Gross Motor Development in Baldwin, NY

Your kid climbs the ladder without the long freeze at the bottom, runs with the pack instead of behind it, and gets back up after a fall like it was nothing. Running, jumping, balance, coordination, core strength, motor planning.

Running, jumping, climbing Ages 2 to 16 Talk to a Specialist

What It Is

Big body first. The skill follows.

A therapist helping a girl reach up to grab the monkey bars in the sensory gym You watch every session on the live feed

Gross motor is the big stuff. Running, jumping, climbing, catching, staying upright on a scooter, going down stairs one foot at a time. It is everything your kid does with the whole body at once.

When those skills lag, it is almost never about trying harder. Underneath there is usually a core that tires fast, a balance system that has not caught up, or motor planning: the brain working out the order of the steps before the body runs them. We go after that layer first, one-on-one with a licensed occupational and physical therapist, starting with a comprehensive initial evaluation that looks for the cause instead of drilling the missing skill.

You didn’t need a checklist to tell you something was different. You have watched him hang back at the bottom of the slide for a year now. The parents who get here fastest are the ones who stopped waiting for someone else to confirm it.

What It Helps

The kids this was built for.

Skills build on skills. The year spent waiting is a year every other kid on the playground banks practice, so the gap does not hold still while yours works twice as hard to keep up. If either of these sounds like your week, start here.

He’s still the last one up the ladder, and he knows it Swings and slides either terrify her or she can’t get enough

What A Session Looks Like

Three stops. None of them look like therapy.

1

Warm-up on the real equipment: the zipline, the slides, the climbing wall, 2,100 square feet of it.

2

Then the hard part, hidden inside a game: core, balance, coordination, motor planning, one rung at a time.

3

You watch the whole thing live on the waiting room screen, then we debrief before you leave.

What Changes

Four things you notice outside this room.

Recess stops being the hard part of the day.

He climbs the play structure without asking for a boost.

Gym class stops ending in tears.

She stops asking to sit out and starts asking to go again.

Pairs Well With

What we often run alongside it.

Pediatric Physical Therapy For the strength, gait, and endurance sitting underneath every big-body skill.

Questions, Answered

Gross motor, in plain language.

You probably don’t, and that is exactly what the comprehensive initial evaluation is for. It is one-on-one with a licensed occupational and physical therapist, and we look at balance, core strength, coordination, and motor planning against what is typical for the age. Then we tell you plainly what we see. Sometimes the answer is that your kid is fine and you can stop carrying it. When it is not, you leave with a plan that has an endpoint.

Ages 2 to 16, individually and in small groups. A three year old who is still not jumping and a twelve year old who dreads gym class need very different sessions, and they get them.

Not to get started. In New York, pediatric occupational therapists can evaluate and treat without a physician referral for up to 30 days. That applies to non-restorative services such as developmental skill training, when your child is not in acute care. If care continues past that window, we walk you through exactly what your plan and your pediatrician need from us.

You watch. HD cameras stream a live feed to a television in the waiting area, so you see the session as it happens instead of hearing about it afterwards. Your therapist still debriefs with you after every session and shows you what to carry over at home.

Because it does not look like a clinic. It is a 2,100 square foot sensory gym with slides, monkey bars, climbing walls, and a zipline, and the work is buried inside the play. Ester Marcellin, M.S., OTR/L, puts it this way: “My goal is to create a safe and engaging environment for kids to explore, improve their sensory and motor skills, and feel empowered to try hard things.” If you want to see the room before you commit, call us at (516) 744-7550.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Tell us what you’re noticing at home. A real person calls you back to set up the comprehensive evaluation. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’

  • Hours Mon–Thu 1:00pm–7:00pm · Fri 10:00am–7:00pm · Sat 9:00am–2:30pm · Sun Closed
  • (516) 744-7550 Prefer to just talk it through? Call us.
  • Saturday appointments, 9:00am to 2:30pm

5.0 · 28 Google reviews

Ages 2 to 16, individual and group

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you and your child walk in.

Visit Us

Right on Merrick Road, in Baldwin.

Planet Sensory

Take Me There (opens in new tab) Call Us