BIG FUN’s therapy department is made up of registered and licensed occupational, physical, and speech therapists. Their knowledge about the biomechanical, communicational, social-emotional, sensory, and cognitive components allows them to address these elements and their effects on children in their daily lives. BIG FUN Therapy, created by Gene Hurwin, MA, OTR/L, is a unique program which combines therapy, social and peer interaction, sensory integration, and gymnastics progressions.

Therapists working with children face the challenge of engaging them in therapeutic activities while maintaining their interest and making their sessions fun. Mr. Hurwin constructed his program around the concept that children are meant to PLAY. They are not concerned with what might be best for their future, but instead with what is fun and important to them at that very moment. Many children have been in therapy since infancy. They recognize the sterile environment of a clinic and can sense when a therapist is requiring that they "work" instead of "play."

The gymnastics environment provides an abundance of therapeutic activities to increase strength, ROM, balance and improve sensory processing, motor planning, and organizational behavior. Many times the children do not even realize how much their bodies are benefiting from their favorite activity, which is often the trampoline. The sensory experiences that are available in the gym prepare the body and its nervous system to learn. The children can then utilize their newly acquired gymnastics skills and modify them to accomplish functional goals. A full workout with therapeutic effects can be accomplished in the gym through fun, laughing, and activities that BIG FUN kids are not aware are actually therapy.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
BIG FUN occupational therapists use clinical reasoning during the evaluation and treatment planning process. A battery of standardized assessments and clinical observations is used to assist in determining each child’s initial level of functioning in the areas of gross-motor, fine-motor, sensory processing, and organizational behavior.

These observations as well as the therapists’ practical and technical knowledge of typical development and movement allow them to create a unique treatment plan for each child. The treatments are child-directed and play-based, integrating constant negotiations and adjustments of levels of difficulty and expectations to maintain the “just-right challenge.” This occurs when a child is not only internally motivated and engaged in an achievable activity, but also is challenged enough to create new and appropriate adaptive responses. As the child masters this activity, he or she feels successful and is able to function at a higher level in home, educational, social, and emotional contexts.

PHYSICAL THERAPY
BIG FUN physical therapists use their evaluative knowledge to assess the "why" component of the child’s body functions which leads them to the "how" component of addressing the cause. A therapist looks beyond the question of whether or not the child attains a forward roll to the deeper question of whether he or she possesses the balance, motor coordination, sensory processing, ROM, and strength to complete that skill. This will in turn enable them to bend forward to pick something up off of the ground, tolerate rotational movements during everyday activities, and obtain the LE ROM to use various positions in everyday life.

SPEECH THERAPY
BIG FUN Speech Therapy, in partnership with More Than Words Speech and Language Services, is committed to providing a comprehensive program that encompasses all areas of communication. Speech Therapist Jane Haddad bases her teaching approach on research, training, and experience, and recognizing that each child is unique, addresses his or her learning style and specific needs. Parents are welcomed and expected to be active participants in the therapeutic processes, to facilitate generalization of skills learned in therapy into the home and community. Speech therapy addresses the following: receptive language; expressive language; articulation and phonology; auditory processing; pragmatic and social skills; play skills; and oral-motor and feeding skills.

BIG FUN Therapy Services operates in professional gymnastics training facilities filled with typical gymnastics classes, competitive teams, and other recreational activities. By modeling the behavior and movement patterns of the gymnasts who surround them, BIG FUN children are able to increase their potential through organizing their behavior and movement. The traditional and non-traditional therapeutic equipment in our gymnastics centers allow the therapists to bring their full spectrum of creativity and intensity into each session, providing the children with the sensory experiences their nervous systems are craving.

BIG FUN Therapy is recommended for children: