Occupational Therapy

What is occupational therapy?

Occupational therapy assists children in developing and acquiring the skills needed for daily living activities, school, and home. Pediatric occupational therapy helps children who may be at risk for developmental delays such as motor development, learning, and behavioral health, to improve basic sensory awareness, and motor skills. Through occupational therapy your child will cultivate improved self-concept, and confidence.

How do you know if a child can benefit from occupational therapy?

The “job” or “occupation” of a child is to play in order to develop physical coordination, emotional maturity, social skills, and the self-confidence to try new things and explore new environments. I help children navigate through these essential tasks with ease and efficiency.

I will evaluate your child’s motor coordination, visual perception visual-motor coordination, muscle strength, balance, and self-care and play skills to determine if any of these areas need intervention. 

Skills that can be improved upon by Pediatric Occupational Therapy include, but are not limited to:

• Feeding

• Handwriting

• Executive function

• Fine motor skills

• Sensory processing

• Motor planning

• Visuals perception skills

• Muscle strength

• Gross motor skills

• Bilateral motor coordination

Occupational therapy assessments

Upon your initial visit, I will evaluate your child to assess possible needs. If the child had an evaluation within the last year, another assessment won’t be necessary.

I apply occupational therapy principles to help children who have developmental delays, sensory processing disorders, autism, or other developmental disabilities.

At Play2Learn in St. Louis, I strongly encourage parental involvement. I want your child to obtain the best results possible from their therapy services. In order for this to happen, parents need to reinforce some of the exercises and habits we work on during occupational therapy. It is critical to your child’s success that you understand how, and why the therapist (me) is doing what they are doing. This is especially essential with sensory integration.

I welcome any questions, or concerns you have with your child’s development. My goal is to work with parents as a team, so that your child can conquer any obstacles holding them back. Therapy services are designed individually for each child to ensure that they can function at their optimal potential. I look forward to welcoming you, and your child, to my Play2Learn family!