Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services for Children in Orlando, Florida
Empowering Parents to Understand and Support
Their Children’s Unique Needs
Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services for Children in Orlando, Florida
Empowering Parents to Understand and Support Their Children’s Unique Needs
Imagine That It’s Possible For Your Child To Reach Their Potential… and Beyond
Recognizing that each child learns in their own way, we tailor our approach to suit their individual needs and interests, transforming challenges into opportunities for play and exploration.
Through engaging activities and meaningful interactions, we foster vital skills while igniting a sense of curiosity and confidence that will empower them in their everyday lives.
- Do you watch your child struggle to do things that are easy for others?
- Do you yearn to understand your child better?
- Do you feel like the therapy you are receiving is not making the difference you hoped?
We’re Here to Help!
Together, we will support your child’s journey toward a brighter future brimming with endless possibilities.
Individual Therapy Services
Providing the best support and services to your child and you, the caregiver, in a comprehensive package.
Feeding Therapy Services
Guiding expansion of foods with a clear plan forward, in a safe a fun explorative manner all in a comprehensive package.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy in Orlando, Florida
Empower Kids Therapy is a pediatric occupational therapy practice providing individual and group services to help kids with sensory, social, motor, and feeding challenges.
If you are a parent with a kid who struggles, you’re in the right place to discover the root causes for their behaviors and limitations.
When parents arrive inside the world of Empower Kids Therapy, they find a fresh spark of hope, a different way of thinking, and a sense of being understood.
Values of Our Therapy
We surround all aspects of our care around:
Mutual Trust
Meaningful change is possible in relationships with trust at the core. Our superpower is providing a safe, trusting relationship with all kids, even those slow to warm up.
More importantly, as a parent, you know you can trust us with the good and bad of life with your child
Innovation
We don’t settle for what exists today. Instead, we seek creative and dynamic solutions for fun, engaging sessions while pushing the status quo of how therapy services are provided.
Belief in Possibility
This is a place that sparks hope. We see beyond the tough stuff and in to the possibilities that exist once underlying sensory or emotional challenges are addressed.
What Our Clients Are Saying
Reviews
Sam at Empower Kids Therapy has been fantastic! Her communication is clear and informative, and she does a wonderful job of educating parents like myself on how to best support our children. We feel much more empowered to help our child reach their full potential thanks to Sam's guidance.
It was a leap for us to make the change to in home occupational therapy and I'm so thankful we did. I have three kids receiving services and Sam noticed things about them right away that I didn't even have to tell her. She's incredibly knowledgable, proactive, and amazing at what she does. She identifies the areas of struggle for my kids and finds such creative ways for them to gain the tools they need to conquer them. She's the fourth occupational therapist we have seen over the years (due to insurance turnover, people switching jobs etc) and she's by and far the best we've experienced. If you're wondering if Empower Kids Therapy may be a good fit for your families needs, I would encourage you to try it out. I'm so glad we did.
Empower Kids Therapy has really helped my son self regulate, strengthen his low muscle tone, coordination and really has improved his fine motor skills!
We love Ms Sam. Working with her has completely changed the game for my middle child and helped us as a family work together to accomplish daily tasks both big and small. The resources and tools that Ms Sam has shared with us have been priceless and we look forward to continuing our work with her in the near future.
Amazingly talented OT. Sam is dedicated to helping her clients reach their potential and supporting parents in that journey. I have worked closely with Sam in the past in a professional setting and she has been easy to collaborate with, facilitating a team approach to helping shared clients.
Samantha has an amazing ability to connect with my child and provides insight and structure that we have never had before. We appreciate the outside resources offered to continue to develop our own skills to support our child, and truly look forward to continue to work with Empower Kids Therapy! Thank you!
Free Mealtime Success Guide
Does your picky eater make mealtime stressful?
This guide can provide you and your child with structure to learn about the sensory aspects of each food through strategies to provide a safe, fun, and explorative mealtime.
