The new sensory gym at Carle Health Methodist's atrium in downtown Peoria looks a lot like an indoor playground. It has monkey bars, a ball pit, and basketball hoops. But it's more than just a space to play.
Colleen James is a pediatric occupational therapist. She said some kids don't have the ability to naturally filter through incoming sensory information like sounds or sights and focus. It's much easier for these kids to become overwhelmed by the environment around them, especially when there's a lot going on around them.
"When that happens, things like sitting in the classroom, playing with friends, become very challenging," James said. "And so this sensory gym caters to the tools they need to regulate their emotions and their senses and meet the goals they need to be functional in the community."
Take the ball pit, for example. James said it helps with proprioception, which is a person's sense of where their body is and how it moves. The sense helps with things like keeping balance.
"When you jump into the ball pit, you immediately have pressure from the balls around you're pushing through. It also even gives you some visual stimulation with all the colors auditory stimulation as you kind of cycle through there," she said. "So it looks like a play toy, and it's fun and engaging for kids, but it's a therapeutic tool so that they can increase that sensory experience and adapt to their world."
The new sensory gym and added staff help improve access to outpatient occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and physical therapy.
"We have all the different modalities for children with autism, children with developmental delays, children needing speech therapy, physical therapy," said Mark Kuhn, Carle Health Greater Peoria's vice president of ambulatory services. "And we've got specialists in each and every one of those areas that can transform a child from their daycare, from their school, into the mainstream, and get them to better function, or even full function."
There's a long backlog for families seeking physical, speech, and occupational therapy services for their children in Central Illinois.
"A couple months ago, the backlog here in Peoria was over a year for parents to get their child in," Kuhn said. "With this new space and our dedicated team, we're able to get that down to months or in urgent situations, days."
James said the sooner a child can be seen, the better.
"We've tried to hire more therapists, expand the space, because there is such a need. Wait lists can be long and very challenging for patients," she said. "So I'm really excited to be part of a team that is trying to do what we can to fix that problem. (It) doesn't happen overnight, but we're certainly doing all we can to address the need."
The sensory gym is located at 900 Main St. in Peoria, Suite 450.
