WILBRAHAM – Sensory SpOT has moved to their new location on 2 Crane Park Dr. in Wilbraham.

Sensory SpOT helps children reach their goals and provides them with tools and resources to be successful in their daily occupations. Any difficulties that a child may have within play or schooling whether it be their social/emotional skills, self-regulation skills, sensory processing, motor skills, as well as much more. They will work with the child and family to reach their goals.

Director/Occupational Therapist Felicia Kroll explained the move, “We really need more space. Our previous location in East Longmeadow was much smaller. With a bigger facility we will be able to spread out a bit and expand our center’s gym a little bit more.”

She continued, “The new location will provide occupational therapy evaluations, individual and group interventions, as well as a place where children can come and participate in different wellness activities. The wellness groups are open to all children of all abilities including those not necessarily eligible for occupational therapy services.”

Kroll has been an occupational therapist for 15 years. She’s always worked in pediatrics and has worked for various public and private schools, outpatient facilities, hospital-based and most recently in higher education. Kroll told Reminder Publishing Sensory SpOT was started because there was a lack of resources for children and families within Western Mass.

What sets them apart from other facilities, she said, is that they take the time to listen to the struggles the families are experiencing and work to help them understand their child better and provide support and recommendations. She explained they work with children and families to explore ways to foster growth of their emotional wellbeing and build a strong foundation and mind-body connection necessary for learning. They also provide services beyond the clinic and are able to go into the home, school or childcare settings to provide support where it is most needed.

“We want to provide opportunities for the children who need it the most or may have been missed by traditional service. Greater social opportunities are needed even more now coming out of the [coronavirus] pandemic,” Kroll explained.

Sensory SpOT utilizes a brain-based approach, Kroll described, and works on strengthening a child’s foundational skills, core strengthening, self-regulation skills, reflex integration, sensory processing, oculomotor skills and social/emotional needs. She shared they work to address underlying needs before getting to higher level complex skills that are needed within cognitive regulation. Those are skills that are needed to plan and organize as well as produce more fluid movement for a child to be successful in classroom and home settings.

Generally, they schedule groups based on the needs of the families. If a parent reaches out and is looking for a specific service then they will look for children that they can pair them with or provide as much support as they can within their scope of practice.

“We would like to continue to grow the program so that we are a great resource for the community,” Kroll said. “I personally love helping the families and seeing the parents take a sigh of relief when I’m able to identify where their child is struggling or provide them with resources of which direction they should take with their child. They may have seen their child struggling in one way or another and haven’t known where to turn.”

Registration is now open for their fall occupational therapy (OT) groups at their new location All groups are run by a licensed occupational therapist and OT staff/students. They consist of small groups consisting of two to four children. Groups are scheduled in six-week intervals. For more information and specifics, go to sensoryspotma.com.

Sign-up by emailing info@sensoryspotma.com or online at https://www.vagaro.com/sensoryspot.