About Samantha Stiles
Owner of Empower Kids Therapy, Occupational Therapist
As a pediatric therapist I know what it takes to really address feeding, sensory, and emotional challenges in children.
I’m talking the kind of exponential growth that changes the course of lives. But this type of transformation requires time, parent involvement, and extra guidance…
All of which does not easily fit into the standard therapy session with insurance restrictions.
THIS is where Empower Kids Therapy was born.
Frequently Asked Questions
Occupational therapists help people participate in their desired occupations with the therapeutic use of everyday activities, based on he client’s personal interests and needs (AOTA, 2022).
For children, their occupational is PLAY! We are able to focus on daily tasks, and age-appropriate skills through games, and activities using a focused and therapeutic lens.
Our goal is to help increase neuroplasticity, and improve independence in participating in their daily life, such as dressing, engaging within their school and community, and and playing. We provide sensory rich environments for learning to increase.
We use the “just right challenge” which meets the child where they are at, and pushes them to learn and grow in a comfortable way with the end goal of increasing their participation and function within their daily occupations.
Occupational therapists are knowledgable about many conditions. We like to view the child’s strengths, and build upon their areas of need, despite diagnosis. The following is a list of conditions we can aid:
- Developmental Delays
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Feeding Difficulties (picky eater, non-eater, restrictive eater)
- Self/Emotional Regulation Difficulties
- Visual Deficits
- Ocular Motor Concerns
- Fine Motor Delay
- Handwriting Deficits
- Hand-eye and Finger Coordination Concerns
- Gross Motor Delays
- Praxis and Motor Planning Difficulties
- Unintegrated Primitive Reflexes
- Lack of age appropriate play skills/toy engagement
- Anxiety
- Attention and Concentration Deficits (ADD/ADHD)
- Learning Difficulties
- Executive Functioning Deficits
- Social Skill Difficulties
- Neurological Disorders
- Down Syndrome
- Cerebral Palsy
Sensory processing is the ability to take in sensory information from the world around you and interpret this information effectively in order to participate in daily tasks. The brain processes information through our seven sensory systems. This includes sight, touch, smell, taste, sound, as well as vestibular and proprioceptive.
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) occurs when the nervous system has difficulty processing and interpreting the information gathered from the senses. It in turn affects the ability to function effectively within environments. For a child, this disruption in their sensory processing can adversely affect a child’s social skills, academic performance and motor development.
Our goal is to focus on these sensory areas of difficulty in a structured, and safe manner to allow for processing and interpreting effectively for use. We evaluate the sensory system to determine its effect on higher level learning and participation.
Our therapy occurs in your home, or the child’s natural environment such as daycare, playground, co-op, you name it!
We use toys within your environment, and might bring in some fun and special games to encourage learning.
Payment of cash, check, and major credit cards are accepted. All fees are due at service provision, or at the beginning of the month. We can provide you with an itemized receipt, or Superbill, for each visit so you can submit it directly to your insurance company for potential out-of-network provider reimbursement.
Receiving this Superbill does not guarantee payment. Please connect with your insurance carrier if you are seeking reimbursement as you are responsible for all charges.
Certain Health Savings Accounts (HSA) may allow its use for our services. Please connect with them to determine if they considered our services an approved medical expense.
We are a proud provider for recipients of the Step Up for Students Family Empowerment Scholarship (formerly Gardiner Scholarship).
Please visit the website https://stepupforstudents.org for more information.
Since we are seeking to make changes with your child, being a part of therapy is encouraged. It is the best time to learn from how the therapists presents tasks, or using certain phrasing to improve carryover and learning of both your child and you.
Positive language, and encouraging words from a parent during challenging tasks is a wonderful motivator for children. We want YOU, the caregiver to feel EMPOWERED to use the knowledge gained during our time together when we are not together.
This consistent carryover from therapy into the child’s daily life helps to accelerate progress, and shorten the duration of therapy.
It can be scary for some children to meet new people, especially within their home. We find it imperative to make every child feel comfortable and therefore we first need to build rapport with your child.
