Pediatric OT for Bowman School Families in Palo Alto
About TheraPeeps — Serving Bowman School Families in Palo Alto
Bowman School families know what thoughtful, individualized education looks like. The Montessori philosophy — mixed-age classrooms, child-led pacing, respect for each learner’s developmental timeline — is strikingly close to how TheraPeeps approaches occupational therapy. We don’t treat children to a script. We follow their lead, build on their strengths, and work within the rhythms of how they actually learn and play. For families on both the Main Campus on Terman Drive and the Learning Village on Arastradero Road, TheraPeeps offers a natural extension of the values already at the center of your child’s school day.
Led by Brooke Olson, OTR/L, TheraPeeps is a mobile, in-home pediatric OT practice serving the Palo Alto area and wider Bay Area. We come to your home — no commute, no waiting room, no disruption to your child’s routine. For Bowman families navigating sensory differences, emotional regulation challenges, feeding difficulties, or developmental concerns, we provide evidence-based intervention delivered in the environment where your child is most comfortable and most themselves. We also serve families at nearby Palo Alto schools and are deeply familiar with the expectations and culture of this community. You can also learn more on our Palo Alto location page.
Pediatric OT Services for Bowman School Families
We offer a comprehensive range of pediatric occupational therapy services — all delivered in your home or your child’s natural environment. Here is what we provide to Palo Alto families:
- Sensory integration therapy — SIPT and STAR certified, the gold standard for sensory processing differences
- Emotional self-regulation therapy — our most-requested service; supports kids who melt down, shut down, or struggle to reset
- DIR/Floortime therapy — relationship-based developmental approach; Brooke is a trainer with 10+ years of experience
- SOS Approach feeding therapy — for picky eaters, food refusal, texture sensitivities, and mealtime stress
- Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) — auditory intervention that calms the nervous system and supports regulation
- Nature-based therapeutic playgroups — social-sensory groups held outdoors; ideal for the Palo Alto area’s open spaces
- In-home pediatric occupational therapy — full OT evaluation and ongoing therapy in your home
- Fine motor and handwriting development — pencil grip, letter formation, scissor skills
- Play and social skill development — peer interaction, cooperative play, flexible thinking
- Parent and caregiver coaching — strategies you can use every day, not just during sessions
Challenges We Help Bowman Families Address
Many children at independent schools like Bowman are bright, curious, and capable — and still experience challenges that don’t fit neatly into a label. Whether your child has a formal diagnosis or you simply know something isn’t clicking, TheraPeeps can help clarify what’s going on and build a plan that works. We commonly work with children who have:
- Sensory processing differences — over- or under-responsivity to touch, sound, movement, or textures
- Attention and focus difficulties — including ADHD presentations in gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) children
- Emotional dysregulation — meltdowns, anxiety, rigidity, or difficulty recovering from transitions
- Autism spectrum differences — including support for twice-exceptional learners in mainstream and Montessori settings
- Feeding challenges — extreme picky eating, food refusal, gagging, or mealtime anxiety
- Developmental delays in fine motor, gross motor, or self-care skills
- Handwriting and pencil-control difficulties
- Social skill development needs — difficulty reading social cues, joining play, or flexible thinking
- Anxiety with physical or sensory roots — often misread as behavior
- Language and learning differences that overlap with sensory or motor development
What Sets TheraPeeps Apart — Especially for Bowman School Families
Bowman School families often arrive at TheraPeeps having done their homework. They’ve read the research, talked to pediatricians, and are looking for a provider whose credentials match the caliber of care they expect. Brooke Olson, OTR/L holds the highest-level certifications in the field: SIPT and STAR certified in sensory integration (the clinical standard supported by decades of research at USC), Board Certified in Autism, trained in the SOS Approach to feeding, and a DIR/Floortime trainer with more than ten years of experience teaching other clinicians this method. These are not marketing checkboxes — they represent clinical depth that translates directly into better outcomes for your child.
