Great Kids Place

Michele is the first person we felt truly understood our daughter’s issues with motor planning/sensory and how to help her work through them. This was completely new to my husband and me, and we felt such relief and ease knowing we had Michele’s guidance and support. Michele tailors each session to your kid’s unique interests. My daughter absolutely loved going to Michele, she had no idea that ‘playtime’ was actually helping her! The progress she’s made in the past year in confidence alone is remarkable. We cannot thank Michele enough for how much she has helped our whole family!

We have worked with Michelle and Laura. Our child has been coming here for years. GKP has become a part of our extended family, and our child has embraced coming here as the highlight of her week. This is because of what GKP does with these kids. They put them in a position to succeed, want to come back, and not be embarrassed to say “yea I can’t play today because I am going to my Therapy” to their friends, with a smile on their face and excitement in their voice. I can’t even put into words what these folks mean to our child and our family, and they are the absolute best at what they do.

Our son worked with Michele Parkins of Great Kids Place and we are so much better off as a family! Learning about sensory processing disorder was the first step to understanding our son better and truly a game changer. Never has anyone treated our son both mind and body so awesomely together. Michele is so positive and can teach new approaches to do things every child deserves to do. Therapy at Great Kids Place was a complete confidence booster and we saw improvement with our son physically and emotionally. Highly recommend.

Great Kids Place has been life changing for my son and our family. He had seen two other occupational therapists before Great Kids Place. We liked them all, but Michele is in a different league. She's so knowledgeable and a part of all of the latest research. Unlike the other practices, at Great Kids Place I'm a part of the session. She and I sharing information on my son has helped lead to amazing progress. Before working with Michele, my son's sensory defensiveness held him back from many activities kids enjoy- assemblies, gym class, swimming, birthday parties. After working with Michele, he's learned the coping skills where he can not only handle these activities, but even enjoy them. Michele truly understands my unique son, and it's so nice to see the connection they share. She's helped advocate for him at his school where kids like him are often misunderstood. He can't wait to go each week and I can't believe the progress he has made. We are thankful every day that Michele is in our lives!

Words can not even begin to express how wonderful Great Kids Place is and how grateful we are to Michele Parkins. We had two prior experiences with Occupational Therapists and their centers and they were not even in the same league as Michele and Great Kids Place. The center itself is fully equipped with fun and engaging “therapy” tools. (Room size castle, ball pits, zip lines, swings galore, “therapeutic” toys and games-just to name a few!) From the first day we went to Great Kids Place my son (now 5) was excited and happy to be there. He told me shortly after we started therapy that he loved going to Michele’s and that was one of his favorite places to be. A year and six months later he still feels that way. He’s ready to go before I can even get my shoes on! Michele has been so instrumental in helping us understand our son’s diagnosis and most importantly given us tools to connect with him. She is so much more than a therapist- she’s a teacher, an advocate and coach. There have been so many times that I have thought to myself how blessed we are to have Michele in our lives. I don’t want to even think about where we would be without her.

A good friend of mine referred me to great kids after realizing my family was in need of getting my 6 year old son an evaluation. We were a bit overwhelmed and nervous at the time but Michele put us at ease and helped us to really understand what our son was experiencing and why. It actually gave us relief to know what was going on and to have a plan to help and support him. We worked with Carrie Davis one on one and found the work he did with her (and us) to be instrumental. She coordinated with his teacher and even his summer camp so that everyone knew how best to help him. I can only say good things about our experience and the care and supper we received! Highly recommend to anyone who may be speaking out this support!

Great Kids Place is a fantastic provider of Occupational Therapy services. Michelle, owner and practitioner is an energetic, thorough, thoughtful and experienced occupational therapist. My son is autistic and has many significant challenges as a result. Michelle is able to effectively address each area that he struggles with. She is supportive and respectful in her work with my son, and has built a relationship with him based on trust and mutual engagement. I can say that without this trust and mutual affection my son would not have the confidence to attempt the activities that are most challenging for him and would not be able able to move past the anxiety and fear that often holds him back. She is an amazing collaborator and is always willing to listen to my ideas and thoughts and to integrate them into the therapeutic goals we together create for my son. I emphatically recommend Great Kids Place.

Michele is just amazing. My son loves going to "gym class" and he has made tremendous progress in his speech since starting at Great Kids. The gym is VERY large with many wonderful cool activities. She has changed all of our lives by helping my son achieve reasonable goals but also teaching myself and my husband many parent skills as well. We LOVE Great Kids Place.