THERAPY SERVICES  

Aquatic Therapy

There are many benefits of pediatric aquatic therapy!

Aquatic therapy encourages physical, sensory, and language development in children with a wide variety of disabilities, injuries, and levels of function. The pool setting is a highly motivating and physically supportive environment so children often engage in tasks they typically would not tolerate. It is an excellent environment to work on therapeutic goals such as relaxation, flexibility, balance, coordination, endurance, improving the respiratory system, sport-specific, pain management, post-injury or surgery, wellness, weight loss, gross and fine motor development, and sensory processing. Such a setting also allows caregivers to safely support their children, as it’s easier on the caregiver’s body to hold and assist a child in a supportive pool environment than on land.

Aquatic therapy provides opportunities to practice functional skills such as dressing, grooming, and hygiene before and after the pool session. With movement and multi-sensory input, speech and language work is likely to occur as well. When the child relies on the caregiver in the pool, verbal requests and good eye contact are facilitated.

Aquatic therapy oftentimes helps kids who have plateaued with a skill on land to make it “over the hump” and achieve that goal, after working on it in the water!

 

Capernaum provides aquatic therapy at Summit Place in Eden Prairie.