Occupational therapists work with children of all ages who need specialized assistance to lead independent and productive lives due to physical, developmental, or social impairments. They evaluate a child’s strengths and weaknesses in areas of critical development and design interventions to improve skills needed for participation in daily activities. Intervention is usually play based and targets skills needed for age appropriate academic performance, self help (feeding, dressing, grooming), social participation, and community mobility. Skills addressed often include improving fine motor coordination, executive functioning, self-regulation, gross motor coordination, visual motor integration, and sensory processing/integration.
Occupational therapy targets deficits in the following areas:
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Fine Motor Performance (in hand manipulation, hand strength)
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Eye-Hand Coordination
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Handwriting Performance
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Attention and Self Regulation
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Self-Help Skills (dressing, feeding, grooming)
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Gross Motor Performance
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Play and Social Participation
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Self Regulation
While we utilize numerous treatment approaches based on the individual needs of the child, sensory integration is used quite frequently. Sensory integration is the ability to process information from all of the body’s senses to produce meaningful interactions with the environment.
Children with sensory integrative difficulty may exhibit some of the following symptoms:
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Over or under responsive to touch, movement, signs or sounds
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Difficulty calming self
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Exaggerated behaviors or reactions to common sensory experiences
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Activity level that is unusually high or low
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Clumsiness, muscle weakness
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Sleep disturbance
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Difficulty transitioning or accepting change in environment or routine
If you notice that your child has difficulty in any of the areas described above, occupational therapy may be beneficial.
