Occupational Therapy
The main objective of Paediatric Occupational Therapy is to help children do all the things children normally do.
What do our Paediatric Occupational Therapists do?
Paediatric Occupational Therapists (OT’s) are health professionals able to provide comprehensive services for children who may be experiencing difficulties or have delays across all areas of their development. OT’s have a holistic focus and target a broad range of areas to develop life skills. We offer assessment and therapy at our Clinic in Seaford or in the child’s home, daycare, kindergarten or school. The main objective of Occupational Therapy is to enable children to do all the things children do in everyday life. Our aim is to assist them to cope with demands, adapt to tasks, and overcome challenges to be independent and engaged with their peers and environments. We do this by providing:
- Comprehensive assessment and observation of the child’s developmental difficulties using functional and standardised assessment tools
- Implement Functional Interventions at the child’s home, school, kinder or day-care facility, to help your child translate what they learn with us in therapy, into their daily living environments
- Provide consistent support, monitoring and evaluation of their clinical programs in conjunction with families, teachers and integration aides
“WE BUILD SKILLS FOR LIFE”
Why do we need an OT and when should I refer my child?
Parents, Teachers and Guardians are our children’s best experts and are most able to identify if there is a problem with meeting their developmental milestones. A referral for OT at Bright Start should be made if your child is having difficulty in any of the following areas:
- Attention and concentration difficulties
- Learning difficulties
- Regulatory difficulties in sensory, behavioural and emotional regulation
- Visual Perception: hand/eye coordination, tracking, scanning, reading, balance
- Functional skill difficulties: feeding, toileting, dressing, doing buttons/zippers, brushing teeth and hair, tying shoe laces etc
- Fine Motor Difficulties: in hand manipulation, motor planning, grasp and handwriting
- Gross Motor Difficulties: in sequencing, spatial awareness, motor planning and coordination
- Sensory Processing difficulties: a child’s ability to process and interpret sensory stimuli either with an over-reactive or under-reactive response to sensation
- Sensory Integration difficulties relating to sensory inputs: touch, sound, sight, smell, taste and also sensations that relate to body awareness and movement
Sometimes a child may require professional advice and intervention. Occupational Therapy intervention may be just a short-term burst or an ongoing process to build skills and allow your child to gain the confidence they need to maximise their own potential and reach their goals.
If you are worried about your child’s development, please call and we will be happy to discuss your child’s needs with you. Our Occupational Therapists will work with you and your child to determine both the child and families needs and develop goals and a treatment plan to assist those needs. We are also happy to educate other professionals involved with your child as we believe strongly in a collaborative approach to therapy.
