Why in the World Would a Child Need Occupational Therapy?

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 02:41:38 GMT

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Occupational Therapists help people of all ages participate in meaningful everyday activities. As an adult, you may have been prescribed Occupational Therapy to help you “get back to work” after an injury. A child’s “occupation” is just that, their job is to be a child, and in doing so learn about the world around them and how to thrive in it.

Play is the primary form of learning for a child, it is their main “job”, but Pediatric Occupational Therapists help children in more areas than just play in the traditional sense. While an Occupational Therapy session might look and feel like play to a child and/or an observer, rest assured, a highly trained Pediatric Occupational Therapist designs the therapy sessions with specific goals in mind. They look at a child’s underlying challenge areas and use forms of play to help them improve these areas to be as independent and successful in their environment as possible.

There are several areas of development that are included in the learning process for a child, including but not limited to: fine motor, sensory processing, problem solving, visual motor, and strength. Okay so what does that mean and how does that translate to the business of being a child? Let us explore some examples.

Occupational Therapists (OT’s) are trained in feeding. They may help a baby who has a hard time progressing from breast to bottle, or from bottle feeding to eating pureed foods or table foods. In the case of the picky eater, a trained OT can address oral motor strength deficits or sensory challenges that are impacting the child’s ability to eat the same foods their family enjoys at mealtimes.

Getting dressed independently is challenging for many children and can be frustrating for parents. Your child’s OT can look at the underlying strength or fine motor challenges or motor planning/coordination challenges that could be impacting your child’s ability to get themselves dressed. How happy a child (and their parent) is when they start mastering this important skill!

Relating to, sharing with, and enjoying time with peers is an important part of being a child. Difficulty sorting out incoming sensory information can impact how a child handles interaction with friends. A parent or teacher may pick up on how close a child sits next to their friends, how they pick up on social cues, how well they are able to share toys, or how well they relate to their peers. It is stressful for a child to have trouble in these examples of social interactions, and an OT can structure therapy to improve this area of a child’s life. For many, it can be life changing.

Writing or completing other schoolwork related to fine motor or visual motor tasks (reading, keyboarding, creative art) is difficult for some children. They benefit from Occupational Therapy to improve their ability to keep up and learn to the best of their ability in school. As you are probably picking up on now, Pediatric Occupational Therapy is all about helping kids reach their full potential!

Tired anyone? A child who has a difficult time falling asleep or staying asleep might need help working on regulating their whole body to get to a state in which they are ready to fall asleep. Yes, a great Pediatric Occupational Therapist can even help your child (and YOU!) get a better night’s sleep. In addition to sleep patterns, OT’s can also help children who struggle with daytime/nighttime incontinence (bladder/bowel).

We cannot stress enough that it does not take a formal diagnosis or something to be obviously “wrong” for a child to benefit from Occupational Therapy. Many children just need a little help being their best self.

5 Facts You Need to Know NOW About Pediatric Therapy

websites@hibu.com (Hibu Websites) — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 13:58:34 GMT

5 Facts You Need to Know NOW About Pediatric Therapy

You’ve received a referral for therapy from your child’s doctor, you’ve noticed difficulties or delays your child is having, or you’re just not sure if your child would benefit from pediatric therapy. What do you do next? Here are 5 facts you need to know in order for you and your child to fully reap the numerous benefits of excellent pediatric therapy.

1. You get to choose your therapist or therapy clinic. Just because your referring doctor works at one organization DOES NOT mean that you have to choose that organization to provide your child’s therapy. Good pediatric clinics collaborate with doctors from all agencies and the decision of where you take your child for therapy is ultimately yours. Your child’s doctor may make a recommendation or they may leave it totally up to you. What they should not be doing (even though it is a common practice) is scheduling an evaluation with a therapy clinic without input from you about where you want that evaluation to take place. Don’t be afraid to speak up and say that you’ll schedule the evaluation and have the therapist send them the results.

2. How do you know where to go? As your child’s advocate, you should take into account any special training or areas of expertise that would benefit your child. Not all therapists and therapy clinics are created equal, that is to say, that while all pediatric therapists are licensed, they don’t all have the same experience, the same training, and the same passion for helping your child reach those milestones that you are so excited for them to reach!

There are several ways to go about finding the best fit for your child including asking other parents where they have seen great results, reading reviews and testimonials, and contacting the therapy clinic to ask about their therapists and what they have to offer to meet your child’s specific needs. Don’t forget to inquire about whether they offer all areas of therapy. For example, if you start with speech therapy and it is determined that your child would also benefit from occupational or physical therapy, scheduling and obtaining those services is much easier if your child can receive all their therapies from the same clinic. The bonus here is that therapy is often a collaborative effort, and having all of your child’s therapists working together is a win. This can be accomplished between different therapy agencies (ex. you like your PT at one location but want to get speech therapy elsewhere) but it is undoubtedly much easier on you as the parent to receive therapies at the same agency.

3. Now that you’ve gotten some ideas about which clinics you’d like to check into, you should look at which one will mesh with your existing lifestyle. Doing so will take a lot of stress off of you in the long run. Here are some questions to ask yourself. Is there an option for your child to receive therapy while they are at daycare? Do they offer Telehealth (virtual visits) so that your child’s therapy doesn’t have to stop should COVID-19 flare up again? Does the therapy clinic you’ve chosen offer free screening (this is a brief observation of your child performed by the therapist to determine if a more formal assessment is appropriate)? If they screen your child and decide that therapy isn’t necessarily needed at this time will they offer you strategies you can implement at home? Do they have openings to evaluate and treat your child relatively soon? Having to wait for several weeks to start the treatment plan can be frustrating and unnecessary; a therapy clinic having immediate openings doesn’t mean they’re not good, it just means they are on top of their game and prepared!

4. Pediatric speech, occupational, and physical therapies are not just for kids with a specific diagnosis. While these cases are frequently seen by pediatric therapists, therapy can also target and improve behaviors and deficits displayed by children with no formal diagnosis. For example, therapy can correct an issue like improper speech

sounds, poor balance, or lack of coordination rather quickly, and doing so can greatly benefit your child as they are preparing for school, learning to read and spell, and gaining confidence in the world around them. When in doubt, an evaluation is best.

5. Therapy should address the concerns that you have as a parent. Your child’s therapist will make a treatment plan based on their professional opinion of what your child needs help with. The fact remains, however, that nobody knows your child better than you. Your child’s therapist should be considerate of the goals you have for your child, the behaviors that you would like to see change in your child’s day to day life (in school, home, daycare), the amount of involvement you want to have in their therapy, and use that information to customize your child’s plan of care.

BONUS MATERIAL! Isn’t it great to live in a world where you have so many options AND the freedom to choose which pediatric therapy clinic best meets your needs? Most importantly, parents need to be empowered to make insightful decisions concerning their child’s treatment. Sometimes circumstances change, it just isn’t a great fit, or you learn of a more specialized program and a changeup makes sense. In the case where this is true AND you have discussed it with your child’s current therapists, you as the parent should feel no guilt. Everyone involved should understand it’s not personal and should want what is best for you and your child.

Little Miracles Inc. Blog

Why in the World Would a Child Need Occupational Therapy?

This is a subtitle for your new post

5 Facts You Need to Know NOW About Pediatric Therapy

5 Facts You Need to Know NOW About Pediatric Therapy