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Occupational Therapy

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Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy consists of training, educating, and supporting children to improve their mental and physical performance and awareness. Occupational therapy helps children gain independence by improving their ability to complete everyday tasks (such as learning, schoolwork, communication, and other everyday life activities).

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About Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy or OT focuses on helping children of all ages with physical, sensory, or cognitive challenges to be as independent as possible in all areas of their lives. Through a variety of play-based activities, an occupational therapist can assess and provide therapy for the foundation skills needed in the performance of daily activities:

  • Sensory: The ability to interpret and organize information from the senses about their body and environment.
  • Motor: Muscle tone and strength, patterns of movement, posture, gross and fine motor function, and hand-eye coordination.
  • Cognitive: Arousal level and attention skills, initiation and planning of activities, problem solving, and safety awareness.
  • Psychosocial: Self-esteem, motivation, and social interaction

What does Occupational Therapy (OT) for children involve?

Following an initial assessment, ongoing therapy at Jumpstart Center might be recommended. The OT treatment plan may include activities associated with improving the following areas of development:

  • Fine Motor Skills We help children work on fine motor skills so they can grasp and release objects, improve their handwriting, learn how to use scissors, and play with toys in an age-appropriate manner.
  • Play, Social and Problem-Solving Skills Through play-based therapies, we help children navigate their feelings associated with winning and losing, understanding rules, taking turns, and encouraging others to succeed.
  • Gross Motor Skills At Jumpstart Center, we work with children to develop their postural strength and control and improve their overall coordination.
  • Visual Motor Integration We assess and work with children on their hand–eye coordination to improve their play and school-based skills including hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.
  • Functional Independence We help children with physical disabilities, developmental delays, and other challenges become more independent by teaching them how to perform activities of daily living such as getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves.
  • Attention and Behavior We help children with behavioral disorders maintain positive behaviors in a variety of environments. For example, instead of physically ‘acting out’, they are encouraged to use positive ways to deal with anger, such as writing about their feelings or participating in a physical activity. We also work with children who have sensory and attentional issues, to improve their focus and social skills.

Sensory Integration

What is sensory integration?

Sensory integration, also known as sensory processing, is the process by which the brain recognizes and responds to the information our senses provide. This is how we process or integrate things that we see, taste, smell, touch, or hear — as well as to regulate our vestibular and proprioceptive systems .

While there are eight senses that make up sensory processing, there are three systems in particular that are most affected by sensory disorders:

  • Tactile Our tactile system processes information from the receptors in our skin, giving us a wide variety of “touch” sensations, such as pressure, temperature, and pain.
  • Proprioceptive Our proprioceptive system involves our awareness of our own body through things like our muscles and joints, which tell our brains where we are in space.
  • Vestibular Our vestibular system processes our movement and balance using an intricate set of organs inside the inner ear.