Could your child benefit from Occupational Therapy?

    What is an Occupational Therapist: Occupational Therapy (OT) is a health profession that helps people improve the functioning of their nervous systems in order to develop skills, leading to success in everyday life including: social, personal, academic, and vocational pursuits. An OT is an allied health professional trained in the biological, physical, medical, and behavioral sciences, including: neurology, anatomy, physiology, human development, kinesiology, orthopedics, and psychology. Pediatrics is a specialty field of occupational therapy. Pediatric occupational therapists can specialize in sensory processing and praxis.

    Occupational therapy helps children develop the basic sensory and motor components which influence learning and behavior, such as body awareness, coordinating two sides of the body, fine motor control and organization, motor planning, motor movements and coordination, gross motor coordination, ocular motor skills, and visual perceptual skills.

    Therapy helps to develop the underlying skills necessary for learning and performing specific tasks, as well as social and behavioral skills, self-concept, and confidence. Occupational therapists not only work directly with the child, but also with the family- parents and caregivers, and teachers in order to educate and reinforce specific skills and behaviors which will be used to improve and facilitate the child’s performance and functioning.

    The most important way a parent or teacher can facilitate sensory processing/ sensory integration is by recognizing that it exists and that it plays an important role in the development of a child. An important guideline in facilitating normal sensory processing is to provide an enriched environment that will foster healthy growth and maturation, taking into consideration the specific needs of each individual child.

    Sensory processing develops in the course of ordinary childhood activities. For most of us, sensory processing occurs automatically, unconsciously, and without effort. But for some children sensory processing does not develop efficiently. When the process of sensory processing does not occur a number of problems in development, learning, language, social skills, and behavior may become evident.

    Research clearly identifies sensory integrative problems in children with learning difficulties and developmental delays. Research also identifies a majority of children with learning difficulties, although normal in intelligence, are likely to have sensory processing problems.