occupational therapy

What is paediatric Occupational Therapy?

A paediatric occupational therapist (OT) works with your child to help them develop the skills they need to take part in everyday activities. OTs help children develop independence, confidence and mastery by developing:

· Self-care skills, such as toileting, feeding, and dressing

· Fine motor skills, such as hand strength, and being able to manipulate small items

· Gross motor skills, including balance, motor planning, and coordination

· Play, to help with skills such as problem solving, social competence and language development

· Social skills, including understanding that other people have different thoughts and feelings, learning what is expected and unexpected and how to understand different contexts

· Emotional and sensory regulation

We know that children learn better when they are motivated and having fun, so all of our sessions aim to incorporate your child’s interests and take a play-based approach.

What does OT involve?

- Before we start regular sessions, we will typically conduct a formal assessment to get an idea of what your child’s strengths are, and what areas you’d like to work on.

- After the assessment, your child’s OT will work with you to formulate some therapy goals. These goals are updated quarterly depending on how your child is progressing and what your priorities are.

- Your child will come to regular clinic-based therapy sessions, which are typically conducted weekly for 45 minutes of face-to-face time.

- At Whole Family Health our OTs work as part of a multidisciplinary team, so we collaborate closely with any of your child’s other therapists.

Case Study:

Joshua (not his real name) commenced OT in June 2020 when he was 4.5 years old. Joshua has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, and had difficulties with his fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and ability to maintain his attention. When he started sessions, Joshua had a lot of difficulty colouring in and drawing, and tried to avoid all activities that involved using pencils. Occupational therapy involved playing lots of games to help Joshua develop his hand strength and coordination (such as making and decorating paper planes, creating things out of Play Doh, and using tongs to pick up small items), and practicing pencil-skills using multisensory play (such as drawing on an Etch-a-sketch, playing noughts and crosses, using chalk, and drawing with his fingers in shaving foam). Today Joshua is at a mainstream school and is able to write and draw alongside his classmates.

#OTstMarys #OTforkids #NDISOT