Pediatric occupational therapists or occupational therapists for children help kids and families make life easier at home, school, and on the playground. We help kids live life to their fullest potential from birth through college age.
What Does An Occupational Therapist Do For a Child?
An occupational therapist for children works with kids from birth through college age in so many ways. You may be wondering why a child would need occupational therapy? There are many reasons a child may need pediatric occupational therapy, and here are a couple of types of occupational therapies for kids.
The most common OT service comes in the form of Classic OT. Traditional OT helps children improve their skills to shine at home, at school, and on the playground. These may include but are not limited to gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
An occupational therapist for children can also work with sensory processing disorders, often referred to as sensory integration therapy. Some sensory processing issues kids may have are food texture, the volume of sounds, and the feeling of clothing. The treatment plan is generally individualized for the child.
Other occupational therapists work with children who have developmental delays. They help children develop the skills needed for social skills, play, fine motor, self-help like getting dressed or brushing teeth, and problem-solving/cognition.
Occupational therapists usually work with kids for a few weeks or months on particular goals. Occupational therapy sessions are fun, meaningful, and include targeted activities to make a difference in your child’s everyday life.
If you are reading these and are thinking “hm, I think this may be something my child needs!”
Click over to my resources page. I have some valuable and educational information over there!
Here are 4 occupational therapy examples and ways occupational therapists for children (like me) can specifically help your child or student:
Occupational Therapy And Handwriting Struggles
Is your child’s handwriting challenging to read? There may be more to it than poor writing. As an occupational therapist for children, I can provide evidence and clinical-based programs to remediate and support your struggling writer. Therapy helps by improving skills such as pencil grip, tracing, spacing, and more!
Grab a free Handwriting Resource here!
Struggling with handwriting is one of the top reasons for occupational therapy referrals in school-based therapy.
I work with your children one-on-one to identify their challenges and help them move forward.
Best Ages: Elementary and up
Environment: Online with my program Legible Handwriting for Kids or in the office with 1 on 1 sessions.
If you are looking to read more about handwriting struggles, I have over 15 different blog posts about handwriting! Check them out here!
I even have some pretty awesome handwriting programs available for you!
Occupational Therapy And Executive Functioning Skills
Executive functioning skills are the cognitive skills that allow us to get things done. They allow your kids to function in the world. Executive functioning skills are involved in school, at home, and even during their favorite free time activity.
The critical part is the development of executive functioning skills. They start as early as six months and keep on developing through about age 25 + or – 3 years. Many executive functioning skills just get better with typical development. Still, an occupational therapist for kids can implement a few simple, easy and specific experiences and ensure that your child’s executive functioning skills reach their maximum potential.
Lucky for you, I have a FREE executive functioning guide available!
Here’s where occupational therapists for children can help executive functioning skills.
Combining the pillars of occupational therapy with executive functioning skills coaching will help ensure your child will shine at home or in the academic environment.
Some services I provide are:
- 1-on-1 coaching with students and family
- Parent workshops
- Parent ongoing support with a monthly membership
Best Ages: Elementary to College **Middle school kids are the sweet spot
Environment: 1-on-1 sessions, online workshops, monthly memberships
You may not know this, but organizational strategies, working memory, and time awareness are all part of executive functioning!
You can learn more about all three here.
Occupational Therapy And The Struggling Learner
As an occupational therapist for children, I take a blending approach when helping children who may be having issues learning or in school. I use classic occupational therapy and mix them with the Neuronet learning program, which is a program backed by hundreds of peer-reviewed articles in the world’s top scientific journals.
By blending these two programs, we strengthen skills simultaneously with neural connections. Combining the programs will help develop your independent learner at home, at school, and on the playground.
Best ages: Preschool-Early Middle school
Environment: 1-on-1 session
Occupational Therapy Services And Parent Coaching
Although I would like to say occupational therapists for children are miracle workers, we sadly can only do so much. The best combination is when parents are a part of the step-by-step process and really feel like they can advocate and help their child while at home. OT is a team effort and I absolutely love when parents want to be a a key player on the team!
Parents are occupational therapists’ partners, and they can do so much to help their children overcome struggles with the proper support and information. However, parents often do not know where to get started regarding occupational therapy for children. This is where I can help!
I will create a customized OT plan for parents, giving parents a personalized home program to support their child’s sensory or motor skills.
Get started on the right foot!
Sign up for a parent consult!
Best ages: Any age
Environment: At Home
Occupational Therapists For Children
There are so many ways an occupational therapist can help you and your child develop the skills needed to be successful at school, home, and play.
Now, you’ve read about 4 of the ways I am able to help your child! If one of them really hits home and you think I could help! Let’s set up a time to chat, no pressure!
