What Is Occupational Therapy?
The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) states that, “occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants help people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities (occupations).” For a child, the main things that may “occupy” their days are sleeping, eating, communicating and playing. Many children have difficulty with one or more of these daily activities for one reason or another. OT’s can help a child to develop the skills they need to be successful in these areas, whether they are an infant struggling to find a rhythm with feeding times, a toddler not being able to play on the swing set at the playground, or an older child struggling to stay focused in school. These are things that many of us take for granted, but when there are difficulties in any of these areas it can greatly impact the life of the child, along with their family and loved ones.
Occupational therapy services typically include:
- an individualized evaluation, during which the client/family and occupational therapist determine the person’s goals,
- customized intervention to improve the person’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, and
- an outcomes evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met and/or make changes to the intervention plan.
At Progressive Pediatric Therapy, we use a collaborate team-based approach to help guide your child’s care. Our OT’s work with speech therapists, physical therapists and board certified behavior analysts to develop treatment plans that will be fun and engaging for your child while working on building new skills. We know that PLAY is a child’s primary occupation and it forms the foundation for therapy. When therapy is rooted in this basic daily occupation of play, a child gets the most out of their time with the therapist and you learn to carry these techniques over at home!
To learn more about OT, please visit: https://www.aota.org