There is also a meaningful philosophical alignment between Bowman’s Montessori approach and the way TheraPeeps works. Montessori education respects that children develop at their own pace, that mixed-age social environments build independence and empathy, and that intrinsic motivation outperforms compliance-based reward systems. TheraPeeps operates from the same foundation. Our approach is neuro-affirming and relationship-based — we never use ABA-style compliance training. We follow the child’s lead, build on genuine interests, and work to understand the “why” behind behavior rather than simply eliminating it.
We are especially experienced supporting twice-exceptional (2e) children — kids who are intellectually gifted and also experience sensory, attention, emotional, or developmental differences. These children often fall through the cracks of traditional evaluation because their strengths mask their struggles. In a Montessori environment like Bowman, where individualized pacing is the norm, the 2e child can shine academically while quietly struggling in ways that OT can meaningfully address. TheraPeeps has the clinical expertise to see the full picture.
Fees, Insurance, and Getting Started
TheraPeeps is a private-pay practice, which means we do not bill insurance directly. This allows us to keep our caseload small, spend more time with each family, and never let insurance limitations dictate your child’s care plan. We provide detailed superbills after each session — the documentation your PPO insurer needs to process out-of-network reimbursement. Many Palo Alto families, including those whose employers offer premium Silicon Valley benefits packages, receive meaningful reimbursement through this process.
HSA and FSA funds are accepted and can be applied toward evaluations and ongoing sessions. If you are unsure whether your plan covers out-of-network OT, we are happy to help you understand what questions to ask your insurer. The first step is a brief phone consultation — call us at (650) 204-0677 to talk through your child’s needs, or fill out our intake form and we will reach out to schedule a time to connect.
Frequently Asked Questions — Bowman School Families
Yes. TheraPeeps serves families across Palo Alto, including children enrolled at Bowman School’s Main Campus on Terman Drive and the Learning Village campus on Arastradero Road. Because we are a mobile, in-home practice, we come to your home rather than requiring you to travel to a clinic — which is especially convenient for families managing the logistics of a K–12 school community with multiple campuses. Sessions take place in the environment where your child is most comfortable and most themselves.
This is one of the most common patterns we see in well-structured independent school environments. Montessori classrooms offer predictable routines, hands-on materials, and a calm, low-stimulation environment that can actually help a child with sensory or regulation differences mask their challenges during the school day. By the time they get home, the effort of holding it together has depleted their reserves — and you see the fallout. TheraPeeps specializes in exactly this kind of “school success, home dysregulation” profile. We assess what is driving the difficulty, build strategies for home, and coach parents on how to create the conditions where your child can regulate more consistently.
Our approach is deeply aligned with Montessori values. TheraPeeps uses DIR/Floortime — a developmental, relationship-based framework that explicitly follows the child’s lead rather than directing or drilling them through adult-imposed tasks. We believe children learn best through play, intrinsic motivation, and genuine connection — not compliance-based reward systems. Brooke Olson is a DIR/Floortime trainer with more than a decade of experience, which means she works at the highest level of this model. If you value child-led, individualized, developmentally respectful education at Bowman, you will find that same philosophy at the heart of how TheraPeeps works.
Yes — this is an area where TheraPeeps has significant depth. Twice-exceptional children (2e) are often missed by standard evaluations because their intellectual strengths compensate for or mask their developmental differences. In a Montessori setting like Bowman, where academic pacing is individualized, a 2e child may appear to be thriving on the surface while quietly experiencing real difficulty with sensory processing, emotional regulation, fine motor control, or social flexibility. Brooke holds advanced credentials in sensory integration (SIPT and STAR certified), is Board Certified in Autism, and has extensive experience identifying and treating the nuanced profile of the gifted child who is also struggling in ways that standard observation doesn’t capture.
TheraPeeps is a private-pay practice and does not bill insurance directly. After each session, we provide a detailed superbill that you can submit to your PPO insurer for out-of-network reimbursement. Many Palo Alto families recover a meaningful portion of session costs this way, particularly those with employer-sponsored plans common among tech and professional households in the area. We accept HSA and FSA payments. If you have questions about what your plan covers, we are glad to help you understand what to ask your insurer during our initial consultation. Call us at (650) 204-0677 or fill out our intake form to get started.
Ready to Get Started?
Call us today to get started, or fill out our intake form.
