Pediatric & adult therapy including Physical, Occupational, Speech-Language, Feeding as well as the
All TTC owners have a minimum of 20+ years experience in their field of expertise. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to each and every patient. We provide services to patients of all ages, including those receiving assistance from Tennessee Early Intervention Services (TEIS). Beth Nabors Sikes, OTR/L
Sue Baechle, PT
Kelley Southard, PT
Christine Morrow, SLP
11/13/2025
Maybe your wrist pain started off as an ache that you couldn’t ignore. Or maybe you fell and your wrists saved you from further injury — but now they’re now paying the price.
From strains and sprains to tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist pain is all too common. Try these simple movements to strengthen your wrist and end your pain.
👏 Tennis Ball Squeeze: Squeeze a tennis ball or similar-sized soft ball for a few seconds, then release. Repeat multiple times.
👍 Towel Wringing: Roll a towel and squeeze it as hard as possible, then release. Repeat with both hands.
👌 Farmer's Carry: Hold a weight or heavy object in each hand and walk for a short distance. This works the entire body and grip strength.
✌️ Finger Walking: Walk your fingers across a table or other surface, mimicking the movement of walking with your hand.
Bonus Activities:
🫶 Finger Extensions: Extend fingers straight and then spread them apart against resistance (e.g., a rubber band). Return to the starting position.
🙌 Thumb Opposition: Touch each fingertip to the thumb, one at a time, forming a circle. This can be done with or without holding a small object for added challenge.
11/11/2025
Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
11/04/2025
Fall and cooler weather summon apple season. It’s one of our favorite times of the year as it means we can explore all sorts of fun fall themes, visit an apple orchard or pumpkin patch, and dive into a good book about fall.
When exploring an apple theme, we love to incorporate hands-on activities.
Try some of these simple activities at home:
🍎 Toothpick Poke: Cut your apples into small pieces and use toothpick to create any design. Build a tower, car, or house!
🍎 Apple Oobleck: This clever twist on traditional oobleck is sure to keep everyone entertained. Just google “apple oobleck” to find a recipe.
🍎 Bobbing for Apples: Use a bowl full of water and tongs and collect all the apples from the bowl. You can also go old school and try to grab some with your mouth!
🍎 Apple Tower: Create a tower with layers of apples and playdough. See who can make the tallest tower!
🍎 Apple Rolling Race: Create a race course to roll your apple through. The first one across the finish line wins!
🍎 Apple Stamps: Create classic apple stamps or use cookie cutters to make your own shapes!
10/31/2025
Boo! 👻 Happy Halloween!
10/31/2025
Hyped up from Halloween? Try these tips to get your little one settled for bed.
10/31/2025
Happy Halloween from Woody and his Toy Story Crew! 🎃
10/23/2025
It's not too late to have some pumpkin fun! Pumpkins make the perfect fall OT activity. You can pick one up at the store, local farmers market, or head to a pumpkin patch before the season is over.
Carve or Paint a Pumpkin- You can carve a funny face, add paint to make a silly face, or use stickers. Be creative and use materials you have around the house to dress up your pumpkin.
Pumpkin Race- Grab a couple of mini pumpkins or small gourds. Kids can race to move the mini pumpkins from one side of the room to another.
Pumpkin I Spy- Place the pumpkins around the room all visible from one spot of the sofa. Have your child sit on the sofa and find all the pumpkins. They can even use binoculars to help them find all the pumpkins.
Pumpkin Balance Activity– Make an indoor balance beam with pillows, tape, or books! Use you pumpkins to work on balance, coordination, motor planning, stooping, bending, and other gross motor skills.
Taste a Pumpkin- Try some pumpkin! You can buy pumpkin flavored items, eat canned pumpkin, make a pie or other tasty treat, and even eat the seeds.
10/22/2025
Autumn is an amazing time of year for walking and a fun way to work on speech and language with your child. As the seasons change, there is much to observe. Try these fun fall walk ideas!
Make a Collection:
Equipment needed: Baskets or bags
As you walk collect acorns, leaves, rocks, or anything of interest. These foraged items can be used for crafts, display, left out for the birds, or sorted into piles upon return.
Bark Rubbings:
Equipment needed: Paper, masking tape, crayons
On this nature walk, you’ll want to pay special attention to the different types of bark on your local trees. You can identify a few that your children find interesting, and make a bark rubbing of them. Simply tape up your paper to the tree, and lightly rub a crayon across the paper, all in one direction. Do this at a few trees and compare! You may want to title each rubbing with the type of tree it came from so you don’t forget
Plant ID: P
Equipment needed: phones or tablets
There are plenty of great plant identification apps available for free. You simply snap a photo of a plant, indicate what part of the plant it is and are given a list of possible plants it may be! You can easily learn many new plants that grow in your area.
