The Idea Behind The FOCUS Center
Ruth Yaacoby has fifteen years experience as an Occupational Therapist and has been running a private occupational therapy center in Bergen County since 1999. She and her team of therapists focused primarily on the sensory integration approach for intervention.

Over the past 5 years of working with children in the center, Ruth and her team of therapists observed that most children that they have treated have had difficulties in more than one area of performance. They also saw that issues in one area sometimes lead to other concerns. For example, sensory processing difficulties in a child may cause that child to experience social, behavioral and learning problems. So the team took a ‘holistic’ approach to therapy: looking at the child as a ‘whole’ enabled the therapists, parents, and educators to understand the child’s needs in a comprehensive way and therefore provide the highest quality of therapy to the child.

Ruth and the therapists also saw that weekly therapist meetings to discuss a child’s progress and development gave tremendous insight, and resulted in improving the next session with the child. These team meetings were highly valuable and gave the therapists a leap forward in the way they were treating the child.

If weekly meetings were so beneficial, they thought about a customized integrated session based on each child’s individual needs: two different therapists working in real-time together with a child. They had a vision of developing a method that would integrate a variety of disciplines, all complimenting each other: psychotherapy, play groups, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, movement groups, yoga, nutrition and learning specialty.

This integrated method is the key to comprehensive and successful therapy. The two therapists can work together in the same session, complimenting each other, and observing the progress of the child, pinpointing what they need to focus on, and how they need to move forward from session to session. At the same time, this approach benefits the child with more intensive therapy and fewer sessions, allowing for the important “down-time” and free play that all children need.

Parents also benefit from the approach of The FOCUS Center. Due to the team approach and integrated sessions, parents who used to disapprove of the lack of communication among all the professionals that would treat their child (including in school) have seen a vast improvement in treatment. Also, by bringing all the therapists under one roof at the FOCUS Center, parents are also thrilled about coming to ONE place and ONE session for treatment, instead of hours of non-stop driving from one professional to another, often compromising on the quality for convenient location.

By combining feedback from parents with her experience and personal and professional philosophy for high-quality child care, Ruth was led to open The FOCUS Center, the Integrated Team Approach for Children.



Our Unique Approach
Integrated Treatment Approach: Two therapists working jointly in one session.

In a typical session, this could be a psychotherapist and a speech therapist or an occupational therapist and a speech therapist working together on mutual goals while sharing expertise.

Why does it work? According to our years of experience, we see that many of our children show difficulties in more than one area. For example, we know that social difficulties frequently co-occur with learning disabilities and behavioral problems may manifest from underlying sensory issues. With our Integrated Treatment Approach, we are able to address the child’s individual needs through more than one specialty.

Collaborative Team Approach: Ongoing communication between therapists and clinicians.

One of the benefits of treatment at the FOCUS Center is the ongoing communication between our team of clinicians. Our therapists meet regularly to discuss and brainstorm on the progress of the child, treatment, and address any concern that may exist.

Why does it work? With an “in-house” team, we maximize the benefit of exchanging thoughts and ideas with each other daily. We are constantly cross-training our team about sensory issues, speech and language, as well as emotional and behavioral issues. For example, if a child is currently undergoing occupational therapy treatment and requires additional sensory work to improve his attention for handwriting or oral motor work, this can easily be accomplished through our facility by providing integrated sessions.

Alternative Approach for Intervention:
Many of the children we see may need therapy and support beyond their specific area of concern, and many times they graduate from the specific services, but may still show some functional difficulties (physical, behavioral, emotional and social). The FOCUS Center strongly believes in continuing to support a child’s growth through such programs as:

• Social & Communication Groups
• Yoga for Kids
• Nutrition
• Handwriting Groups
• Bike Training
• Tying Your Shoes Groups

These services will be added to the center in the near future.
If you are interested in these for your child/children, please sign up here.

The FOCUS Center works with all children of all ages and issues: hyperactivity and inattention, learning difficulties, social skills, play skills, sensory integration, handwriting problems, expressive and receptive language delays, oral motor, muscle tone and other neurological delays.