Occupational Therapy
What is occupational therapy?
Living with pain, injury, illness, or disabilities can be quite challenging. Occupational therapy teaches you to adapt to these adverse situations and helps you live a more independent and active life. Occupational therapy helps you to do specific tasks such as:
- Eating without help from others
- Participating in leisure activities
- Do office work independently
- Everyday chores like taking a bath or getting dressed
- Do the laundry or clean the house
Especially beneficial for people with autism, OT programs focus on play skills, learning strategies, and self-care to enhance your everyday functioning so you can live a more comfortable and participating daily life.
When does a child need occupational therapy?
Does your child find it difficult to cope with day-to-day activities at home, school, or in social situations?
Does your child face challenges in doing the activities that his friends can do effortlessly? Or he/she has certain sensory issues such as hand flapping, jumping, or unusual finger movement.
If any of your answers is a ‘yes,’ then occupational therapy can help your child to overcome these challenges and live a more independent and comfortable life.
Occupational therapy can help your child in specific areas, including:
- Developmental delay
- Fine motor skills
- Movement, strength, and balance development
- Visual processing
- Oral sensory skills
- Social interaction skills
- Learning challenges
- Play skills
When to consult an Occupational Therapist?
For kids, playing is a way to explore the world around them, learn to interact with it, and develop essential life skills. As they grow up, these skills allow them to connect with others and become more independent and responsible.
However, some kids have trouble mastering the skills that allow them to investigate or navigate their environment on their own. They face issues with fine or gross motor skills, sensory processing, visual perceptual skills, and other abilities. Children with autism surely need Occupational Therapy.
That’s where an occupational therapist comes into play because if not treated now, these childhood struggles can also continue into adulthood.
Occupational therapists are healthcare professionals who take everyday activities from the patient’s life and incorporate them into the treatment plan to restore their ability to perform.