Chelsea, OT/L

Chelsea has spent the past year evaluating and treating kids from the ages of 3-14 years old in an outpatient clinic with diagnoses consisting of Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, fine and gross motor deficits, behavioral concerns, mental health concerns to name a few. Chelsea has experience working with and co-treating with Speech Language Pathologists and Physical Therapists and collaborating on goals with parents, teachers, and other health professionals. Chelsea has co-led several social groups, from the ages of 3-9, which addressed regulation and natural social interactions using the Social Thinking Curriculum and SuperFlex.

Chelsea’s family moved to North Carolina when she was 2. She was raised in Cary and graduated from Cary High School. During her time in High School, as a Sports Medicine student, she had the opportunity to shadow an OT and Behavior Specialist at a local elementary school. Chelsea soon realized that her educational journey would lead her to Occupational Therapy. During her undergraduate degree at Meredith College, Chelsea worked with the Meredith Autism Program and completed her internship at an outpatient pediatric clinic. After graduation, she began working at a Victory Junction in Randleman, NC, a camp started by NASCAR’s Petty Family and Paul Newman as a “Serious Fun Camp”, caring for kids with various medical and physical diagnoses. At the camp, she gained experience living and working with children with spina bifida, diabetes, cerebral palsy, heart/kidney/lung concerns, physical disabilities, neurological disabilities, sickle cell, oncology, bleeding and gastrointestinal disorders, and other general disorders. This experience gave Chelsea an in-depth understanding of the challenges these children face in their daily lives and an appreciation of their caretakers. In addition, Chelsea worked with the Autism Society of NC visiting patients in their homes and with the Town of Cary as an inclusion counselor. She then attended ECU for their Occupational Therapy program and graduated in December 2022. During her time at ECU, she worked as a Team Training Manager for an Adventure Leadership Program that consisted of coordinating and organizing team-building opportunities with new students and groups of all ages within the community around Greenville. She realizes the importance of inclusions, social interactions and teamwork at all ages! While completing her master’s program, Chelsea had experience in an outpatient pediatric clinic, a neuro-rehabilitation clinic for adults, adult inpatient and acute care in a hospital, and within the school system. While at ECU, Chelsea completed her research project titled ‘Exploring the Effectiveness of a 6-week in-person handwriting program for improving handwriting legibility, speed, and self-perception for 6-7 year old students.’ Through her research, she found that the program proved to be effective in improving handwriting capabilities.

Chelsea has used a play-based, DIRFloortime (Floortime), and Sensory Integrative approach to her treatment, and tailors her treatment style to each child and their goals. She enjoys and encourages parental involvement through hands-on interactions in treatment, questions throughout sessions, and providing resources for parents. Together, she wants to create a strong relationship with the child and family to support the goals for a happy and fulfilled life.