We use our therapeutic lens to make all “work” tasks, feel like play. You can identify our therapists as friends, or a teacher who is coming to play, and help with the areas that are tricky.
Most children can’t wait for their next session!
Typical sessions will begin with warm up activities that require movement. We wake up the brain for learning. We will continue to challenge your child in a compassionate and gentile way with increasingly complex tasks tailored to their ability.
Our therapy is always play-based, and we focus on the child’s internal and external motivation…even if it involves playing “Let it Go” while we work.
Throughout our time together, the rapport build to a bond, which builds to trust, in which we can continue to increase the complex tasks to try new movements, or activities to increase skill and participation.
Soon, those new tasks become automatic, and the child is engaging in ways you have never seen. The best part is, you, the parent or caregiver, are always encouraged to participate with us to learn, grow, and increase the bond with your child.
We include time at the end of our sessions to provide you with feedback and the areas to focus on in between our sessions. This time is so important for carryover and growth.
Initial evaluations are necessary to determine the specific area of need for your child, and to create a specialized therapy program if services are determined as needed. Most evaluations occur within a 1-2 hour time period.
During this time we complete a parent consultation and review of intake paperwork to determine the focus area of our observations, standardized testing, and clinical observations of your child.
The choice of standardized tests are determined based on your concerns, and the child’s need. We focus on observing gross motor skills, sensory processing, visual skills, play skills, executive functioning, fine motor skills, and visual motor skills. This aids our ability to form a whole picture of your child.
If requested, a detailed evaluation report, and plan of care will be created for your child 7 business days from the evaluation date. A parent review will be set up to review the evaluation, and determine next steps.
If your child already has a recent evaluation (within 6 months) from another facility, we may be able to use that evaluation too.
For children, their occupational is PLAY! We are able to focus on daily tasks, and age-appropriate skills through games, and activities using a focused and therapeutic lens.
Our goal is to help increase neuroplasticity, and improve independence in participating in their daily life, such as dressing, engaging within their school and community, and and playing. We provide sensory rich environments for learning to increase.
We use the “just right challenge” which meets the child where they are at, and pushes them to learn and grow in a comfortable way with the end goal of increasing their participation and function within their daily occupations.
What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapists help people participate in their desired occupations with the therapeutic use of everyday activities, based on he client’s personal interests and needs (AOTA, 2022).
For children, their occupational is PLAY! We are able to focus on daily tasks, and age-appropriate skills through games, and activities using a focused and therapeutic lens.
Our goal is to help increase neuroplasticity, and improve independence in participating in their daily life, such as dressing, engaging within their school and community, and and playing. We provide sensory rich environments for learning to increase.
We use the “just right challenge” which meets the child where they are at, and pushes them to learn and grow in a comfortable way with the end goal of increasing their participation and function within their daily occupations.
What are some conditions you treat?
Occupational therapists are knowledgable about many conditions. We like to view the child’s strengths, and build upon their areas of need, despite diagnosis. The following is a list of conditions we can aid:
- Developmental Delays
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Feeding Difficulties (picky eater, non-eater, restrictive eater)
- Self/Emotional Regulation Difficulties
- Visual Deficits
- Ocular Motor Concerns
- Fine Motor Delay
- Handwriting Deficits
- Hand-eye and Finger Coordination Concerns
- Gross Motor Delays
- Praxis and Motor Planning Difficulties
- Unintegrated Primitive Reflexes
- Lack of age appropriate play skills/toy engagement
- Anxiety
- Attention and Concentration Deficits (ADD/ADHD)
- Learning Difficulties
- Executive Functioning Deficits
- Social Skill Difficulties
- Neurological Disorders
- Down Syndrome
- Cerebral Palsy
What is sensory processing?
Sensory processing is the ability to take in sensory information from the world around you and interpret this information effectively in order to participate in daily tasks. The brain processes information through our seven sensory systems. This includes sight, touch, smell, taste, sound, as well as vestibular and proprioceptive.
