Becoming a parent for the first time introduces a person to a whole new world with its own language, rules and schedule. If your child has special needs, the learning curve for you is enormous. At SRVS we’re here to help. Here’s some information about occupational therapy.
For a child, development is the primary occupation – learning skills and growing independent is his or her major task. Play happens to be the main way that development occurs. The pediatric occupational therapist is there to make sure play is as purposeful as possible. In pediatric occupational therapy, there are several areas that are traditionally addressed:
- Fine motor skills: the ability to use hands and fingers to pick up and manipulate things
- Visual motor skills: the ability to use the eyes and hands together
- Sensory skills: the ability to make sense of all the senses and uses the senses to respond to the environment
- Self-help skills: the ability to eat, sleep, bathe, dress in an age-appropriate way