OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

 

Occupational Therapy (OT) is designed to help children and adults successfully acquire or regain the skills needed to perform the activities (occupations) of daily life. Occupational therapists evaluate a child’s current skills, compare them to what is developmentally age appropriate, and create an individualized treatment plan to facilitate progression towards age appropriate skills. OT focuses on helping children develop the skills necessary to grow into functionally independent adults through the use of their main occupation, play!  To the untrained eye, most of our therapeutic interventions look like play - which is why kids love OT at Help on Hooves!

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We commonly use the following strategies and programs during our treatment interventions:

• The Zones of Regulation®

• Handwriting Without Tears®

• BrainWorks® Tools for Regulating Emotions, Behaviors, and Sensory Processing

• Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT) Facilitation Techniques

• DIR/Floortime Approach to Assessment & Treatment Techniques

• Constraint Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)

• Yoga & Mindfulness Techniques

• Biomechanical Therapeutic Approaches

• Sensory Integrative Techniques

• Play-Based Developmental Approaches

• Child and Family-Centered Approaches

• Parent and Caregiver Education

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Occupational Therapists work with children in the following areas:

• Fine motor

• Gross motor and coordination

• Sensory Integration and processing

• Visual perceptual and visual motor integration

• Activities of daily living (bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, feeding themselves, etc.)

• Handwriting

• Executive functioning

• Self-regulation

• Attention

• Strengthening

• Dexterity

• Range of Motion

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An occupational therapist can address those skills and much more! Children with or without a specific medical diagnosis can benefit from occupational therapy services. If you think your child would benefit from OT services, or if you have any questions, contact Help on Hooves for more information!