About Us
We're different.
Happy Play Therapy is a female veteran-owned pediatric therapy practice proudly serving babies, toddlers, and children in Davie, Broward County, and throughout South Florida. Our experienced team provides compassionate, play-based occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, feeding therapy, and specialized support for primitive reflex integration to help children reach developmental milestones with confidence.
With more than a decade of clinical experience across a wide range of pediatric specialties, we believe every child deserves to feel safe, understood, and loved before anything else. Building meaningful relationships with both children and their families is at the heart of everything we do. By creating a strong partnership with parents and caregivers, we develop personalized therapy plans that support each child's unique strengths, interests, and goals.
Our logo represents one of our core beliefs: when it comes to helping a child succeed, all hands are on deck. Parents, caregivers, therapists, and educators each play an important role in a child's development, and we believe the best outcomes happen when we work together as one team.
At Happy Play Therapy, we meet children exactly where they are. Through child-led, evidence-based, and play-centered therapy, we build upon each child's natural motivations to develop communication, motor, sensory, feeding, and life skills in a way that is engaging, meaningful, and fun. We celebrate every milestone—big or small—because every step forward matters.
Whether you're searching for an occupational therapist near me, speech therapy in Davie, feeding therapy, physical therapy, or support for primitive reflexes, our team is here to guide and support your family every step of the way. No matter where your journey begins, you won't walk it alone. Together, we'll help your child build the confidence, independence, and skills they need to thrive.
Our Services
Speech & Language Therapy
Communication is one of the most important skills a child develops. If your child has difficulty expressing themselves, understanding others, or interacting socially, speech and language therapy can help them build the confidence and skills they need to succeed at home, in school, and in everyday life.
A child may benefit from language therapy if they have challenges in one or more of the five domains of language:
- Phonology – understanding and organizing speech sounds
- Morphology – using word parts correctly, such as plurals and verb endings
- Syntax – forming grammatically correct sentences
- Semantics – understanding and using vocabulary appropriately
- Pragmatics – developing social communication skills, including conversation, turn-taking, and interpreting social cues
A child may benefit from speech therapy if they experience:
- Difficulty producing speech sounds or being understood by others
- Speech delays or articulation disorders
- Voice concerns, including hoarseness, vocal strain, or hypernasal and hyponasal speech
- Stuttering or other fluency disorders
- Challenges with expressive or receptive language
- Difficulty communicating effectively with family, teachers, or peers
At Happy Play Therapy, our speech-language pathologists use individualized, play-based, evidence-based treatment plans designed around your child's strengths and interests. By partnering closely with families, we help children develop stronger communication skills, build meaningful relationships, and gain the confidence to express themselves in every stage of life.
Occupational Therapy
Every child develops at their own pace, but some children need extra support to build the skills required for everyday activities. Occupational therapy helps children develop the physical, sensory, cognitive, and self-care skills they need to become more confident and independent at home, in school, and in their community.
Your child may benefit from occupational therapy if they experience:
- Developmental delays
- Difficulty with gross motor skills, including balance, coordination, strength, and movement
- Difficulty with fine motor skills, such as grasping objects, handwriting, using scissors, or manipulating small items
- Challenges with visual processing or visual-motor integration
- Oral motor or oral sensory difficulties that affect eating, drinking, or daily activities
- Sensory processing challenges, including sensitivity to sounds, textures, or movement
- Difficulty with attention, focus, or executive functioning skills
- Learning or school-readiness challenges
- Delays in self-care skills, including dressing, feeding, grooming, or toileting
- Difficulty with social interaction, emotional regulation, or play skills
At Happy Play Therapy, our pediatric occupational therapists use individualized, evidence-based, play-centered treatment plans designed around your child's unique strengths, interests, and developmental goals. We partner closely with families to improve sensory processing, motor development, daily living skills, emotional regulation, and overall independence—helping children build the confidence they need to thrive both now and in the future.
Physical Therapy
Strong movement skills are essential for a child's growth, independence, and confidence. Pediatric physical therapy helps children improve strength, balance, coordination, mobility, and endurance so they can participate more fully in everyday activities at home, at school, and in the community.
