The goal of Kid’s Work Therapy, founded by occupational therapist Dr. Stephanie Foster, is simple: to help kids have fun, learn, and live to the best of their abilities.
“I’ve been doing private, small, pediatric practice out of my home since 2002,” Foster said of Kid’s Work Therapy, located in Santa Maria. “I started to practice because I saw a real gap in what’s being offered. I was working in the school systems … Sometimes the rules of the school system work, but for the kids that have special needs, and specifically difficulties paying attention all day long, a lot of times their educational setting doesn’t serve them well.”
Foster’s practice focuses on kids who have special needs, behavioral problems, or developmental delays, and her goal is to find alternatives to medication for them, and allow them to achieve self-regulation. Her most recent offering is yoga-based therapy, which Foster said can improve attention, focus, and behavioral functioning: all important facets of self-regulation.
More than half of her clients now participate in yoga as a part of their therapy plans, and Foster said their parents have reported decreases in problem behaviors. The yoga-based therapy can be especially helpful for kids with attention deficit disorder or autism spectrum disorder, Foster said. She focuses on deep breathing and flexibility training to improve coordination, balance, and fine motor skills.
“These are all beautiful, happy children who are just struggling to get along,” Foster said. “The yoga [helps] kids to find their bodies and find peace.”
Foster sees children from birth all the way to age 16. Some of her patients are preschoolers who are having trouble following the rules of a rigid classroom setting for the first time. Others are infants born prematurely or with in-utero trauma or drug exposure. Some might be struggling with their handwriting in elementary school because they can’t sit still at their desk. Foster said she individualizes her therapy offerings to fit the needs of every child.
“We have one kid who’s graduating this week. He’s a kid who has been with me for the past year, came in with lots of control issues—just didn’t want to be told what to do,” Foster said. “We came up with a plan, and [now] he’s been able to use his words when things are getting really hard.”
In addition to yoga sessions, Kid’s Work Therapy is restarting its annual summer play groups, something that had to be put on pause last year due to the pandemic. Foster said the play groups will help kids get ready to socialize again after more than a year of social distancing. The “Let’s Play” groups have been offered for the past 15 years, and will run this year from June 15 through July 22.
“We have pretty much done just telehealth during the pandemic, and then also within the last six to eight months we’ve been doing in-person services, one-on-one,” Foster said. “But we are about to launch in two weeks our playgroup summer session, where kids come for an intensive hour-and-a-half period with one or two peers.”
Foster calls it “Super Flex Academy.”
“That’s all about being flexible and learning to think about what other people are thinking,” she said. “That’s a super fun way to help kids with self-regulation and getting along with other people.”
The goal of all her specialized therapy options, Foster said, is to achieve health and happiness for her clients.
“We can help kids get along and have fun and just enjoy this time of their life.”
Highlights
• Cottage Health opened a new Urgent Care Center in Santa Maria on May 25, located at 3596 Skyway Drive, which is open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The center has a goal to provide complete care within 45 minutes, according to the health care company. Cottage’s other Santa Maria Urgent Care locations include one on North Broadway and another in the Orcutt Hills Plaza. The health care company also has Urgent Care locations in Buellton, San Luis Obispo, Goleta, Oxnard, Camarillo, and Ventura. Walk-ins are welcome, and online appointments are available.
• Lompoc Public Library kicked off its annual Summer Reading Program on June 1. The program theme this year is Reading Colors Your World, and it’s open to all ages, according to city officials. Community members can register for the program on the Beanstack Tracker app or at cityoflompoc.beanstack.org, or by calling the Lompoc library at (805) 875-8781. “In addition to the opportunity to read for fantastic prizes, the Lompoc Library Summer Reading Program offers craft kits for children, teens, and adults,” according to the city. Once local readers register for the Summer Reading Program, they can pick up a take-and-make craft kit from the Lompoc Library, while supplies last.
Staff Writer Malea Martin wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send business and nonprofit news to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 10-17, 2021.