MISSION & PHILOSOPHY
Our mission is to provide a unique sensory, motor and social skills occupational therapy program to children with different abilities by utilizing a fun, natural play environment often enjoyed by their typicallydeveloping peers. In a stimulating indoor inflatable bounce facility, an experienced therapist works with small groups of children with ADHD, autistic spectrum disorders, and sensory processing, motor and social difficulties, building their skills in a goal-oriented therapy/play program.
The challenging inflatables and fun, exciting setting are the ideal motivational tools to help children master sensory motor skills including balance, core control coordination, body in space awareness, motor planning and bilateral integration. JumpTherapy’s innovative program focuses equally heavily on social skills development by facilitating eye contact and language, impulse control, turn taking, frustration tolerance, team building and sportsmanship. These are all essential to achievement in academic settings and in all aspects of everyday life.
JumpTherapy’s vision also includes a solid basis of support for the family. A free parent support group is held during each session, designed to help parents interact, discuss common issues and gain strength from each other.
JumpTherapy’s program was developed in 2013 by Miriam Skydell, a pediatric OT with 30 years experience and a strong commitment to making a positive difference in the lives of special needs children and their families. Our core values of integrity, compassion, and respect for individual differences support our goal to empower every child and every family with the skills for success in functional mobility, emotional control, relationships and independence.
Biography
Miriam SKydell, MS, OTR/L
Miriam Skydell, a pediatric OT with 30 years experience, developed the JumpTherapy program in 2013 to enable special needs children to receive therapy in a fun, natural play environment their typically-developing peers often enjoy. Miriam designed this groundbreaking program, available nowhere else in the United States, to help integrate sensory needs and social skills for the child, while parents simultaneously participate in a free support group, resulting in the optimum benefit for both parent and child.
Ms. Skydell’s credentials include a Masters degree from NYU (1986) and membership in the AOTA (American Occupational Therapy Association). She is a licensed Interactive Metronome® and TLP (The Listening Program®) provider. She has taught Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) and helped to implement the HWT curriculum in many public and non-public school settings throughout New Jersey.
Miriam performs annual preschool screenings for numerous preschools in Bergen County, as well as lectures extensively for parent and support groups and at teacher conferences. Through her private practice in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Miriam has helped countless children with a wide range of diagnoses improve functional living skills and meet their individual potentials. Miriam Skydell and Associates was established in 1995 and contracts experienced OTs, PTs and STs to various private and public school districts in Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties. Miriam and her JumpTherapy program have been featured in many media outlets across the US, ranging from parenting magazines to newspapers and periodicals to FiOS1 News.
Miriam believes in helping parents focus on the strength and abilities of each child while incorporating behavior plans and strategies to foster success. Her practice is based on the Floortime model of child-driven therapy and she has gained recognition for her particular expertise with children ages 2-10. With autism spectrum disorders and ADHD becoming a reality for so many parents, Miriam has focused her practice on working with children and their parents on managing the impact of the sensory processing dysfunction associated with these diagnoses.
Miriam Skydell is firmly committed to making a positive difference in the lives of special needs children and their families. She brings her love for children, her personal understanding of parents struggling with a special needs child, and her 30 years of therapy experience to every session. She takes pride in offering a nurturing and caring environment where children and their parents will feel safe and secure to explore, take risks and overcome challenges.