Chelsea Lee Maziarz, Founder, CEO and Occupational TherapistA frontrunner in meeting a child’s complex and ever-changing needs, Bizzy Bees Therapy offers a wide variety of specialty services and treatment methods through an interdisciplinary team that integrates diverse skillsets and teaching strategies.
“We adopt innovative child-led approaches and effective inter-professional practice models to set the standard for pediatric therapy services. Our team works tirelessly to meet children’s needs in an inclusive, multi-sensory environment,” says Chelsea Lee Maziarz, founder, CEO and occupational therapist.
The clinic’s OT expertise spans feeding therapy, covering a spectrum of pediatric challenges, including infant feeding, tube feed weaning, supporting families in managing various forms of enteral feeding, treatment of dysphagia and swallowing conditions, transitioning to solid foods, support for children with highly restricted diets including ARFID and sensory-based feeding. It helps kids using a strengths-based, family-centered approach leading to better functional outcomes. Bizzy Bees Therapy’s OT team also adopts this practice to support and achieve developmental, visual, cognitive, gross motor, fine motor, play skill and emotional regulation milestones.
Its care personnel rely on evidence-supported, neuroplasticity-grounded strategies that prioritize play-based interventions to help kids explore their potential. In conjunction with their fellow disciplines on the inter-professional team, children learn to access their environment, connect with those around them and improve their ability to reorganize and adapt to experiences and stimuli. Bizzy Bees Therapy considers the child’s unique perspective and uses a neurodiverse methodology to ensure effective programming, dignifying and timely interventions.
A key hurdle is the need for an inclusive environment for special needs children to learn and grow. Bizzy Bees Therapy creates inclusive spaces that accommodate various sensory, mobility and learning needs and promote cultural sensitivity.
It educates parents, families and educational staff by spreading awareness for best practices on engaging children with multi-sensory deficits, visual and hearing impairment and mobility-related issues.
Another problem is limited access to assistive technology. Strongly emphasizing the use of assistive technologies (AT) equipment, Bizzy Bees Therapy integrates technology from the get-go and focuses on devices that enhance mobility and access to learning environments. It works closely with children’s physical and speech therapy teammates, incorporating devices including buttons, switches, speech generating devices, pre-powered and powered mobility to meet each child’s needs. Its highly skilled administrative team works tirelessly to give families more of their time back with their children through block scheduling and other accommodations.
Bizzy Bees Therapy educates families on how to help their children effectively use assistive devices for meaningful occupations. Its education extends to assisting parents in finding and funding the technology best suited for their child. It bridges the gap for families and children with complex needs, believing that all children can learn and grow in the right environment.
We adopt innovative child-led approaches and effective inter-professional practice models to set the standard for pediatric therapy services. our team works tirelessly to meet the complex and diverse needs of children in an inclusive, multi-sensory environment
A testament to its expertise is a successful case study involving a 2-month-old who arrived to the clinic shortly after discharge from the NICU with various developmental needs, including eventual diagnoses of cerebral palsy, cortical visual impairment (CVI), hypertonia, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, dysphagia and a rare genetic mutation. Leveraging its all-inclusive and team-based approach, Bizzy Bees Therapy addressed sensory and motor challenges by employing innovative methods. For example, the infant demonstrated significant neurological stress from her NICU stay, requiring clinicians to initiate treatment in dark rooms with glow sticks to build trust and promote physiologic stability.
Two years later, the child, initially unable to tolerate physical handling, positioning or oral feeding, is now walking with a gait trainer, exploring her environment with pre-powered mobility, safely expanding her oral diet, communicating with eye gaze and high contrast icons utilizing her speech-generating devices. This success showcases the impact of Bizzy Bees Therapy’s comprehensive and compassionate approach along with the unparalleled dedication and perseverance of the child’s family.
Pioneering a paradigm shift in pediatric care from illness-focused models to an all-inclusive approach centered on well-being and independence, it empowers parents as leaders in their children’s care and positions providers and specialists as consultants. This focus on proactive, family-centered care reflects a commitment to changing the healthcare landscape.
Maziarz, drawing from personal experience of parenting a child with medical complexity, emphasizes empathy and strives to transform the traditional role of physicians and the provider mindset. She is currently in her final year of my PhD in Health and Human Performance. Maziarz’s thesis focuses on family resiliency for those caring with children with complex health needs.
She says, “The resiliency program focuses on teaching parents the various practical and coping skills needed to navigate the healthcare environment, advocate for their child’s needs and access community supports. These are massive gaps in our healthcare system that our families get lost in.”
In the upcoming years, she plans to launch a formal parent support group and expand the clinic’s resiliency program to reinforce a more family-centric care model.
Fostering a community where families support each other and parents are truly at the center of their child’s care and development, Bizzy Bees Therapy offers ingenious and impactful pediatric OT services through a cohesive and compassionate approach.
