More About Occupational Therapy for Children
We have highly trained and experienced occupational therapists who are passionate about their careers focused on occupational therapy for children. We have a full service pediatric occupational therapy clinic in Beulaville, NC. We also do in home and daycare private therapy within Wilson, Kenly, Blackcreek, Lucama, Selma, and Smithfield.
Not sure what Occupational Therapy is? We all know that speech therapy gets you talking and physical therapy gets you walking—but what is occupational therapy? Everything in between, which means we provide therapy to address difficulties related to fine motor skills, sensory processing, and self-help skills. Read below for a full description of common diagnosis as well as milestones your child should be reaching.
Our experienced occupational therapists’ have a wide range of knowledge and intervention techniques to help your child reach their maximum potential. We pride ourselves on our ability to challenge children and help them reach goals that initially appear out of reach.
How do I know if my child needs an occupational therapy evaluation?
Common Pediatric diagnoses our therapists treat:
Fine Motor Delay/Coordination disorder
Self-Help Delay (cannot dress themselves or feed themselves at an age appropriate level)
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Cerebral Palsy
Stroke
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Feeding Difficulties
Traumatic Brain Injury
Down Syndrome
Handwriting Difficulties
Oral Motor Difficulties/low tone
Sensory Processing Disorder
Brachial Plexus Injuries
Each hand print represents a goal that has been met.
Our kids work very hard to put a hand print on this wall.
How well should my child be dressing themselves?
Age Specific Self-dressing Skills
Age 1: Cooperates with dressing (holds out arms & feet)
Pulls off shoes
Removes socks
Age 2: Removes unfastened coat
Helps pull down pants
Finds armholes in pullover shirt
Age 2 ½: Removes pull-down pants (with elastic waist)
Assists in pulling on socks
Puts on front-button coat or shirt
Age 3: Puts on pullover shirt with minimal assistance
Puts on shoes without fasteners (may be on the wrong feet)
Independently pulls down pants
Zips & unzips jacket once on track
Needs assistance to remove pullover shirt
Buttons large front buttons
Age 4: Removes pullover garment independently
Buckles shoes or belt
Zips jacket zipper
Puts on socks correctly
Puts on shoes, needs assistance in tying laces
Consistently identifies the front and back of garments
Age 4 ½: Puts belt in loops
Age 5: Ties and unties knots
Dresses unsupervised
Age 6: Ties bows
Manipulate snaps
Should my daughter be feeding herself by now?
Age Specific Self-Feeding Skills
Age 5-7 months: Takes cereal or pureed baby food from spoon
Age 6-8 months: Attempts to hold bottle but may not retrieve it if it falls (needs to be monitored)
Age 6-9 months: Consumes soft foods that dissolve in the mouth
Age 9-13 months: Finger-feeds self a portion of meals consisting of soft table foods
Age 12-14 months: Dips spoon in food, brings spoonful of food to mouth (often spills food by inverting spoon before it goes into mouth)
Age 15-18 months: Scoops food with spoon and brings it to mouth
Age 24-30 months: Demonstrates interest in using fork (able to stab food) and proficient with it
How do I know if my son is behind developmentally?
Age Specific Fine Motor Skills
Age 6 months: Can bring hands to midline
Age 7 months: Transfers items hand to hand
Age 9 months: Able to clap hands
Age 14 months: Able to scribble
Age 19-20 months: Able to complete knob puzzles
Age 23-25 months: Able to draw vertical & horizontal lines
Age 29-30 months: Able to stack 10 blocks
Age 33 months: Can copy circle
Age 3: Able to cut a piece of paper in half
Able to copy cross
Age 4: Can copy a square
Able to cut a straight line
Age 5: Start to color inside the lines
Cut out basic shapes
Trace/write name
How do I know when to ask for a occupational therapy evaluation for my child?
Common Red flags to Look For
- Shaky or stiff movements
- Arms/hands appear weak
- Not meeting developmental milestones listed above
Sensory Processing Disorder
Sensory processing disorder is a condition that exists when sensation is not interpreted appropriately. Sensory processing involves the brain’s ability to organize and make sense of different kinds of sensations entering the brain at the same time. Sensory processing underlies the development of all motor and social skills and the ability to learn and perform complex adaptive behaviors.
Signs of sensory processing difficulties:
Pre-schoolers
- Over-sensitive to touch, noises, smells, other people
- Difficulty dressing, eating, sleeping, and/or toilet training Clumsy; poor motor skills; weak
- In constant motion; in everyone else’s face and space
- Frequent or long temper tantrums
Grade schoolers
- Over-sensitive to touch, noise, smells, other people
- Easily distracted, fidgety, craves movement; aggressive
- Easily overwhelmed
- Difficulty with handwriting or motor activities
- Unaware of pain and/or other people
- Sitting for long periods, remaining alert and maintaining participation with peers.
- Anticipating how to move around safely, without clumsiness, incoordination, or frequent injuries.
- Responding appropriately to social and environmental cues, becoming inflexible or upset by situations more easily than others.
Sensory Processing Areas
Vestibular system: information related to head position and movement
Proprioceptive system: awareness of body position
Tactile system: information related to touch
Auditory system: ability to interpret what we hear and the ability to filter out unnecessary or irrelevant sounds.
Visual system: ability to interpret and understand visual stimuli.
Taste & smell: gustatory and olfactory senses function together in eating to provide feedback regarding taste, texture, temperature, and smell of foods.
We have Timocco! Timocco is an interactive game to help children progress with many different diagnoses. Ask us about Timocco today or visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-hthaTmq3M to learn more.
