Occupation Therapy: Customizing Care to Meet Each Child’s Needs

Occupational Therapy assessment includes the development of an occupational profile to determine the primary functional concern that prompted the referral for occupational therapy services. Assessment of each child’s performance of skills and abilities, environmental demands, and adaptations required for the underlying impairments are identified.

Occupational therapy evaluation, treatment planning and intervention focus on helping children and families achieve and maintain health through engagement in occupations to support each child’s meaningful participation in life activities. Children whose lives have been affected by developmental conditions, illness or injury can benefit from occupational therapy. Occupational therapists work with children of all ages from the tiniest of newborn infants to older adolescents.

Activities That Promote Life Skills

Occupational Therapy treatment interventions and techniques focus on the acquisition and use of skills needed for a child to achieve optimal success and independence for self-care, play, and self-organization in all daily occupations at home and in community environments. Occupational therapists use a variety of functional activities including play to promote skills in the areas of:

• Self care independence and safety for tasks such as feeding, dressing, and bathing;

• Motor coordination for tasks such as handwriting, doing up fasteners, eating with a knife and fork, playing on playground equipment, and coordination for games and sports;

• Oral motor function for the purpose of eating, managing foods in the mouth, taking milk from the bottle, tolerating different food textures and types;

• Self regulation and organization for completion of routines and transitions such as bedtime, getting ready for school, mealtime and outings in the community;

• Perception for tasks such as puzzles, construction games, pre-reading and pre-math;

• Community integration and social behavior to help participation in home, school and community activities.

• Exploring adaptive devices and assistive technology to help a child achieve his/her maximum potential

Family Centered Care

The occupational therapists at The Children’s Hospital believe in the importance of family involvement through goal setting, attendance at therapy sessions, and follow through with home program suggestions at home. Instructing and educating the child and family is as important as the treatment the child receives since the family is able to follow through on a daily basis. We value sharing of information and depend on a partnership with families.