Nature Book:
Equipment needed: A book about nature and a blanket or chair
This is a nature walk where you bring a book and read it! I recommend choosing a place with a great view for this walk. It can be so lovely to read outdoors, especially in good weather.
Nature Bracelets:
Equipment needed: Duct tape, scissors
To make these lovely nature bracelets, each child needs a duct tape bracelet around their wrist with the sticky side facing out, before the walk begins. On your walk, you can either see what sticks to you, or intentionally select some nature finds to add to your bracelet.
As the leaves change colors and fall, and the pumpkin spice everything is in the air, it’s a great time of year to add some fall themed activities to your therapy toolbox or even just add to play!
Try a few of this fall activities to encourage and strengthen fine motor skills.
You'll need:
leaves, seeds, glue
1. Head outside an collect some fall leaves. Take a minute to crunch a few leaves!
2. Collect some seeds. You can use seed from leftover halloween pumpkins or your summer garden, find some in your yard, or buy some from a local hardware store.
3. Have your child (or you) write a prewriting line, shape, or letter on each leaf. You can modify the design based on your child's needs.
4. Use glue to trace the lines.
5. Next, place the seeds on the glue to make a one of a kind art. You can use your fingers or tweezers!
10/15/2025
Your kid is on to you when you try the sell the food. They aren't buying what your selling!
Instead, give your child some information about what the food is like. You can describe the taste, texture, smell, or compare it to foods they are familiar with.
This approach removes the pressure and helps you child learn about the food. This helps them focus on positives and similarities of new foods instead of fixating on how different they are.
10/14/2025
Here are some fun fall themed books that you can use to model a variety of core words! 🍁
Let us know your favorites!
10/08/2025
Heavy work is activity that requires effort from our muscles and these tasks usually involve activation of the muscles and joints of the body through the proprioceptive system by movements such as pushing, pulling or lifting.
The movement activities create resistance input to the muscles and this feedback is ultimately what calms and regulates the sensory system.
The sensory system that is activated during heavy work activities is called the proprioceptive system. The proprioceptive system receives messages when the muscles move to do work. These messages flow back and forth to the brain. The brain decides how much force a muscle should use based on the task at hand.
This allows children to use the correct amount of force when they need to hold something gently or when they need to lift something heavy.
It’s a complex system that is constantly adjusting to make sure the brain is getting the right information from all the joints and muscles in the body and as well as making sure the muscle output is appropriate to the task.
This concept is also known as body awareness and allows us to know where our body is in space and how to move our body.
By working with the proprioceptive system you can even out disturbances in other sensory systems. You can increase energy levels if you need to and you can reduce high energy levels to help children reach a calm, comfor interact with the world.
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139 Maple Row Boulevard, Suite 300 Hendersonville, TN 37075
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We are dedicated to providing the highest quality care to each and every patient. We provide services to patients of all ages, including those receiving assistance from Tennessee Early Intervention Services (TEIS). All owners have at least 18 years of experience in their field of expertise.
Beth Nabors Sikes, OTR/L
Beth began her professional practice in 1995 after graduating from the University of Tennessee-Memphis with a Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy. She now has 17 years of experience and has worked solely in pediatrics in early intervention settings, local school systems, and clinic-based settings. She is one of few therapists in middle Tennessee certified to administer and interprete the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test. Her continuing education has also focused on sensory processing, sensory feeding issues, behavior, hand development, visual perceptual skills, handwriting and difficulties associated with autism.
While she enjoys working with children with all types of disabilities and delays, she really loves to work with children with sensory processing difficulties, and those with autism are her passion.
Beth grew up in Davidson County and attended Goodpasture Christian School. She moved to Sumner County when she married John Sikes. They are busy keeping up with two very active boys.
Sue Baechle, PT
Sue began her professional career in California at the Children's Hospital of San Diego after earning her Master's degree in Physical Therapy from the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, CA in 1988. She has been treating pediatric patients for 23 years in a variety of settings including inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, neonatal intensive care unit, outpatient clinic, and the school setting. Sue has extensive experience treating patients with a wide range of diagnoses including cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, torticollis, post dorsal rhizotomy, dystonia, prematurity, muscular dystrophy, hemiplegia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, congenital anomalies and syndromes, and developmental delay.
Sue continues her educational training in Neurodevelopment treatment (NDT), Beverly Cusick and Cascade casting courses, infant massage, wheelchair assessment, and sensory defensiveness courses.
Sue and her husband Jim moved from Michigan 13 years ago and have raised their three children in the Sumner County area. Sue has enjoyed participating in her family’s sporting and school events.
