Seven-year-old second-grade twins Ellie and Liz have been Shea Center clients for a year. With the onset of the pandemic, the girls began to be anxious about their surroundings by not feeling safe, not wanting to play outside, or being afraid of bugs and so forth. For...
Lana is six years old and loves coming to her occupational therapy treatments using equine movement at The Shea Center! A client for just four months, she is making great progress. Lana was reaching all her milestones until at age 1, she began to regress. She...
Tank is a happy seven-year-old who loves Tesla cars. When he is not talking, he is making car sounds and pretending to be driving or parking a Tesla. He has nine Tesla t-shirts made for him by his grandma and he wears one every day. Tank particularly likes electric...
Occupations are the activities that make up our day such as dressing, making a meal, grocery shopping, playing, going to school or work, and much more. So what is occupational therapy (OT)? Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants help people of all...
Twins, Charlie and Nicky P. (age 7) participate in occupational therapy utilizing hippotherapy at The Shea Center. The boys were diagnosed with autism just before their third birthday.The family recently moved to Orange County from Redding, CA. They miss the rural...
Abby B.'s bedroom reflects her passion for horses including a horse calendar on the wall. Last year, on her first day of occupational therapy utilizing hippotherapy at The Shea Center, Abby wasn't sure horses were much fun. She was riding a horse in a puppy dog pose...
Olive R. (age 4) has only been riding at The Shea Center for about five months as an occupational therapy/hippotherapy client. However, her therapist, Karen Yamasaki, commented that as a child with autism, Olive has made tremendous progress in that time. Her...
First-grader Brody M. is proud of his accomplishments as a Shea Center rider and talks all about his riding experiences at home.Diagnosed with ADHD, Brody loves lots of movement on his horse, Merry. His occupational therapist, Karen Yamasaki, says that at times,...
Every Tuesday and Saturday, Kate G. (age 5) and her mother Donna have a fun time together at The Shea Center. Those are the days that Donna sidewalks with Kate during her occupational and speech therapy treatments. Kate rides Remi and Merry, her favorite, and loves...
by Jennifer Lee, OTR/L Proprioception is an important sensory system that allows us to detect our body position and movement through space from input to our muscles and joints. Engaging in heavy work such as pushing, pulling, tugging, and towing against weight or...