Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists help children develop skills they need to be happy, healthy kids and grow into independent adults. While it may be strange to think of a child as having an occupation, your child’s job is to learn, play, care for himself or herself and others, and grow.

Occupational therapy services

If your child has a serious illness or injury, medically based or rehabilitative occupational therapy services may be provided. Our developmentally appropriate services improve your child’s functional abilities and independence by emphasizing:

• Physical skills to increase movement, strength, and coordination.
• Adaptive skills: Age-appropriate skills necessary to live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life.
• Cognitive abilities.
• Sensorimotor skills: Skills that help your child process information he or she receives from the surrounding environment.
• Visual motor and perceptual skills.
• Social and interpersonal skills.

Our occupational therapists will create a treatment plan that addresses your child’s unique needs by:

• Collaborating with other health care professionals to identify your child’s needs.
• Identifying and changing or overcoming barriers that interfere with, restrict, or inhibit your child’s functional performance.
• Teaching your child and family modeling skills and strategies to extend therapeutic intervention.
• Adapting activities, materials, and environmental conditions so that your child can participate in activities.

We work with children who are staying in the hospital (inpatients) and with children who are not hospitalized (outpatients).