Kelley Southard, PT
A 1987 graduate of The Ohio State University, Kelley worked as a student athletic trainer within the Ohio State athletic program while completing her physical therapy schooling. While on her last clinical and sports rotation in California she learned to love the complicated spine and orthopedic patient who needed manual techniques and rehabilitation. She has enjoyed working in Sumner County for the last 25 years within outpatient settings in Gallatin, White House and Hendersonville and meeting the therapeutic needs of orthopedic, spine, chronic pain, sports related and work-injured patients.
Kelley continues her educational training in McKenzie, Muscle Energy, Myofascial, Craniosacral, Strain-Counterstrain, and Balance techniques.
Kelley and her husband Steve have raised their four children in Hendersonville while enjoying participating in their church, children’s athletic events, schools and community.
Christine Morrow, SLP
Christine began her professional practice in 1995 after graduating from Murray State University with a Master’s in Communication Disorders. She began her career working extensively with adults in nursing homes, hospitals and home health settings. Christine expanded her practice to include pediatrics several years ago. She has worked with adults and children with developmental disabilities, prematurity, strokes, cognitive deficits, Apraxia, Autism, Asperger’s, head injuries, and feeding/swallowing disorders.
Her goal is to see every patient, young and old, increase and strengthen their independence and become a successful communicator in every aspect of their daily life.
Christine is a lifelong resident of Nashville and graduate from Father Ryan High School. She and her husband, Todd, have two daughters. She enjoys being active in her church and community.
Rachel Blackburn, SLP
Rachel began her professional practice in 2012 after receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Communication Disorders from Western Kentucky University. Her experience includes working with a variety of ages from birth through adults in outpatient clinics and home health settings. She has also worked with preschoolers through adolescents in Montgomery County public and private schools. She has treated individuals with a variety of needs including language disorders, articulation and phonology disorders, apraxia, pragmatics, fluency, Autism, and Down Syndrome. Rachel especially enjoys working with the early childhood population to increase and strengthen foundational communication skills. Her goal is to improve quality of life and functional communication for every individual to meet their highest potential. Rachel lives in Nashville with her husband and two children. She enjoys traveling, being outdoors, spending time with family and is active in her church community.
Amber Graber, SLP
Amber began her professional practice in 2012 in the Simpson County School system of Franklin, KY, primarily treating children in grades 1-3. Amber earned her Bachelor's and Master's in Communication Disorders from Western Kentucky University. She has treated infants, toddlers, school-aged children and teenagers with a variety of needs including Autism, Down Syndrome, Apraxia, fluency, articulation disorders, language disorders, and pragmatics. Amber enjoys improving the lives of children in various ways but she especially enjoys treating children with needs for alternative/augmentative communication (AAC) such as low-tech/high-tech devices, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), and sign language. Amber recently moved to Nashville with her husband. They enjoy hiking, golf, exploring new restaurants, exercising, traveling to new cities, photography, and learning other languages.
Amy Houston, OTR/L
Amy Houston received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1993 for Occupational Therapy from Washington University, School of Medicine in St. Louis. For over 23 years she has worked with a wide range of pediatric patients in a variety of settings including early intervention, home health, school system, and inpatient/outpatient rehabilitation. Amy resides in Hendersonville with husband Patrick and their three children.
Amy McLaurin, PT, ATP
Amy began her professional career in 1995 after completing her undergraduate education at David Lipscomb University and then receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Therapy at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her career experience includes Vanderbilt University Medical Center in adult care and Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in the Spinal Cord Injury program. Most recently, Amy was employed at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in the seating and mobility/wheelchair clinic in addition to treating pediatric patients with various neurological and development diagnoses. Amy has 15 years of seating and mobility experience and earned her ATP certification in 2008. She also holds certifications as a Certified Infant Massage Instructor and as a Child Passenger Safety Technician to provide medical car seats to pediatric clients. Amy’s primary goal as a therapist at the Therapy Center is the further development of the seating and mobility/wheelchair clinic in order to provide custom seating and mobility devices, medical car seats and other custom equipment. One of Amy’s most memorable personal and career experiences was participating in a mission trip to Guatemala to provide wheelchairs to children and adults offering them the freedom of independent mobility. A native of Mt. Juliet, Amy currently lives in Hendersonville with her husband Scott and two children, Ansley and Britton.
Jane Garrett, Office Manager
Jane was born and raised in Chattanooga Tennessee. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and a minor in psychology from Middle Tennessee State University. She has been with The Therapy Center since March 2006 and is dedicated to her role as office manager. She and her husband, Steve, moved to Hendersonville in 1988 and they have three sons. She is active in her church and community, enjoys spending time with her family and friends and enjoys cooking, crocheting, and reading in her free time.
