occupational therapy
Occupational therapy (OT) treatment focuses on helping kids be as independent as possible in all areas of their lives.
Occupational Therapists can help children with various needs improve their cognitive, physical, sensory and motor skills and enhance their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.
Some people may think that occupational therapy is only for adults; children, after all, do not have occupations. But a kid’s main job is playing and learning, and occupational therapists can evaluate kids’ skills for playing, school performance and daily activities and compare them with what is developmentally appropriate for that age group.
In addition to dealing with someone’s physical well-being, OTs address psychological, social and environmental factors that can affect functioning in different ways. This approach makes Occupational Therapy a vital part of health care for some kids.
Children who would benefit from Occupational Therapy
Some of the problems that our Occupational Therapists can help kids/teens with includes:
- Gross motor skills (e.g. running, jumping, climbing)
- Handwriting difficulties, including neatness, letter reversals and dysgraphia
- Self-care skills (e.g. dressing, showering)
- Fine motor skills (e.g. cutting, doing buttons, using cutlery)
- Toileting (e.g. encopresis, enuresis, bedwetting)
- Sensory processing difficulties
- Fussy eating
- Social skills – including making friends and playing with others
- Emotional regulation skills