When Jessica was studying for her Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy, she wasn’t sure what direction her career would take. One day, she was invited to attend a lecture presented by a well-known gastroenterologist. He showed a video of a five-month-old baby struggling to take her bottle. Every time the bottle came to the baby’s face, she let out a sad cry and refused to eat.
“I remember watching the video and something inside of me just clicked. I thought, this is what I want to do. I want to help children like this little baby. I want to learn and specialize in feeding therapy!”
From that moment on, Jessica set her trajectory for a career as an occupational therapist. She’d discovered her passion for helping young children with feeding challenges.
“We meet them on their terms and work to understand exactly where they’re coming from.”
Jessica’s Story
“I’ve always wanted to work with people and help people in my career. When I discovered occupational therapy, it seemed like a natural fit for me,” says Jessica. “I also really love working with young children.”
Her passion for early childhood occupational therapy has driven her throughout her career. Jessica holds a Master’s Degree from Indiana State University in Occupational Therapy. Her extensive experience and credentials include Illinois Early Intervention credentialing in Occupational Therapy and becoming an Early Intervention Credentialed Evaluator. Jessica received the Pi Theta Epsilon Leadership Excellence Award.
But Jessica’s true gift is working with children who have unique feeding challenges. She’s a member of the American and Illinois Occupational Therapy Associations, Feeding Matters, and the Chicago Feeding Group.
In her personal life, Jessica loves spending time with her family, especially her nieces and nephews. She and her husband recently adopted a new puppy, which keeps them busy as well. But Jessica gets her greatest fulfillment from the work she does at M Street with her clients.
Jessica’s career-mindedness is driven by a goal to help people become more independent in their lives. Working one-on-one with families, she helps them learn how to help their child become more independent and successful in their daily activities, especially eating.
“I chose OT over other types of therapy, like physical therapy or speech therapy, because I felt it was a different and overlooked or misunderstood area of therapy, but still so important. We get to help kids learn the important tasks of daily life, like putting their shoes and socks on, toothbrushing, eating more foods, and choosing a better, nutritious diet.”
OT is both fun and functional. The skills children learn during their therapy carry them throughout their lives and form the basis of their success in other areas of their life, whether it’s school, socially, or during activities at home. Much of the work done in OT is sensory based—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
Jessica loves the duality of the challenging situations and meaningfulness in her work.
“We look at the challenges faced by our clients—for example a child missing a limb—and figure out how to overcome the encounters they face. How are we going to put on socks? How are we going to cut food? These activities are small, but so meaningful in terms of building confidence and success.”
Jessica particularly enjoys working with kids who have upper extremity physical dysfunction, such as cerebral palsy, the effects of a stroke, or kids who need to build their motor and fine motor skills. Jessica loves working with infants and very young children.
“I love the challenges presented by each case. Every situation is new, and every child is different. I enjoy the opportunity to learn along with the families about what works best for each child. What works perfectly for one kid may not work at all for another. In my job, you have to always be on your toes and ready to figure out a custom approach for each family.”
Jessica really puts herself in the shoes of her patients and their parents. She works with empathy and compassion to discover new approaches to OT in each situation.
“We get to help kids learn the important tasks of daily life…”
Working with Jessica and M Street
“M Street offers the perfect opportunity to help families. We’re often working right in the home, seeing what families go through in their day-to-day lives. We can see how they apply the skills they’re learning and how they address the needs of their child right in their regular living environment.”
M Street therapists work with children and parents in their homes. The goal of occupational therapy for children is to help them participate in activities many people may take for granted—the nuances of day-to-day life. Learning how to eat and feed themselves is a critical ability.
M Street therapists like Jessica work with parents and children to meet children where they are. The goal isn’t to fix a child or “cure” them, but to find ways to make life easier for both the parents and children. We build a rapport with parents and help them build their confidence in their child’s abilities and independence.
“Many families have so much going on in their lives. When we visit their house, we get to see exactly what their particular challenges are. Maybe a family has several other kids with needs of their own. So, we look at their lifestyle and discuss how we’re going to fit occupational therapy in their life too,” says Jessica, who attributes the success of M Street’s therapy to the connections with the family. “We meet them on their terms and work to understand exactly where they’re coming from.”
The result is OT activities that are meaningful and applicable to children in their unique situation and lives. Rather than pulling children aside in an office environment for a few hours a week, M Street therapists visit children right where they live, eat, learn, and play. They discover ways to help the child maximize their interaction with their personal environment.
“We build a rapport with parents and help them build their confidence in their child’s abilities…”
A Passion for Helping Kids with Feeding Challenges
When Jessica works with kids, she typically spends some time reviewing the basics of occupational therapy and sensory therapy with the parents.
“Often, people aren’t sure what OT really is. We go through the basics with new families, so they can understand what we’re doing to help their child. Often, we discuss sensory therapy—what are the basic senses. What does sensory look like for the parent and what does it look like for their child.”
Sensory work is often a tough concept to grasp at first because it’s such an integral part of our human experience. It’s easy to forget that something as simple as spoon feeding can be challenging for a child. A child with upper extremity difficulties, for example, may need to work with an occupational therapist to help them adapt to basic tasks like toileting, getting dressed, and eating.
OT is also focused on strengthening motor, fine-motor, and visual skills—areas children with sensory processing disorders and other disabilities may struggle with. OT helps kids build basic skills, so they can experience the full range of childhood activities.
M Street therapists work on the forefront of occupational therapy. Like all the therapists at M Street, Jessica finds time to engage in many professional groups and attend conferences whenever possible.
“Keeping up on the latest research in OT is so important. Connecting with local groups and building community connections really helps us to stay current on new ideas and methods. I try to implement these discoveries into my therapy whenever I can. I want to bring families the latest ideas and the best care.”
“In early intervention work, you’re often out on your own. But at M Street, we’re very supported and work with an amazing group of professionals. This helps us grow and learn as therapists, so we can better help our families. I feel so lucky to be a part of that.”
“...at M Street, we’re very supported and work with an amazing group of professionals.”
