Why would a child have Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapists use play as a means of intervention with children who may not be meeting their expected developmental milestones or who are struggling with specific tasks or activities. The overall goal of occupational therapy is to help each child participate fully in the everyday activities of their lives, from playing with their peers at school to dressing and caring for themselves at home.  

The focus of occupational therapy intervention for children is to help them develop skills including:

• Self-care skills like dressing, eating, bathing, and grooming. 

• Fine-motor skills like picking up small objects, pinching, pushing, fastening buttons; tool use including using scissors and coloring/writing implements.

• Visual-perceptual and visual-motor skills to be able to engage in activities involving building and assembling with shapes, puzzles or blocks.

• Organization, task planning and execution (known as executive functioning).

In addition, an occupational therapist can look at how your child processes sensory input from their environment and offer suggestions that may help with behavior, emotional regulation, or attentional difficulties.  Most kids love coming to OT and seem to think of it as an hour of playful fun! I have experience working with kids of all ages from birth to high school, and tailor my sessions to each child’s particular area of difficulty and to their areas of interest. 

A young child’s OT session might include an obstacle course (to prepare for seated attention to task, motor planning and gross motor skills), followed by work on a simple craft activity (to target fine-motor skills, executive function, and tool use), and ending with time on the floor building a puzzle, (targeting perceptual skills and attention to task). 

For elementary school kids, we work on increasing the complexity of the young child’s tasks, and may work on handwriting skills, typing skills, shoe-tying, and life skills including telling time and counting money. Sessions might also include building with LEGOS and/or other age-appropriate toys to target finger strength, perceptual skills, and coordination. 

As kids get into middle and high school, we may focus on attaining life skills including cooking or baking, learning how to manage money, and on organization and planning more complex tasks and activities. 

I have many years of experience treating patients across the lifespan (pediatrics to geriatrics), and enjoy work as part of a team for those patients also receiving physical and/or speech therapy