special needs up to 21 years old a range of therapy options, including occupational, physical and speech therapy. In addition to providing the services to the children, ETS will also provide counseling and information sessions for family members. "There is a mental health aspect for the family as well," said Alvarado. "Sometimes the other children in these families may begin to feel neglected and develop their own problems when all of the focus is put on a child with special needs." The occupational therapy aspect of the clinic focuses on developing fine motor skills and helping the children learn to do things like dress and feed themselves. Occupational and physical therapy often overlap when it comes to the special needs children. Many of the children are too weak or spastic to be able to sit up straight, so the therapists work to help them develop strength and coordination. "We use many different devices such as balance beams and swings suspended from the ceiling in order to help the children process where their body is in space so they can produce an adaptive response," said Black. One particular type of therapy that Black soon hopes to provide at ETS is called "suit therapy." Children who need physical manipulation will wear a Therasuit that will provide deep pressure on their body so they can become more aware of their body in its surroundings. Working with older patients is important, as well, because as the children finish with school they need to have the ability to function in the world without the support structure of school. ETS will offer job coaching as well as evaluating employers to see that they fit the needs of the people with special needs they hire. Autism patients may need to be taught social skills before they enter the working world. Although this center has just opened, both Black and Alvarado have been working with local patients for many years, particularly in local special education programs in schools. That will continue as ETS will partner with school therapists in Forsyth, Habersham, Hall and Lumpkin counties. The therapists at ETS are all certified in their fields and have worked with Alvarado and Black in the past. Seven occupational therapists, two speech therapists and one physical therapist work at the facility. For more information about Essential Therapy Services and the therapy it provides, visit www.essentialtherapyservices.com. ETS is at 4640 Martin Road, Cumming.

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