Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Pediatric Occupational therapy is a health care profession geared to enabling children to perform daily living skills to their full potential, to achieve independence, to achieve age appropriate development and to maintain optimum quality of life.

A pediatric occupational therapist will assess a child’s development and skills to evaluate if there is any area of concern and if intervention is required. There are symptoms that can indicate if there is any delay in development and if pediatric occupational therapist consultation is advisable:

• performing fine motor skills – child displays extra effort
• very short attention span & organizational skills are very slow
• struggles a lot with writing, holding a pencil, copying basic shapes, using scissors
• self-esteem & self-confidence issues around fine motor skills
• seems weak or gets tired quite easily when sitting; posture is challenged

Assessments can be made to any or all of the following areas:  motor skills, play skills and behavior, daily life skills, performance at school, and processing of sensations.  These assessments can take the form of observation, tests, interviews and/or questionnaires with parents and teachers.

Based on the assessments, the occupational therapist will work with the child using various treatment techniques or exercises geared to the individual concerns.   Therapy may include fine motor skill work, hand coordination, visual perception work, strengthening muscles, enhancing range of mobility and handwriting skill work.