About Us
Valerie Goodfriend, OTR/L, has been practicing Occupational Therapy since 1985. She has been in private practice since 1997, treating children with a wide variety of disabilities in both school and clinic settings. She has presented numerous lectures across the country and has been awarded the highest level of recognition by her colleagues, the Award of Merit in Practice.
Norma Wright, OTR/L, has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist since 1999. She worked for the New York City Board of Education, treating elementary school children with a wide range of disabilities. Prior to her career as an OT, Norma was a Special Education teacher, working with children with many special needs, including deafness and blindness. She has presented workshops on alternate communication programs.
Both Valerie and Norma hold Occupational Therapy licenses in North Carolina and are registered by the National Certification Board of Occupational Therapy.
Marge Duffy, COTA/L joined our practice in August 2008 and has jumped in with both feet to all aspects of our programming. She comes to us with more than five years experience working with children of all levels of ability as a school-based Occupational Therapist in both New York and North Carolina. Marge is providing KidsAbilities OT services this school year in two area Charter schools, Carolina International School and Charlotte Secondary School. She is also seeing clinic clients in both the University and Davidson offices.
At KidsAbilities, we use a Sensory Integration approach to address all areas of fine and gross motor skills. We work with children of all ages and levels of ability to improve functioning at school, home and play. Individual therapy uses fun, challenging activities to build gross and fine motor skills and develop the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. Sessions are typically 45 minutes long, with brief time afterward to review with the parent what went on as well as to provide follow-up activities.
At our Davidson office, we work closely with Theresa Lloyd, Educational Therapist. Theresa offers children with learning challenges a broad range of intensive individualized interventions to remediate deficit areas. The unique collaboration between our two agencies has reinforced the philosophy that children learn through movement. All of the therapists have been thrilled to find that the movement activities provided by Occupational Therapy enhance the effectiveness of Educational Therapy, thus allowing the child to experience success academically while exhibiting progress in other skill areas at a faster rate. Children who could benefit from the combined approach of Occupational and Educational Therapies are often scheduled either for back-to-back sessions or for a special combined session, called "Tutoring with a Twist".
Testimonials
Here's what some of our clients are saying:
"He seems more confident. His ability to actually sit down and do the work and not be frustrated has improved."
"They put the medical jargon in terms you can understand."
"They don't look at anything as a disability; it's just making ability stronger."
"These therapists are exceptional! They are able to target his trouble areas."
