We first met Grace Portoghese when our son was referred for Occupational Therapy on June 2018. He was diagnosed with developmental and speech delay and he had specific developmental disorder of motor function. He was doing speech therapy since he was 2 years old, but the progress was going slow. Because of his delay of speech, he was not using many words, which was hard to manage because he would get frustrated when we did not understand him.
Our Speech therapist recommended us to have him evaluated for OT because she said there was a correlation between occupational therapy and speech. She said that there is something that sometimes “clicks” when the kids start OT and help them to develop that ability to communicate. So, we followed her advice and evaluated him.
Grace did his evaluation and few weeks after we started his occupational therapies. After few weeks doing his OT his speech therapist noticed he was calmer during his sessions, focusing and using words more and more. He was able to follow instructions, focus and staying engaged on a task for more than few minutes at a time. It was like something made that “click” on his head and he started to slow down and focusing more and more. Her patience, knowledge and dedication to our son was really noticed with all his improvements. Even at his school they notice the difference. Grace really cares about her patients, even a year after she went to another office, she always calls me to see how our son is doing. I highly recommend Grace to any parent looking for an OT for their kids. She really makes a difference!
— Nancy
We were extremely lucky to have met Grace 3 years ago and she continues to be one of the most important resources we have for our daughter with high functioning autism and sensory processing disorder to this day. While she is professional and extremely knowledgeable, the thing that sets Grace apart is how much she cares about the children in her care and their families. Our daughter absolutely loves her (and so do we)!
She empowered us as the parents with the tools to help our daughter flourish and develop despite her diagnosis. With Grace’s help, it was absolutely amazing to see our daughter’s sensory processing issues become less impactful and limiting to her life. I had no idea that occupational therapy could make such an impact!
She had clear treatment plans and outcome assessments to ensure that her interventions matched our daughters needs and were effective. Her approach was tailored specifically to our daughter and she genuinely listened to our input and worked to ensure her treatment plan was appropriate for our daughter and that we were educated on how to work with her at home. As our daughter has grown Grace has guided us through new challenges and situations that have come with her getting older and encountering new things. I highly recommend Grace for the care of your child!!
— Amanda