Occupational Therapy in Gurnee, Illinois
Pediatric OT for Lake County kids 18 months to 14 years. Sessions look like play and target the daily struggles: pencil grip, zippers, meltdowns, and messy handwriting.
At our Gurnee clinic, you stop driving across Lake County for separate therapies. Your child's occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, behavior analyst, and physical therapist all share one schedule and one weekly case review. Most families begin OT within two weeks.
Licensed Pediatric Occupational Therapists
BCBS PPO Accepted
No Referral Needed
Get a call back in 24 hours
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Start with a ten-minute phone call. Tell us what you are seeing, and we will help you figure out whether an evaluation is the right next step.
What Does Occupational Therapy in Gurnee Look Like at CST Academy?
The hardest part of your child's day might be a backpack zipper, a handwritten assignment, or a meltdown at the lunchroom door. Whatever it is, that is where your child's OT session starts. An hour in the therapy room looks like play.
How We Approach Occupational Therapy:
Our occupational therapists do not work from a milestone checklist or curriculum. Each 45- to 60-minute session targets one or two skills that came up at home or in the classroom that week, with younger children working in the sensory gym and older children practicing real-life routines.
What Makes Our Program Different:
At CST Academy, occupational therapy comes with a built-in care team: speech, ABA, physical, and feeding therapy all in the same Gurnee clinic. Four things set our program apart, and you see each one in your child's week.
Integrated Care Model
One intake covers every therapist your child sees. The occupational, speech, behavior, and physical therapists share notes weekly inside the Greenleaf clinic.
Real-Environment Practice
Sessions are built around real-life routines like getting dressed, packing a lunchbox, or finishing a homework worksheet. Nothing is an isolated drill.
Weekly Adjustments
Your OT updates the plan every week around what worked and what you and the teacher have been seeing. You see the change in writing.
Parent Coaching
Every pickup ends with one or two specific strategies your family practices that week, so progress shows up even outside of the clinic.
Address
1 S Greenleaf St, Gurnee, IL 60031
Phone
(773) 620-7800
Hours
Monday to Thursday: 8AM to 6PM
Friday 8AM to 5PM
Occupational Therapy in Gurnee: A Five-Step Path That Skips the Run-Around
Five steps take you from the first phone call to your child's first session, with no second clinic, no second intake, and no second insurance verification along the way.
YOUR CHILD'S PROGRAM
Your Child's Plan Starts with What You Tell Us
The first call takes about ten minutes, and the next four steps move at your family's pace. By the end of the evaluation, you know what your child will work on first and they start the very next week.
Schedule a Free Consultation
Steps
1
Consultation
Call (773) 620-7800 or fill out our form. Tell us what you have been noticing at home, what the teacher flagged, or what the pediatrician raised.
2
Insurance Check
Our team verifies your benefits and matches your child with the right occupational therapist.
3
Evaluation
Your child comes to our clinic for a 60-minute play-based evaluation. You leave with initial answers from the OT, and a written report follows within a week.
4
First Session
Most Gurnee families start within two weeks. Each session targets the skill most likely to make a difference at home or school that week.
5
Pickup Walkthrough
At pickup, your OT walks you through what your child practiced and gives you one thing to try at home. The plan adjusts each visit.
Wait Until Friday, and Your Child Loses Another Week
Same-week evaluation slots run out. The families who call early get them. No referral required.
Signs Your Gurnee Child May Benefit from Occupational Therapy
Two or more of the signs below, and an OT evaluation is your next step. No diagnosis or referral required. Most families do not call because something big happened. They call because the same small thing keeps happening.
Your child takes noticeably longer than other kids the same age to hold a pencil, open a juice box, or fasten a zipper.
Your child loses the afternoon to an unexpected texture, a noisy gym, or a shirt tag.
Your child's morning routine, dinner, and bedtime have become predictable battles.
Your child trips, bumps into things, or struggles to keep up at the park or on a sports field.
Your child arrives at pickup exhausted from holding it together all day.
Your child's writing assignments end in tears, and the teacher cannot read what comes back.
Your child loses momentum partway through multi-step routines like packing a backpack, getting through the morning hygiene checklist, or finishing a chore.
Your child's motor skills or self-regulation have prompted a note from a teacher or pediatrician.
The evaluation gives you a direct answer: what is going on, whether OT can help, and what to do next. Sixty minutes at our Gurnee clinic beats another month of wondering.
Talk to a Licensed OT
We have been driving across Lake County to see three different specialists. Will switching to your clinic save us time?
Lake County families at CST Academy save the hours they used to spend driving between Libertyville, Waukegan, and Gurnee for separate appointments. At our clinic, your child finishes one session and walks into the next, with the same team in the same building.
My pediatrician has not told me my child needs therapy yet. Am I jumping the gun?
You know your child's day better than anyone, and that is reason enough to call. If occupational therapy is not what your child needs, we say so plainly and tell you what to try instead.
Will this fit our family budget?
You will know your exact out-of-pocket cost before your child sees an OT. Our billing team runs your insurance, sends a written summary, and walks you through any deductible or copay before any session is booked.
Meet Your Gurnee Occupational Therapy Team
The same OT every week, on a plan the rest of your child's team builds together.
