Occupational Therapy Services

Occupational Therapy Services for Children in Lawrenceville, Georgia

Occupational therapy services are designed to address your child’s daily “occupational” skills that are integrated into everything that they do. For some younger children, their “occupation” is playing, so occupational therapy addresses all of the skills that are encompassed in play such as fine motor skills, visual motor skills, sensory integration, and attention. For school-age children, their “occupation” becomes school. Academic children need the same type of skills with fine motor, visual motor, sensory integration, and attention skills but in a different capacity and way. Occupational therapy services address your child’s needs wherever he or she may be on the developmental scale, from early learning and play to specific skills related to academic achievement. Below is a breakdown of some of the areas that occupational therapy can help address.

Keep in mind your child’s age and stage of development as you read these and think about how that particular skill may apply to your child’s current occupation.

 

Fine Motor

This is how your child uses the small muscles of the hands to manipulate objects, whether that be a rattle or pencil, your child develops the muscle strength, coordination and memory to complete daily tasks that are important at their particular stage of development.

Visual Motor

This is how your child’s eyes and hands communicate so that he or she is able to copy, draw or write what is seen.

Sensory Integration

This is how your child receives, interprets, and integrates the sensory information around them in everything that they do.  This could be through touch, smell, taste, sight, or the sense of where their body is in space.

Attention Skills

This is how your child is able to attend to information that is presented to them and integrate that information in a useful way.  This also includes your child’s ability to not attend to things that are not important in their environment and learn to “tune things out”. 

Think About It

Think about the implications on your child’s development if one or more of these areas are impacted:

◉ Difficulty with play and learning

◉ Difficulty transitioning to writing

◉ Difficulty with balance, coordination, and body awareness

◉ Difficulty with attention and following directions or routines at home or in a classroom setting

◉ Difficulty doing everyday things for themselves like eating with a utensil, zipping a jacket, or buttoning pants

 Your child may be a good candidate for an Occupational Therapy Evaluation if you answer YES to at least one of these questions:

  1. Does your child struggle with handwriting?

  2. Does your child struggle with fine motor tasks like zipping, buttoning, opening things, etc.?

  3. Does your child have difficulty maintaining attention, especially in group situations?

  4. Does your child have issues with certain textures in foods, clothing, or surfaces?

  5. Does your child get upset easily when the familiar routine is disrupted?

Schedule an Occupational Therapy Evaluation