Occupational Therapy
If you have concerns about your child’s development, Occupational Therapy may be able to help. Our team of occupational therapy practitioners are trained in supporting children who have difficulties with fine and gross motor skills, sensory processing, self regulation, social skills, and more! We aim to understand what is at the root of your child’s challenges in order to help them develop the necessary skills to succeed. Download our OT Screening Checklist or Sensory Processing Disorder Red Flags to see if OT is right for your child.
Oc-cu-pa-tion (noun)
Occupations are various kinds of life activities in which individuals, groups, or populations engage, including activities of daily living. instrumental activities of daily living, rest and sleep, education, work, play, leisure, and social participation
Is our clinic right for you?
At Children’s Therapy Center, Co., we believe that children’s behaviors are their best available way to communicate their state of regulation and/or current abilities. We have tossed aside the common notion that children primarily use behavior either to get something, or to get out of something, as the scientific community now recognizes that there is a lot more to children’s behavior than meets the eye. We understand that a child’s behavior is a protective response from their brain to keep them safe, and look at their behaviors as clues to determine what they may be trying to tell us. This allows us to go beyond the what (e.g. child refuses to sit at the dinner table with family), and get to the why (e.g. child is severely sensitive to tactile input resulting in a sense of threat and lack of safety). Through play, as the child’s primary occupation, we strategically help the child regulate abnormal sensory input to develop physical coordination, emotional maturity, social skills, and self-confidence. We combine many clinical approaches to come up with a plan that is meaningful and impactful for your child. Some approaches we incorporate include: Integrated Listening Systems, Sensory Integration, DIR/Floor time, Social Thinking, Zones of Regulation, STAR Center Model, Reflex Integration, Handwriting without Tears and more!
Areas Occupational Therapist Address
- Fine Motor
- Gross Motor
- Sensory Processing
- Visual Motor
- Perception
- Self Regulation
- Social Skills
- Executive Functioning
- Coordination
- Handwriting
- Feeding/Eating
- Managing Emotions
- Self Care
They did many fun learning games and activities, and he always looked forward to going to the weekly appointments after school. We were taught exercises that we could do at home to further improve his coordination and penmanship. Overall, he is doing better!
C.T.C. Parent
Play is a Child's Primary occupation
When I meet someone new and tell them I am an occupational therapist and that I work with kids, it never fails, I get some funny looks and responses…
“No, I do not help kids find jobs or work on their resumes.”
In the field of occupational therapy, the term “occupation” refers to meaningful activities that we need and want to do. Childhood occupations include learning, playing, navigating their environment through movement, eating, sleeping, and more.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association, “It is often through play that children learn to make sense of the world around them. It is a child’s ‘job’ or ‘occupation’ to play to develop physical coordination, emotional maturity, social skills to interact with other children, and self-confidence to try new experiences and explore new environments.”
At CTC we believe that children learn, grow and develop through play and as such it is our primary means of working with children. It is important to note that our play is very purposeful and intentional. At all times during our “play”ful interaction with a child, there is a reason we are doing what we are doing. Sometimes it’s to build rapport, sometimes it’s to build a skill, sometimes it is to regulate their nervous system and sometimes it’s to build motivation.
If this sounds like a good fit for your family, we would love to connect.