What is Pediatric Occupational Therapy

As an Occupational therapist, I help encourage development through the practice of everyday activities using play to motivate your child. Occupational therapists look at all aspects of your child’s life to identify their areas of strength and weakness. We use their strengths to build up their weaknesses. The overall goal of OT is to help your child increase their participation in and gain independence with the daily activities that are challenging for them. A key part of helping your child is working closely with you, the parents.

Who can benefit from Pediatric Occupational Therapy?

Any child who is having more difficulty than expected reaching their developmental milestones would benefit from an occupational therapy evaluation. Children with the following diagnosis often require OT services.

• Sensory Processing Disorders
• PDD and Autism
• Fine motor delays
• Gross motor delays
• Feeding difficulties
• ADHD
• Behavioral challenges
• Genetic disorders
• Learning disabilities

An occupational therapy evaluation typically assesses the following areas through standardized tests and clinical observations

• Visual perception
• Visual tracking
• Fine motor skills including but not limited to:
• In-hand manipulation skills
• Handwriting
• Visual motor skills such as catching a ball and cutting
• Gross motor skills including but not limited to:
• Balance
• Coordination
• Strength
• Executive functioning including task organization and time management
• Attention to tasks
• Daily living skills such as feeding and dressing
• Behavioral / Adaptive behavior challenges. Adaptive behavior is an individual's ability to behave in a functional manner allowing them to fully participate in activities of daily living. Children sometimes develop rigid maladaptive behaviors that prevent them from participating in age appropriate activities like cleaning up toys when asked, morning/bedtime routines, and sharing.