Park Record (Park City, UT)
March 11, 2008
Section: Business
Therapist focuses on children
Kelly Keiter, Of the Record Staff
 Parkite Jessica Kahn
said she loves working with children. As a pediatric occupational
therapist, she helps children focus in their environment, develop
improved sensory motor skills and better receive input from their
environments.
"It's
so important that kids can focus in school," Kahn said. "They need help
with their play skills and maximizing their learning."
Kahn opened the Blue Sky
Therapeutics office for pediatric occupational therapy in Prospector
Square in September. There, she helps children with autism, Asperger's
Syndrome, ADHD and other learning disabilities to develop sensory-motor
skills by engaging and playing in an interactive environment.
Kahn graduated with a
Bachelor's degree in psychology from Washington University in Missouri
and completed her Master's degree in occupational therapy at Rush
University in Chicago. Originally from Potomac, Maryland, she moved to
Park City with her husband, Brian Kahn, two years ago.
 During her studies,
Jessica said she did rotations in pediatrics and worked at a children's
hospital in Chicago. After finishing graduate school, she worked at a
therapeutic day school for two years and also worked at a children's
therapeutic school in Denver for several years.
Before starting her own
practice, Jessica worked for the Park City School District's
Educational Advantage Program, where she tutored children grades K-12.
Now that she has opened her own private practice, she said she enjoys working with children one-on-one.
Jessica said her work
focuses on assisting young children struggling with their handwriting.
After working with several children's therapeutic programs and the
Educational Advantage Program, she said she felt it was time to open
her own practice in order to work with Park City families individually.
Jessica said sometimes
parents and teachers are unaware that certain children have trouble
focusing in school, and she offers counseling for parents and teachers
to show them how they can better help their children with learning
disabilities feel comfortable and at ease in their environments.
"Kids respond well [to
this therapy]," Kahn said. "In an environment like this, I am able to
flood their systems with sensory input so they [can improve their motor
skills."
Kahn said she focuses on
several areas affecting children's sensory-motor skills, including the
proprioception system, which deals with body coordination; the
vestibular system, responsible for balance and equilibrium, and sensory
modulation, where some children have difficulty controlling the
intensity of certain stimuli.
"Some kids have the inability to respond to new tasks," Kahn said. "But it can be dealt with."
Kahn said she also works
with children that are hypo or hyper-responsive. She said children that
are hyper-responsive are constantly running around, and she has certain
activities that help these children concentrate and stay focused.
Children that are hyporesponsive can be lethargic or unable to complete
certain tasks. She said she can help these children respond to their
environments.
Kahn said even children
who are not diagnosed with autism can have certain learning
disabilities that might not be detected by parents or teachers. She
said she offers observation time in the classroom where she can
identify where a child may be struggling and come up with a specific
diagnoses and plans for how parents and teachers can assist that child
at home or in the classroom.
She said she works with
children from all over the area, including Wyoming, and is looking
forward to working with more local families.
Jessica and her husband, Brian, live in Pinebrook. Jessica said she enjoys the lifestyle in Park City.
Blue Sky Therapeutics for
Pediatric Occupational Therapy office is located at 1910 Prospector
Avenue. For more information, call Jessica Kahn at (435) 659-1746 or e-mail her at falikahn@gmail.com.
Photo: A young patient gets some help falling off a swing onto a large pillow by occupational therapist Jessica Kahn on Monday. The child s therapy helps her gain comfort in previously uncomfortable situations. (Kristin Murphy/Park Record)
(c) 2008 Park Record. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
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