Pediatric Occupational Therapy (OT)

As pediatric occupational therapists, we provide consultations, evaluations, and treatments for children who have or display difficulties with their activities of daily living (dressing, toileting, self-feeding, etc.), fine motor skills, visual-motor skills, sensory processing, and retained reflexes. Sessions address skills identified as areas of concern, closely facilitate the child’s body awareness/coordination, and educate families with the information needed to best teach and guide their child when therapy is not in session. OT aims to empower children to attain developmentally appropriate and meaningful participation in their daily tasks. Children with the following difficulties may benefit from OT services:

• Sensory dysregulation
  • Tactile hypersensitivity/defensiveness: does not like tags on clothing, reacts strongly to being touched
  • Tactile hyposensitivity: likes to touch everything, high pain tolerance
  • Proprioceptive hyposensitivity: crashes into people or furniture, likes to squeeze objects or people
  • Proprioceptive hypersensitivity: does not like tight fitted clothing
  • Vestibular hyposensitivity: hyperactive active, seeks excessive jumping, likes to be upside down
  • Vestibular hypersensitivity: does not like head tipped back, motion sickness
  • Auditory hypersensitivity: reacts strongly to loud sounds (does not like to flush the toilet, covers ears in busy environments, cries when hearing loud things)
  • Seeks visual input: likes to watch people walk around the room, likes to watch water flow from the faucet, likes bright lights and toys
  • Avoids visual input: does not like sunlight in the face, prefers dim environments
  • Seeks oral input: chews on everything puts things in mouth, grinds teeth
  • Avoids oral input: does not like certain textures, avoids brushing teeth
  • Inability to grade speed or force: interacts roughly with objects, breaks crayons or utilizes too light of pressure or force when interacting with objects
• Challenges with postural control and coordination
  • Delayed primary movement patterns/reflex integration
  • Poor upper body organization
  • Lack of midline orientation 
  • Inability to isolate movement patterns/cross midline
  • Diminished strength and endurance
• Impaired safety awareness
  • Lack of spatial orientation: bumps into people and objects often
  • Frequent falls 
  • Missing cues in busy environments
  • Running without awareness of where they are headed 
  • Jumping off of high surfaces/taking excessive risks
• Impaired social participation
  • Prefers to play alone 
  • Is too rough/aggressive when interacting with others
  • Is too timid/anxious when interacting with others
  • Feels more comfortable around adults
  • Inability to adapt to new places or routines 
• Impaired emotional regulation
  • Does not like changes in routines 
  • Has challenges with transitions 
  • Has frequent tantrums
  • Unable to self-cope
  • Frequently throws items when upset
  • Hits others when upset or self-harms (head banging)
  • Is too timid or sensitive 
  • Displays learned helplessness (needs help with everything)
• Visual motor integration deficits
  • Inability to use hand-eye coordination during tasks
  • Difficulty with tracking items
  • Does not display join attention
  • Unable to visually scan to search for items 
• Fine motor deficits
  • Delayed grasping patterns/prehension
  • Poor pre-handwriting or handwriting skills
  • Delayed bilateral coordination skills (cannot use both hands together or does not use a dominant and stabilizing hand for activities)
  • Unable to pick up small items
  • Challenges with using finger opposition
  • Weak intrinsic hand muscles 
• Lack of age-appropriate independence in daily tasks 
  • Dressing: difficulty dressing/undressing self, manipulating fasteners, etc
  • Personal hygiene: difficulty with washing hands, brushing teeth, washing hair, etc
  • Toileting: challenges with potty training
  • Self-feeding/drinking: challenges with using utensils, drinking from an open cup, etc