Occupational therapy treatment focuses on helping children achieve independence in all areas of their lives. Occupational therapy can help children improve their physical, motor, and academic 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.” However, a child’s main occupation involves playing and learning, and occupational therapists can evaluate a child’s skills for playing, learning, and performing daily activities, comparing those skills to what is developmentally appropriate for a particular age group.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), in addition to dealing with a child’s physical well-being, occupational therapy practitioners address psychological, social, and environmental factors that can affect function in different ways. This approach makes occupational therapy a vital part of health care for some children.
Who Can Benefit from Occupational Therapy?
According to the AOTA, children with these and other problems might benefit from occupational therapy:
- attention and concentration problems
- autism spectrum disorders
- birth injuries or birth defects
- cerebral palsy
- chromosomal disorders
- coordination and balance problems
- developmental delays
- down syndrome
- emotional regulation
- executive function disorders
- feeding (picky eating/problem feeding)
- fine motor coordination/strengthening
- gross and fine motor delays
- hand skills
- learning problems
- neurologic disorders
- pencil grasp/handwriting
- self-care skills
- sensory processing disorder and subtypes
- sensory-based feeding disorder
- sensory-based learning difficulties
- social skills
- traumatic injuries (brain, spinal cord, hand)
- visual-motor integration
How Might Occupational Therapy Help?
An Occupational Therapist might help children:
- Improve balance, coordination, strength, and/or motor planning (praxis) skills.
- Develop fine motor skills and/or handwriting skills.
- Address hand-eye coordination (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.).
- Learn daily living skills (bathing, dressing, grooming, and feeding).
- Use specialized equipment, such as wheelchairs, splints, bathing equipment, dressing devices, or communication aids.
- Improve issues with sensory processing, attention, and concentration.
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Since 2002, Children’s Therapy Center, PSC has served thousands of families in Louisville, Kentucky, by providing high-quality therapy services and parent education.
For more information about our occupational therapy services, please contact us.