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) occurs when the nervous system has difficulty processing and interpreting the information gathered from the senses. It in turn affects the ability to function effectively within environments. For a child, this disruption in their sensory processing can adversely affect a child’s social skills, academic performance and motor development.
Our goal is to focus on these sensory areas of difficulty in a structured, and safe manner to allow for processing and interpreting effectively for use. We evaluate the sensory system to determine its effect on higher level learning and participation.
Where does therapy occur?
Our therapy occurs in your home, or the child’s natural environment such as daycare, playground, co-op, you name it!
We use toys within your environment, and might bring in some fun and special games to encourage learning.
How do I pay for therapy?
Payment of cash, check, and major credit cards are accepted. All fees are due at service provision, or at the beginning of the month. We can provide you with an itemized receipt, or Superbill, for each visit so you can submit it directly to your insurance company for potential out-of-network provider reimbursement.
Receiving this Superbill does not guarantee payment. Please connect with your insurance carrier if you are seeking reimbursement as you are responsible for all charges.
Certain Health Savings Accounts (HSA) may allow its use for our services. Please connect with them to determine if they considered our services an approved medical expense.
We are a proud provider for recipients of the Step Up for Students Family Empowerment Scholarship (formerly Gardiner Scholarship).
Please visit the website https://stepupforstudents.org for more information.
What is expected of the caregiver during therapy?
Since we are seeking to make changes with your child, being a part of therapy is encouraged. It is the best time to learn from how the therapists presents tasks, or using certain phrasing to improve carryover and learning of both your child and you.
Positive language, and encouraging words from a parent during challenging tasks is a wonderful motivator for children. We want YOU, the caregiver to feel EMPOWERED to use the knowledge gained during our time together when we are not together.
This consistent carryover from therapy into the child’s daily life helps to accelerate progress, and shorten the duration of therapy.
What do I tell my child about their new therapist?
It can be scary for some children to meet new people, especially within their home. We find it imperative to make every child feel comfortable and therefore we first need to build rapport with your child.
We use our therapeutic lens to make all “work” tasks, feel like play. You can identify our therapists as friends, or a teacher who is coming to play, and help with the areas that are tricky.
Most children can’t wait for their next session!
What does a session look like?
Typical sessions will begin with warm up activities that require movement. We wake up the brain for learning. We will continue to challenge your child in a compassionate and gentile way with increasingly complex tasks tailored to their ability.
Our therapy is always play-based, and we focus on the child’s internal and external motivation…even if it involves playing “Let it Go” while we work.
Throughout our time together, the rapport build to a bond, which builds to trust, in which we can continue to increase the complex tasks to try new movements, or activities to increase skill and participation.
Soon, those new tasks become automatic, and the child is engaging in ways you have never seen. The best part is, you, the parent or caregiver, are always encouraged to participate with us to learn, grow, and increase the bond with your child.
We include time at the end of our sessions to provide you with feedback and the areas to focus on in between our sessions. This time is so important for carryover and growth.
What happens during an evaluation?
Initial evaluations are necessary to determine the specific area of need for your child, and to create a specialized therapy program if services are determined as needed. Most evaluations occur within a 1-2 hour time period.
During this time we complete a parent consultation and review of intake paperwork to determine the focus area of our observations, standardized testing, and clinical observations of your child.
The choice of standardized tests are determined based on your concerns, and the child’s need. We focus on observing gross motor skills, sensory processing, visual skills, play skills, executive functioning, fine motor skills, and visual motor skills. This aids our ability to form a whole picture of your child.
If requested, a detailed evaluation report, and plan of care will be created for your child 7 business days from the evaluation date. A parent review will be set up to review the evaluation, and determine next steps.
If your child already has a recent evaluation (within 6 months) from another facility, we may be able to use that evaluation too.
Ready to Learn More?
Schedule a consultation today and let's talk about how Empower Kids Therapy can help your child.