Wordy Wednesday: Occupational Therapy

Welcome to Wordy Wednesday!

 

Today's subject:

 

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

 

 

This is really only a brief and general introduction to occupational therapy. This type of therapy is very helpful for individuals with a broad range of diagnoses.

 

We tend to think of occupational therapy as primarily for adults who have perhaps had a stroke or accident that has resulted in a loss of the use of certain skills. It plays a vital role for certain children however, since this may be where a child learns and strengthens his life skills, which center around play, balance, body awareness, gross and fine motor development.

 

Most of us take these skills for granted, yet there is a large number of kids who struggle with some of the most basic daily tasks such as putting on or taking off clothes, brushing teeth, holding a pencil, all the way up to climbing or descending stairs, sitting, or tolerating the feel of certain textures. Even speech and language. Impairment of these skills and many others can make life extremely frustrating for a child, his family, teachers, and anyone else involved in his day to day life. Occupational therapy, followed up with helping strategies at home and school, can foster independence and ease the pressure and anxiety of these children and their families.

 

 Here is a quick explanation of the difference between Occupational and Physical Therapy: 

 

This is a nice one that shows some of what OT entails and how it helps: 

 

Here is a great video that can help with ideas for therapy at home or even just to provide good input ideas: 

 

A fellow blogger posted these two wonderful write-ups, no. 1 and no. 2 about what a typical OT session for her son looks like. And this one about the effects it is having on her sons daily life.

Most certainly this is a valuable and beneficial tool to helping kids reach their potential and keep doing their job, that of just being a KID!