Physical Therapy Plus Offers Services For Youngest Community Members

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on November 17, 2022
- 7:17 am

Therapist Dr. Ariel Davila, PT, DPT, works with a toddler at Physical Therapy Plus. Courtesy photo

Therapist Camille Sackett-Wescott, OT, MS, works with a young child at Physical Therapy Plus. Courtesy photo

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Before being owner of Physical Therapy Plus, 1350 Central Ave., Ste. 105, Petra Pirc, MSPT, was the physical therapist for Los Alamos Public Schools. She saw first hand there is a need for pediatric occupational and physical therapy.

As a result, she began offering services to infants and children at her practice.

“My goal is to have the community know these services are available for families in Los Alamos,” Pirc said. “We want to be a resource to families and keep children in town active and healthy.”

Pirc said the practice’s two pediatric therapists: Dr. Ariel Davila, PT, DPT, and Camille Sackett-Wescott, OT, MS, work with children ages 0-18 years old.

Sackett-Wescott, an Occupational Therapist, often works with children who don’t necessarily have a particular diagnosis.

“Some children have diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder or ADHD. Some children don’t qualify for school services, but they are struggling,” Pirc said.

Many of Sackett-Wescott’s patients deal with anxiety or hold it together at school but fall apart at home.

“The hope is to be a resource for families whose children don’t qualify for the school district’s services but still could use help,” she said.

“Many patients simply have low muscle tone or muscle weaknesses and need help hitting motor milestones so they can keep up with their peers,” Davila wrote in an email.

Working with children and addressing these issues early in life is important, Pirc said, because “it can be treated and addressed.”

“Many studies have shown the sooner children receive services, the better the outcome. Parents are often told to wait and see if their child catches up with their peers,” Sackett-Wescott said. “The scientific research demonstrates intervening early is best.”

“What makes pediatric therapy different from adult therapy is that it is play-based, so children do not realize they are working,” Pirc said.

She added that play-based therapy is effective with children because “children learn and acquire new skills best through play.”

“Research has also shown that children need less repetitions to learn when the activity is play-based, rather than rote exercise,” Sackett-Wescott said.

For her personally, Pirc said it is very rewarding to see a child successfully acquire new skills and have fun doing it.

“What I enjoyed (while working as a pediatric physical therapist) was just the things you can bring out in children without them knowing it,” she said. “And reaching that threshold in development where their sensory and motor systems become organized.”

Most of their young patients come from pediatrician’s referrals. Pirc said they work closely with the Children’s Clinic and Los Alamos Pediatric Clinic. However, if children are under pediatrician’s care for an established diagnosis, they can make an appointment without a referral. Physical Therapy Plus’s pediatric physical and occupational therapy is available 9-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Most insurances, including BCBS, Presbyterian, Tricare, BCBS Centennial, Western Sky and Medicaid are accepted.

Pediatric physical therapists can help children with: