What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy uses a child-centered approach to help children physically, academically, emotionally, and socially participate and gain function in daily tasks. Occupational therapists are trained in breaking down life tasks and teaching them in steps to help with increased understanding, function, independence, and success in life.
What areas are helped by Occupational Therapy?
Pre-Acadmic Skills: writing, coloring, cutting and working with others, visual-motor skills, play skills, social skills, attention, self-regulation, balance & coordination, core strength and stability, sensory processing
Academic: organizational skills, executive functioning skills, handwriting, working with others
Activities of Daily Living: Potty-training, feeding, dressing
What signs indicate that a child might need an Occupational Therapy evaluation?
If your child is showing any of the below symptoms, an occupational therapy evaluation is highly recommended.
- Difficulty playing and interacting
- Difficulty attending to tasks
- Poor balance & coordination
- Clumsiness
- Avoidance of fine motor tasks
- Poor handwriting
- Inability to perform daily self-care tasks
- Difficulty organizing and following directions
- Irregular response to trying new foods or hearing new sounds
- Difficulty self-regulating body and emotions (very high/low activity levels, limited attention, increased tantrums/meltdowns)
- Difficulty learning to ride a bicycle, ride a scooter, navigate a playground
- Difficulty transitioning between tasks or environments
- Increased sensitivity to sound, touch, taste, to the point that it interferes with daily life
- Handwriting is hard and takes too long/ messy handwriting
- Decreased tolerance for grooming and daily hygiene tasks
- Behind peers in motor skills
- Shows frustration with tasks that should be easy for age
- Avoids all but a few foods
- Becomes easily upset in an overstimulating environment
- Difficulty with buttons, zippers, tying shoe laces,
- Difficulty planning, sequencing, or organizing activities
- Emotional outbursts
- Poor eye-hand coordination
- Poor Visual Motor skills
- Poor social interactions
- “Seeking” behaviors such as mouthing non-food items, needing to touch everything, bumping/crashing into things
- Decreased muscle strength and endurance
- Avoiding wet or sticky textures
For questions, information, or to arrange a demonstration of therapy telepractice:
We look forward to hearing from you!