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Occupational Therapy pediatric program is designed to evaluate, treat and manage a variety of neuromuscular,
skeletal and cognitive limitations. Our therapists are skillful in evaluating and treating people of different
ages who are experiencing difficulties with performance of daily activities in the areas of feeding /eating,
self-care, play, learning and development due to a variety of congenital and/or acquired disorders.
What conditions can benefit from Occupational Therapy Rehabilitation?
Occupational Therapy treats a wide range of disorders in children and adolescents.
Some common diagnoses seen are:
- Cerebral Palsy
- Orthopedic injury or problems
- Neurological disorders (congenital or post traumatic)
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Failure to thrive
- Prematurity
- Sensory Integration Disorders
- Autism
- Genetic/Metabolic Disorders
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Spina Bifida
- Developmental Delay
- Feeding/eating disorders
- Perceptual/motor limitations
Occupational Therapy Pediatric Rehabilitation Services:
Our Occupational Therapist in Manual Therapy Center will perform comprehensive developmental, musculoskeletal, neurological and/or oral motor evaluations to identify areas of difficulties and establish a baseline status.
Working closely with family members, educators and other healthcare providers,
the therapist will design a treatment program directed toward
meeting specific and attainable goals intended to improve functional performance.
Some examples of evaluations and treatments provided by our therapists include:
- Neonatal and infant development
- Feeding and dysphagia
- Gross and fine motor development
- Sensory integration and modulation
- Activities of daily living
- Orthotics
- Prosthetics
- Cognitive development
Our Pediatric occupational therapists treat many different areas:
COGNITIVE AND PERCEPTUAL
- Visual discrimination - finding the similarities & differences
- Visual spatial relationships - being able to identify reversals of objects & symbols
- Visual sequential memory - to recall a shape from 4 choices after 4-5 seconds
- Visual memory - identifying a shape that has been memorized from the previous page
- Visual form constancy - finding the same shape when it is resized or rotated
- Visual figure ground - finding an object within a busy background
What to look out for in your child
- Inattention to written and/or reading tasks
- Difficulty in letter recognition and letter reproduction
- Reversal of letters such as b for d or p for q
- Difficulty copying from a blackboard or a whiteboard
- Poor orientation of puzzle pieces - "gives up"
- Poor at following instructions
SELF CARE
- Orientate clothing, shoes & socks
- Right & left discrimination while dressing
- Back & front discrimination while dressing
- Strategies, techniques & ideas for cues when dressing (visual, physical or verbal)
- Feeding: grasp, bilateral co-ordination (knife & fork), strength, control
- Bathing: includes back care techniques for parents. Sequencing body parts to wash (rhyme)
- Hygiene: toileting, grooming (hair & teeth brushing), nail care
What to look out for in your child
- Dressing: clothes or shoes on backwards
- Dressing: shoes on wrong feet
- Food is pushed off plate
- Messy eaters
SOCIAL SKILLS
- Co-operative play / sharing skills
- Develop self concept / self esteem
- Attention
- Listening skills
- Following directions
What to look out for in your child
- Withdrawal from social situations
- Lack of group interaction (avoidance)
- Lack of confidence in oneself
- Poor eye contact
- Poor body language
FINE MOTOR
- Finger, hand strength, position & stability
- Pencil grip & control
- Wrist &/or forearm control
- Copying shapes
- Fluency / finger movements
- Spatial organization (space & letter formation)
- Quality of work
- Visual perception skills
- Speed & dexterity
- Tweezers, scissors, finger isolated movements
What to look out for in your child
- No interest in fine motor skills
- Gross pencil grasp
- Poor scissor skills
- Clumsy grasp & release skills
- Difficulty holding small objects, manipulating tools, pencils or scissors
- Unable to complete mazes, dot-to-dots, etc
- Difficulty copying text from whiteboard or blackboard
GROSS MOTOR
- Ball skills - throwing & catching, hitting ball
- Balance: Hopping, balancing on one leg, walking on a balance beam, walking heel-toe
- Clumsiness
- Awkward running or jumping
- Co-ordination of body sides: difficulty skipping, doing star jumps
- Difficulty with dancing, Simon Says
What to look out for in your child
- Flinching or other responses when catching a ball
- Fear response to gross motor activities
- Level of avoidance or motivation to gross motor activities
- Unable to hop, skip, jump, run, etc
- Difficulty coordinating body sides
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