Pediatric Physical Therapy

by Shannon Regan, Physical Therapist and Lindsey Hefel, Physical Therapist

Shannon Regan

Lindsey Hefel

Are you are a parent concerned about your child keeping up with their peers in sports, in gym class, or in general coordination, strength or balance deficits? Southwest Health offers pediatric evaluations by our pediatric physical therapists to help determine if your child is where they need to be with their gross motor skills according to their age.

In the pediatric setting, we provide physical therapy for children with a wide variety of diagnoses. Common diagnoses we see include toe walking, plagiocephaly/torticollis (a.k.a flat head syndrome in young children), scoliosis (sideways curving of the spine), impaired strength, coordination and balance deficits or developmental delay as a result of another diagnosis such as autism or Down syndrome. Although these are the more common diagnoses we see, any diagnosis impacting gross motor function can qualify.

Our outpatient pediatric therapy services are different from school rehab therapies and in-home birth-to-three services. We are a separate service with a referral required by the child’s primary physician. We do not take the place of school or home therapy in most circumstances. We instead add to the therapy services a child may already be getting, in order to help the child and work toward progression in their gross and fine motor skills. Some children, if qualified to receive services in the school, may only be seen a few times a month during the school year. In the outpatient setting we can provide additional therapy services to make sure the child is keeping up with their strength, balance, coordination, etc. if working on them at home is a task in itself. For questions about if your insurance allows for multiple forms of therapy please call our office for assistance.

One of our pediatric physical therapists is Lindsey Hefel, PT, DPT. Lindsey has been practicing at Southwest Health for over two years, seeing patients of all ages from young children to the elderly. Lindsey enjoys helping her pediatric patients achieve their mobility goal and helping them gain independence and confidence in their skills through a combination of hard work and interactive activity- based strengthening.

Another pediatric physical therapist on staff is Shannon Regan, PT, DPT. Shannon is an experienced physical therapist in the setting of outpatient pediatrics as well as adult outpatient orthopedics. She has worked with a wide variety of diagnoses with children, including developmental delay, autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, toe walking, general coordination/balance/strength deficits as well as more severe/rare diagnoses. Shannon thoroughly enjoys working with the pediatric population in order to improve children’s function to keep up with peers at school and gain independence that they might be struggling with.

Southwest Health also offers outpatient occupational and speech therapy services to children of all ages. The physical, occupational, and speech therapists working with this pediatric population collaborate for treatment of the children that we work with, making sure that there everyone involved in the patient’s care is aware of the treatment. We make sure to communicate any challenges or improvements the child has made in order to provide the most successful care for your child. If you have any further questions regarding what our physical, occupational or speech therapist can do for your child, contact us at Southwest Health.