In this modern world of over-stimulation and sugar laden diets, our children are frequently subjected to labeling because of their behavior. More children are being diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and other neuro-behavioral disorders than ever before. Often, the child is not given many options and treatment is usually limited to drug interventions. The goal of Athens Therapeutics’ pediatric physical therapy program, Kids First, is to offer an effective alternative approach to help these children meet their full potential.

The program is a multifaceted approach to address many childhood issues such as the aforementioned behavioral issues.The program is also effective for children with movement disorders (from neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy), joint pain, headaches, asthma, and nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting). A main component in this comprehensive approach is structural rehabilitation with Integrative Manual Therapy. With IMT, tension and restrictions in the child’s body are assessed and corrected with gentle hands-on techniques. Functional rehabilitation is achieved with home exercise programs and through the ancient practice of Yoga, which helps foster the child’s strength, flexibility, balance, attention, focus and respect. The child achieves these goals through breath work, balance exercises and gentle discipline. Other aspects of the program include nutritional support, stress management, and extensive education for the parents about nutrition, communication and other behavior modification strategies through our Parenting Support Groups. These services at Athens Therapeutics are covered in full by Medicaid and Peachcare and they are in network with most insurance companies.

Our children have amazing potential. The goal of our Kids First program is to help our children achieve that potential.

To read more about the different aspects of the Kids First program, click on the following:

IMT for Kids

As with adults, Integrative Manual Therapy is extremely effective at improving many childhood conditions. The focus of the manual therapy treatments are dependent upon on child’s individual condition and their own specific presentation. In cases such as ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s and other neurological or neuro-behavioral disorders, the focus of treatment is usually on Cranial Therapy (to address restriction in the head and central nervous system), Lymph Therapy (to improve immune competence), and Neural Tissue Tension (to decrease peripheral nerve tension). With children with asthma, the focus is on improving chest and rib mobility, while with colic or failure to thrive, the focus is on Visceral Mobilization to decrease pressure and improve the function of the digestive and elimination systems. With nocturnal enuresis (nighttime bedwetting) the focus is again on Visceral Mobilization but specific to the uro-genital system. In cases such as joint pain or headaches, the focus is on restoring normal joint biomechanics (alignment) and muscular balance. All techniques are very gentle in nature and are tolerated very well by the children. In addition to the manual therapy treatments, children and parents are given extensive home exercise program to help facilitate progress. These exercises will also be specific to the child’s condition such as breathing exercises for asthma or ADHD, pelvic floor exercises for nocturnal enuresis, and balance/ strengthening exercises for movement disorders.

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Yoga for Kids

In addition to the exercise programs children and parents are given to do at home, our Yoga for Kids program is an essential form of functional rehabilitation. Our kid’s yoga program helps to foster strength, flexibility, balance, attention, focus, concentration and respect for yourself as well as others. The child achieves these goals through breath work, balance exercises and gentle discipline. For pediatric patients of Athens Therapeutics, this form of therapeutic exercise may be an important part of a child’s treatment plan. The sessions are lead by licensed physical therapists in conjunction with an experienced yoga therapist. While our manual therapy treatments open the potential for improved function, therapeutic exercise with yoga will help integrate those structural corrections, reeducate normal movement and promote calmness and focus.

The classes have three sections. The first is a ‘Dharma’ talk in which the children are given an open forum to express themselves while also practicing proper posture and active listening skills. During this portion of the class the children will learn about respect, nutrition, and other important lessons. The second section of the class is the ‘Asana’ or movement portion of the class. The asana (or series of movements and poses) include postures which require balance and attentiveness. The last portion of the class is ‘Chavasana’ or relaxation pose. It is a time for the children to lie quietly, focus on their own breathing and learn to calm themselves. Guided imagery is used to help the children obtain this state of quiet and focus.

These yoga classes offer children with attention deficit, behavioral disorders or movement issues tools to improve themselves. Imagine an attention deficit child sitting and observing his own breath for an extended period. Impossible, right?? Well how often has that child been given the opportunity to exercise their attention? Imagine a child with balance and movement issues. How often is the child encouraged to challenge their balance so they may strengthen proprioception (body awareness) and improve ease of movement? Yoga is a form of functional rehabilitation that will provide this sort of constructive challenge.

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Nutrition for Kids

Poor nutrition is one of the biggest contributing factors to childhood behavioral disorders. It can also slow the healing of many other neurological and orthopedic pediatric problems. Effective interventions must include attention to the child's nutrition. Although our nutritional education programs are not a substitute for professional dietary counseling, general nutritional education is often part of a child's treatment process.  Parents are educated on balanced nutrition, simple diet modifications (such as increasing or eliminating certain foods) and other general nutritional issues.  The children are also actively involved in this education as they are taught to read labels, avoid certain foods or ingredients and generally become more responsible for what they are eating. These simple dietary changes can yield amazing results for many childhood conditions. 

In addition to diet, supplementation is another excellent way to help improve the body's physiology and to speed the recovery process.  Although Athens Therapeutics practioners do not specifically prescribe nutritional supplements, they can provide general information about the role of nutritional supplementation. For those parents who are knowledgeable about the use of nutritional supplements, and are seeking the highest quality nutritional supplements, these products are available for order at Athens Therapeutics .  An extensive variety of nutritional supplements are available through our accounts with several nutritional manufacturers who only distribute through health care providers.  These include products from such reputable company such as Metagenics, Standard Process and Seroyal.

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Stress Management for Kids

We do not often think of our child being “stressed”. However they are subjected to more social, emotional and mental pressure than we realize. These stressors, and the patterns the child has developed to cope with them, contribute greatly to a child’s overall behavior. Although our stress management strategies are not a substitute for professional psychotherapeutic intervention, they can contribute significantly to a child’s behavior and overall state of wellbeing. Since a child is not normally mature enough to deal with deep seated emotional issues, simple strategies are given to help the child express, relax and focus. These strategies may include drawing, breathing, talking, imagery or other types of therapeutic exercise.

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Parenting Support Groups

Being a parent today is tougher than ever. This is especially true for parents of a child with behavioral issues. As a courtesy to parents of children who are actively participating in our pediatric physical therapy program, we offer Parenting Support Groups. These groups are lead by an expert in the area of Active Parenting and effective communication with children. They are an open forum for sharing ideas and strategies on parenting while also learning ways to improve your communication with your child. These educational and supportive groups will equip parents with tools and strategies to help improve their child’s behavior. These groups meet concurrently with the Kid’s Yoga Classes to allow for ease of scheduling. Parenting Support Groups are also available to parents who do not have a child participating in the full physical therapy program at a cost of $5 per class.

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