What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy helps kids build confidence and independence in their daily routines, connect with their worlds and thrive in their own bodies.
Regulation/ Sensory Health
As adults we tend to adapt our environment and/or activities as we need to help regulate our sensory systems. We may play music loudly in the morning to wake up, while needing a silent commute home at the end of the day. OTs work with children and their caregivers to develop a greater understanding of sensitivities and sensory needs, as well as integrating multiple sensory systems to participate in a variety of activities easily. Children may have differences in the degree they respond to certain sensory stimuli (modulation), differences in how they process and understand these inputs (discrimination), or a combination of both.
A child may benefit from support if they:
Demonstrate difficulty with unexpected transitions and/or changes in routines
Are unable to sit still on the carpet or in their chair
Have difficulty calming once upset
Are overly sensitive to particular clothing, getting their clothing wet and/or messy play
Resist laying down diaper changes or playing in certain positions
Are reluctant to participate in large or noisy events
Gross and Fine motor
Children rely on a solid sensorimotor system to develop increasingly complex and precise motor patterns to navigate the playground, imitate peers to keep up with group games, refine control of hand muscles and grasp in preparation for handwriting, shoe tying, art projects etc.
A child may benefit from support if they:
Avoid art and visual motor activities
Return to the same pieces of equipment or the same patterns on the playground
Sit in a wide W position on the carpet or wraps their feet around their chair legs
Use both hands to feed themselves and participate in routine activities (after 4-5 years of age)
Have trouble following directions (verbal or visual) to move their bodies
Have difficulty coordinating both sides of their body together
Visual Motor and Visual Perception
We often take our visual system for granted when it works well or we can fix challenges with a simple pair of glasses. However, 80% of the sensory inputs our brains receive each day come from our visual system. We rely on our ability to interpret this information (how far away a ball is and how fast it is coming towards us or the difference between b/d), as well as coordinate our bodies to act on that information (time the swing and force of a baseball bat or use a pencil to write “bat”).:
A child may benefit from support if they:
Avoid drawing activities
Are delayed in forming recognizable human figures and smiley faces
Appear to walk into people and obstacles as if they weren’t there
Have difficulty locating objects on a crowded shelf or drawer
Do not have a plan while building and labels/describes work afterward
Have trouble learning letters (recognition or writing)
Play Skills
Children’s work is play. They learn invaluable lessons and skills while playing both individually and with peers, building more complex play schemes and collaboration with others as they grow.
Some signs a child may benefit from support if they:
Play with the same toys in the same way repeatedly
Either need to lead and direct peers, with difficulty adjusting their plan OR always follow a peer’s idea
Have minimal or no imaginary play
Have trouble getting started with open ended materials
Demonstrates difficulty navigating simple social interactions to share items/space/turns
Self-Care / Executive Functioning
Children have to learn a significant number of new skills quickly as we expect them to become more and more independent. Most of these skills (getting dressed, toileting, bathing, meal prep etc) require a combination of motor skills, sensory processing, sequencing, self-monitoring, and problem solving. In OT we break down skills to determine where each child is having difficulty and target those areas with strategies, tools, and explicit teaching in a way that works for them.
A child may benefit from support if they:
Seem to need more support than their peers as they go through their day
Are having difficulty with traditional toilet training methods
Have difficulty managing fasteners and opening food packaging
Cannot keep track of their school materials and assignments
Tools, strategies and interventions in our Tool Kit:
Sensory Integration supporting the body’s ability to understand and respond adaptively to the sensory rich world around them through all 8 senses including body awareness (proprioception), movement (vestibular), and internal cues (interoception).
DIR Floortime therapy, a child led approach focused on building relationships to drive growth through developmental stages
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), an evidenced-based listening program designed to re-tune the autonomic nervous system to support regulation, social interactions, and auditory processing.
Feeding therapy based on the SOS approach to feeding
A holistic approach to Primitive reflex integration to build more efficient and complex motor plans
Kinesio taping, NDT for infants and toddlers, and positioning to support children with neuromuscular challenges
Use of a combination of the Social Thinking Curriculum and neurodiversity affirming practices for social engagement
