What We Offer – Occupational Therapy

Advanced Therapy Solutions provides the highest quality of Occupational Therapists and Speech Language Therapy at our state-of-the-art, outpatient clinic. We are happy to discuss your specific concerns and make recommendations.

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapy (OT) is a diverse profession that addresses a wide variety of needs. Children’s “occupations” or activities such as playing, learning and socializing with friends are necessary skills, so their transition into adulthood becomes a path to an independent and rewarding life.

The goal of an occupational therapist is to improve activities of daily living, which can include self-care skills, play skills, and school/academic performance. In order to improve performance in these areas, OT’s address skills such as fine motor development, sensory processing, motor planning, eye hand coordination and visual motor skills to name a few!

During OT sessions, treatment is child guided and our therapists focus on creating the ‘just right challenge’ for your child. These challenges foster growth and development within your child, while maintaining excitement and motivation.

Your OT will work with you to schedule your child’s evaluation at a time that works for you and your child. You will receive a copy of your child’s evaluation report from your child’s therapist. Goals and treatment plans are specific and measurable so that your child’s progress can be tracked.

Our highly-trained therapists can help with the following areas:

  • Handwriting (visual-motor skills, awkward grip style)
  • Touch, sound, movement, and smell sensitivities that often result in:
      1. Difficulty with bath time, hair brushing/cutting
      2. Strong clothing preferences
      3. Avoidance of natural movement experiences on the playground
      4. Distractibility and difficulty paying attention
      5. Strong food preferences
      6. Avoidance of certain environments (public bathrooms, auditoriums, gymnasiums, etc.)
      7. Emotional lability
      8. Aggression towards self and others
      9. Withdrawal from everyday experiences
  • Attention, focus, organization, time management
  • Clumsiness and poor coordination
  • Eating and feeding- SOS and sensory-motor feeding approaches
  • Dressing, shoe tying, zippering, buttoning, etc.
  • Bike riding training
  • Age appropriate play skills with peers and/or siblings

Occupational Therapy Assessment:

An occupational therapy assessment is critical to understanding your child’s strengths and challenges; and needs to be completed prior to starting treatment. The evaluation includes standardized assessment; clinical observation; parent interview; and a teacher interview and school visit if necessary.

Our goal during the evaluation process is to establish a baseline of skills, provide recommendations for ongoing therapy (if needed); provide strategies and activities for home and school; and provide parent education. Following your child’s evaluation, a parent meeting will be scheduled to discuss the evaluation results, recommendations, and answer any questions you may have. A school meeting can also be scheduled to review evaluation results with your child’s teachers.

Treatment:

Following your child’s evaluation, treatment will begin to address the areas identified in the evaluation. Although treatment often looks like play, the therapist frequently adapts activities that are chosen by the child to provide the “just right challenge” for success. When a child is intrinsically motivated by an activity, they learn faster and are more likely to generalize the skills acquired during therapy sessions.

Our goal is to build foundational skills so that the child can learn in his or her natural environment and build upon his or her foundation. Both play and novelty are important for brain development.

Consultation:

We provide consultation at home and at school as needed to educate parents and teachers; provide home and school activity programs; and provide strategies to help your child succeed in a variety of settings.