Improving Quality of Life
through Communication
1. What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy is treatment that allows individuals to achieve independence in all areas of their life. Occupational therapists help to improve a child’s growth and development by enhancing their daily functional skills. For a child the focus would include the following: sensory processing skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, visual motor skills, socialization, dressing skills, task attention, school readiness, and school performance skills. An occupational therapist will perform a specialized evaluation and then work with the family to develop an individualized treatment plan.
2. What approach is used during occupational therapy sessions?
Our occupational therapists at Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing use a sensory integration, neurodevelopmental, and a family-centered approach to therapy. We believe in a multi-disciplinary approach, we collaborate with our own speech language pathologists and audiologists as well as the child’s parents, siblings, teachers, and other clinicians involved in the child’s care. This ensures carry over and generalization in all areas of the child’s life.
3. What should I expect during an occupational therapy evaluation?
The occupational therapist will contact you prior to the evaluation to gather information to ensure that we use the best evaluation approach possible for your child. During the evaluation the therapist will observe your child during “play” activities to build a rapport; we will then perform standardized testing. We will ask your child to do various tasks related to their sensory processing, gross motor and fine motor skills. We provide plenty of rest breaks and include the parents in the evaluation to get their feedback.
4. What is Sensory Integration/Sensory Processing?
Sensory Processing is the neurological process by which sensations (such as from the skin, eyes, joints, gravity, and movement receptors) are organized and processed for functional output of motor and behavior responses. Sensory processing is crucial in all aspects of life such as play, school, and socializing.
Individuals with sensory processing delays may lack the body awareness, self-regulation, and motor control to perform their everyday activities. They may be over sensitive or under sensitive to movement, touch, sounds and visual input. It can also have an impact on their postural control and ability to coordinate and plan their body movements.
5. What do you do to treat sensory processing disorder?
A sensory integration approach is used. At Blue Ridge Speech and Hearing Center we provide the child with therapeutic activities using state of the art equipment involving suspended swings, strengthening tasks, balance tasks, tactile activities, bilateral coordination, fine motor skills and isolated finger use. The therapist provides a comfortable environment for the child in which they can feel successful. We establish a rapport with the child to develop a trusting relationship. This enables us to use activities that will slightly challenge them. The ultimate goal is for the child to develop the spontaneous and automatic sensory and motor patterns. These are needed to respond to sensations in their environment and successfully perform their every day activities.