WHAT IS OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY?

Occupational Therapy is a holistic health care profession focused on maximizing an individual’s abilities through meaningful and purposeful activity. OT’s address difficulties arising from trauma, cognitive impairment, physical injury, psychosocial dysfunction, developmental disorders and learning disabilities. Treatment concentrates on regaining one’s “occupations” of life reaching their optimal potential. When working specifically with children, their “occupations” are comprised of self-care skills, social skills, movement, learning and school performance. Areas addressed in OT related to these “occupations” include:

• Fine Motor Skills (stringing beads, buttoning buttons, grasping crayons/feeding utensils)
• Visual Motor Skills (coloring, drawing through mazes, puzzles, imitating block designs, learning to draw)
• Sensory Integration
• Self-Help Skills (eating, grooming, dressing)
• Neuromuscular Development (muscle strength and endurance)
• Ocular Motor Skills (visual tracking and eye teaming; essential for reading, writing and copying)
• Handwriting (grapho-motor skills)
• Ergonomics/Environmental Modifications (adapting pencils, organization of environment to meet students’ needs, chair/desk height)
• Play Skills (levels of play and socialization)