“When kids show delays in development skills, OTs (Occupational therapists) are often the first called in.” – Beth Arky
Often it can be noticed that children are not functioning age appropriately or finding it hard to carry out their daily routine smoothly. This might include difficulties or problems like decreased balance (the child might become clumsy managing his own balance), sensory issues, decreased attention, low muscle tone or strength, decreased visual perceptual skills, difficulty with handwriting, problems with feeding in terms of sensory or is a picky eater or messy eater, and many more alike. All these numbers of problems happen because of the child’s poor sensory developmental condition. A sensory integration trained occupational therapist work on identifying the underlying skills that are significant for learning and performing tasks.
Pediatric occupational therapy primarily works on visual perceptual skills of the child, coordination of both sides of the body, gross motor coordination, oculomotor skills, social skills, etc. To appropriately help the children with developmental problems, the occupational therapists conduct different types of standardized assessments and screenings based on the age appropriateness of the child for targeted therapy plans and reach those goals. For better results, continuous evaluation of the condition of the child is done for ensuring that the desired goals are achieved.
Many times, the term occupational therapy is thought as a practice of developing working skills but in reality that’s not correct. Occupational therapy is actually a neurorehabilitation technique that deals with strengthening the fine motor skills of children. These include helping with tasks like writing, cutting, shoe-tying, and using utensils. OT is commonly used in special education programs for children.
An occupational therapist working with children with delays in developmental skills, typically use techniques and routines that seem like play. In reality, they are designed to target the areas of delay and difficulty. Some occupational therapists are also trained in therapy with a sensory integration approach. This technique uses play-like activities to help children better process and tolerate the information they get through their senses.
Pediatric occupational therapists deal with a variety of children, including those with learning difficulties, cerebral palsy, autism, attention deficit disorder, developmental delays and down syndrome, and much more. Occupational therapy for children with delays in developing skills and sensory skills helps in many ways. Let’s take a look through them!
An occupational therapist (OT) evaluate and address the following areas:
Fine-Motor Skills: These are comprised the small muscle movements of the arms, wrists, and hands. They let you perform more intricate tasks like buttoning a jacket, holding a pencil, writing, putting coins in the vending machine, cutting and pointing to the buttons on an iPad, etc.
Gross Motor Skills: The OT therapists will work a lot in this area. Bringing stability in the larger muscles of a child’s body is important for smaller, more refined movements. Gross motor skills allow a child to catch, kick, swing, play tag, ride a bike, participate in physical activities, play video games, etc.
Neuromuscular Status: The OT works on this skill set of the child to help increase their stability. This skill set is primarily made of muscle tone, postural control, and upper body stability.
Self-Care: The occupational therapists teach children how to get dressed, brush their teeth and eat with utensils. They also provide potty training.
Visual Motor Development/ Visual Perceptual Skills Development: The occupational therapists closely look at these abilities. An occupational therapist screens for skill functioning in this area and might work with a developmental optometrist, also known as a vision therapist, when required. Children might have 20/20 vision but still may have difficulty using their eyes. These skills allow kids to copy from the board, color in the lines, write their names, read from left to right and find their cubby when arriving at school.
Many of the aforementioned tasks are complex and might need more than one skill set. An OT works with your child to break down these actions into smaller and more manageable pieces. Your child can successfully accomplish components of a task and work with the therapist to complete the more challenging parts. The expert therapist may work to strengthen the required skills for completing the function independently and can recommend other treatments or approaches when needed.
Therefore, if you found your child to have some special needs with regards to development, you must immediately approach a pediatric neurorehabilitation specialist, who will first diagnose the difficulty with your child and then offer a targeted rehabilitation treatment plan for the same. So, approach your nearest OT (occupational therapy) clinics and help your child with developing and sensory skill delays.
