Pediatric inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services
Whether your child is recovering from an injury or surgery, our multidisciplinary team of experts and child life specialists can help your child meet their goals. Our pediatric outpatient rehabilitation program at Memorial Health Dwaine & Cynthia Willett Children’s Hospital of Savannah offers physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology services to assist children in their rehabilitation processes.
Our family-centered care approach is important in the recovery of pediatric patients. We encourage parent involvement in goal setting and throughout the care plan to help return your child to home, school and the community.
Our certified and licensed team of physical, occupational and speech therapists are specially trained to work with children from birth to 17 years old and their families to provide skilled and developmentally appropriate therapy to support every child’s potential for success.
Our pediatric rehabilitation services are offered at two locations within the Savannah community. Patients can receive care on our hospital's main campus or our office in Pooler. With two community locations, parents have more access to quality care for their kids.
To learn more about outpatient pediatric rehabilitation, please call us at (912) 350-7128. To contact our facility in Pooler, please call (912) 273-1000.
Common conditions and diagnoses
Our pediatric rehabilitation team provides services for a variety of conditions, illnesses and injuries including:
- Articulation disorders/Apraxia of speech
- Autism spectrum disorders
- Brachial plexus injuries
- Breastfeeding/latch difficulties
- Cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders
- Coordination and gross motor disorders
- Down syndrome and other genetic disorders
- Expressive and receptive language disorders
- Feeding and swallowing disorders/picky eaters
- Handwriting and fine motor disorders
- Learning disabilities/ADD/ADHD
- Orthopedic conditions/Osteogenesis Imperfecta
- Post-acute hospital stay or surgery
- Sensory processing and regulation disorders
- Spinal cord Injuries
- Torticollis/plagiocephaly/cranial molding
- Traumatic brain injuries
Pediatric physical therapy
Whether your child has trouble with motor skills as a baby or is recovering from a sports injury, our pediatric physical therapists can help. Physical therapy helps your child gain strength and movement after an illness, injury or a developmental delay. Physical therapy can also help prevent permanent damage and recurring problems.
Physical therapy focuses on:
- Adaptive equipment evaluation and management
- Craniosacral therapy
- Gross motor skills and developmental progression
- Mobility and gait
- Motor coordination
- Myofascial release
- Pain management
- Posture and balance
- Range of motion
- Reflex integration
- Splinting/casting/bracing
- Strength and endurance
Pediatric occupational therapy
Occupational therapists help children develop skills for everyday living. These skills include eye-hand coordination, visual-motor skills, eating, dressing, writing and upper extremity strength and coordination tasks to improve functional activity.
Occupational therapy focuses on:
- Activity of daily living skills/self -care tasks
- Assistive technology and adaptive equipment
- Feeding and swallowing / picky eaters
- Fine motor skills and developmental progression
- Handwriting / school achievement/ learning disabilities
- Motor coordination and play skills
- Reflex integration
- Sensory regulation and behavioral issues
- Upper extremity joint range of motion and strengthening
- Upper extremity splinting and serial casting
- Visual motor / visual perceptual skills
Pediatric speech therapy
Our pediatric speech therapists are trained to help children develop pre-language skills and improve language comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation of words. They also help children who have difficulty eating or swallowing.
Our pediatric specialists are certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The team treats children with disorders related to articulation, language, fluency, voice, oral-motor function, feeding, central hearing and breathing.
Speech therapy focuses on:
- Articulation
- Assistive technology and augmentative communication
- Fluency/stuttering
- Oral motor/feeding/swallowing mechanics
- Pragmatic language and social skills
- Receptive and expressive language skills
- Voice quality
The goal of pediatric speech therapy is to help a child communicate functionally in their everyday environment. This can be achieved through a variety of speech therapy approaches, including:
- Articulation therapy — This therapy focuses on providing speech-sound stimulation for the correct production of sounds.
- Fluency therapy — This therapy treats stuttering and implements techniques to encourage smooth, easy speech.
- Language therapy — This therapy facilitates the development of receptive or expressive language skills to increase comprehension and verbal expression.
- Oral-motor, feeding and respiration therapy — These therapies teach breathing skills and adequate function of the oral anatomy for communication, feeding and swallowing.
- Voice therapy — This therapy is used to determine and maintain appropriate pitch, nasality, volume and voice quality.
Alternative communication
Sometimes, children use other forms of communication to promote speech development. This is called augmentative or alternative communication (ACC) and may include using pictures, a talking computer or sign language to communicate. This can be especially helpful for children with cerebral palsy, communication impairments, head injuries, autism and spinal cord injuries.
Outpatient feeding therapy
Our pediatric therapeutic feeding team consists of licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists who specialize in the assessment and treatment of feeding, swallowing and oral-motor problems. Our team works in partnership with primary care physicians, nurses, gastroenterologists, nutritionists and educational providers to create a plan of care for each child.
Feeding difficulties are often related to diagnoses such as:
- Cerebral palsy
- Cleft palate
- Feeding aversion
- Prematurity
- Sensory issues
- Stomach disorders
Our team assesses each child's condition by observing feeding sessions and using specialized studies to take all aspects of swallowing into account. To treat a feeding disorder, the team may:
- Assist in the positioning and seating for feeding
- Educate parents about appropriate nutrition for their child
- Help parents transition their child to more advanced feeding, such as weaning from baby foods to table foods or advancing from a bottle to a cup
- Select equipment to enhance a child's feeding abilities
Pediatric therapy appointments
Your doctor will need to refer you to our outpatient pediatric therapy services (physical, occupational and speech). A prescription signed by your doctor is required. Families should call their insurance company to assist with determining their insurance benefits. Your physician office can fax referrals directly to our Savanah or Pooler office.
Savannah Office:
Memorial Health University Medical Center
4700 Waters Avenue, Building 100, 3rd Floor
Savannah, GA 31404
Phone: (912) 350-7128
Fax: (912) 350-8536
Pooler Office:
101 W. Mulberry Blvd, Suite 210
Savannah, GA 31407
Phone: (912) 273-1000
Fax: (912) 273-1010