Maria S., OTD, OTR/L
Lead Occupational Therapist
Maria leads the occupational therapy program across our North Suburbs clinics and coordinates care across the clinic. She specializes in sensory processing, fine motor development, self-regulation, and daily living skills. She works closely with the speech and ABA teams to make sure your child's progress builds across every session, not just her own.
Occupational Therapy
Becca G., M.S., CF-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist (Coordinating)
Becca practices alongside the Gurnee OT team and works with children on articulation, phonological disorders, language delays, feeding, and AAC. She tailors her sessions around each child's interests and strengths and uses play-based learning to keep progress going outside the clinic. When your child's OT and speech goals coincide, Becca and the OT coordinate inside the building so progress in one session carries into the next.
Occupational Therapy
Sensory Integration
Fine Motor Skills
Start with occupational therapy, and your family gains a full care team behind it. Speech, ABA, and physical therapists practice in the same building, on the same schedule, ready if your child needs them.
Meet Your Child's OT. Schedule a Free Consultation.
Ninety Seconds Here Saves You Months of Wondering
Filling out the form takes about ninety seconds and puts your child in front of our client success team before any phone conversation. We call you back the same business day with a clear next step.
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What Gurnee Families Say About Occupational Therapy at CST Academy
After almost 2 years our son's time at CST Academy has come to an end. The preschool program has done wonders for him. Ms. Jaclyn, his OT Ms. Nikki, and his speech therapist Ms. Erika all worked together to ensure he was meeting all of his goals. The level of collaboration between all therapies shows how dedicated they are to helping your child reach their full potential. He has blossomed into a strong, confident boy who is more than prepared to start his new school.
Kris de la V.
It's hard to put into words what CST Academy has meant to my son and our whole family over the past 5 years. When we found this magical place when my son was 2.5, we never looked back. Nowhere else will you find a place that has a true multidisciplinary approach in its mission and model. SLPs, OTs, and ABA therapists taught alongside the preschool and pre-k teachers, and his services were intertwined in his schedule seamlessly. His team truly worked together and communicated everything to each other and it took the stress off of me.
Dina S.
Our son receives both OT and PT at CST Academy, and the teamwork between his therapists is outstanding. They coordinate goals and activities that build strength, balance, and confidence while keeping everything fun and motivating. He is now climbing, running, and playing with confidence we could only hope for before. CST truly feels like a second home to our family.
CST Academy Family
Insurance, Costs, and Enrollment for Occupational Therapy in Gurnee
Insurance Accepted
In-Network
Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO
Coming Soon
Aetna
Important Note About Occupational Therapy Coverage:
Illinois law requires commercial health plans to cover medically necessary occupational therapy for children. Most Gurnee families on a BCBS PPO plan find that sessions are largely covered once benefits engage. Before your child's first appointment, our billing team confirms your specific coverage and explains any deductible or copay in plain terms.
An OT Evaluation to Start Your Child's Therapy:
Your evaluation is a 60-minute play-based session at our Gurnee clinic. The sit-down conversation with the OT at the end tells you where your child stands. Therapy begins the following week, with the written summary in your hands by then.
Make the Call Today. Stop Wondering by Tonight.
Tell us what you have been noticing, and our team takes it from there.
Occupational Therapy FAQs for CST Academy in Gurnee
If your child is struggling with fine motor tasks, sensory reactions, self-care routines, or self-regulation, OT can probably help. The first step is a short phone call with our Gurnee team. We talk through what you have been seeing and recommend an evaluation only if the pattern lines up with what occupational therapy addresses.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy for Lake County Families Near Gurnee
Our Greenleaf Street clinic is located just off I-94 at Grand Avenue, putting us within a short drive of nearly every Lake County community. Your child meets every therapist they might need under one roof, so the hour you used to spend driving between providers stays on your family's calendar.
By Car
From I-94 (Tri-State Tollway), take the Grand Avenue exit and head west. Turn south on Greenleaf Street. CST Academy is at 1 S Greenleaf St on the east side of the street.
Parking
Free on-site parking with dedicated family spaces right at the entrance.
By Metra
Waukegan Station on the Union Pacific North Line is the closest Metra stop, approximately 10 minutes by car. Families coming from the west can also use the Libertyville Station on the Milwaukee District North Line.
Why Lake County Families Choose Integrated Occupational Therapy in Gurnee
Many Gurnee children eventually need speech, behavior, or physical therapy alongside our occupational therapy services. When those services sit in three separate clinics, the burden lands on you: filling out the same intake forms three times, driving between three offices every week, and forwarding notes between providers who never speak.
CST Academy in Gurnee allows you to be just the parent. Your child's occupational, speech, behavior, and physical therapists meet every week, share progress notes, and update you in one conversation instead of four.
Most pediatric OT clinics in the area offer occupational therapy and nothing else. CST Academy's integrated occupational therapy is what makes progress visible to your family within a single school year.
Here, your child's care team coordinates for you. Everywhere else, you do.
Your Child's Full Care Team in Gurnee:
Imagine a Morning Where Nobody Cries Over a Zipper
That is what Lake County families come here for, and most see it within weeks of starting. One call starts the process.
Other CST Academy Locations Near Gurnee
Buffalo Grove
150 Half Day Rd, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
18 miles from Gurnee
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Northbrook
85 Revere Dr, Northbrook, IL 60062
20 miles from Gurnee
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Wilmette
3201 Old Glenview Rd, Wilmette, IL 60091
25 miles from Gurnee
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