Occupational Therapy

A child’s occupation is to play, learn, and explore. If your child struggles to interact with the world around them, occupational therapy (OT) can help.

An occupational therapist is a healthcare professional who works with your child and family to help build skills they need to better perform tasks such as playing, learning and exploring.
Occupational Therapy treatment may focus on a variety of skills, including but not limited to:

• Gross motor skills
• Fine motor skills
• Visual skills
• Self-regulation
• Sensory processing
• Self-care skills
• Handwriting
• Play and leisure skills

Each learner is individually assessed and works on-on-one with an occupational therapist to help improve on their areas of difficulty. Parent involvement is an important aspect of any OT program. You as parents play a key role in helping to determine goals, select strategies that will be functional for your child and family, and practicing skills in real world settings.

Occupational therapy focuses on helping children participate in everyday functional tasks.  Occupational therapists are trained to assess skills such as balance and coordination, gross and fine motor skills, visual motor skills, self-care skills, and sensory processing skills. 

Deficits in these areas can cause difficulty completing functional tasks, including, but not limited to self feeding, dressing, completing cutting, writing, and coloring tasks, and participating in social activities with peers.

An occupational therapist will complete an initial evaluation to assess the patient’s functional limitations and impairments. The results of the evaluation are used to create customized treatment programs with specific objectives and time-based goals.

Parents and caregivers are part of the team and are able to assist with identifying areas of need and helping to determine the functional skills that need to be improved.