Your child may benefit from physical therapy if they experience:
- Developmental delays affecting movement and mobility
- Difficulty with gross motor skills, including walking, running, jumping, climbing, or navigating stairs
- Challenges with balance, coordination, or body awareness
- Muscle weakness, low muscle tone (hypotonia), or high muscle tone (hypertonia)
- Poor posture or decreased core strength
- Difficulty with motor planning or learning new movement patterns
- Limited flexibility or range of motion
- Frequent falls or delayed balance reactions
- Orthopedic conditions, injuries, or other physical challenges that impact mobility and daily activities
At Happy Play Therapy, our pediatric physical therapists create individualized, evidence-based treatment plans tailored to your child's unique strengths and developmental goals. Through engaging, play-based activities, we help children improve mobility, build strength, enhance coordination, and develop the confidence they need to explore their world with greater independence. By partnering closely with families, we support every child in reaching meaningful milestones and achieving their fullest potential.
Applied Behavior Analysis
Every child learns differently, and some children benefit from additional support in developing communication, social, behavioral, and daily living skills. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is an evidence-based approach that helps children build positive behaviors, increase independence, and develop meaningful skills that improve their quality of life at home, in school, and in the community.
Your child may benefit from ABA therapy if they experience:
- Difficulty with social interaction and building relationships
- Challenges with communication, including expressing wants, needs, or understanding others
- Difficulty following directions or completing everyday routines
- Challenging behaviors, such as frequent tantrums, aggression, or self-injurious behaviors
- Difficulty with transitions or adapting to changes in routine
- Challenges with attention, focus, or task completion
- Repetitive behaviors or restricted interests
- Delays in adaptive skills, including dressing, eating, toileting, or other daily living activities
- Difficulty with play skills or engaging with peers
- Limited safety awareness or understanding of potentially dangerous situations
At Happy Play Therapy, our ABA team develops individualized, family-centered treatment plans based on each child's unique strengths, interests, and goals. Using positive reinforcement, play-based learning, and evidence-based strategies, we help children build communication, social, behavioral, and independent living skills while empowering families with practical tools to support continued success beyond the therapy setting.
Our goal is to help every child gain the confidence, independence, and life skills needed to thrive while celebrating their unique personality and abilities every step of the way.
Our Specialized Trainings
Certified Autism Specialist
Certified Autism Specialist
Certified Autism Specialist
Certified Autism Specialists (CAS), credentialed through IBCCES, are trained in understanding the unique strengths and challenges of individuals on the autism spectrum. With expertise in evidence-informed, neuroaffirming, and play-based practices, we create supportive environments that foster communication, social connection, regulation,
Certified Autism Specialists (CAS), credentialed through IBCCES, are trained in understanding the unique strengths and challenges of individuals on the autism spectrum. With expertise in evidence-informed, neuroaffirming, and play-based practices, we create supportive environments that foster communication, social connection, regulation, and skill development—empowering each child to thrive in ways that are meaningful to them.
PROMPT
Certified Autism Specialist
Certified Autism Specialist
PROMPT, an acronym for PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets, is a multidimensional approach to speech production disorders that has come to embrace not only the well-known physical-sensory aspects of motor performance, but also its cognitive-linguistic and social-emotional aspects.
Beckman Oral Motor
Certified Autism Specialist
Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialist
The Beckman Oral Motor Protocol is an intervention that utilizes assisted movement and stretch reflexes to activate muscle contraction, build strength, and improve range of motion in the lips, jaw, tongue, and soft palate.
Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialist
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialist
Primitive Reflex Clinical Specialists are
specialized in identifying and integrating retained primitive reflexes that may impact development, behavior, and learning. Using evidence-informed, play-based strategies, we support your child’s nervous system to promote regulation, motor coordination, and overall functional success.
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism is a strengths-based approach that helps children meet their goals without ever using rewards or other compliance-based strategies. It’s all about understanding how Autistic* people think and learn and shaping our therapy sessions to reflect respect for their strengths and how they think and learn.
*identity-first language used as it’s the preference of the autistic community
Hanen - It Takes Two to Talk®
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
The Learn Play Thrive Approach to Autism
Hanen programs reflect a family-centered model of intervention based on a social-interactionist perspective of language development. The Hanen approach is based on the principles that parents should be involved in their child's intervention process and that communication should be facilitated in naturalistic contexts.
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