Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy

• What is occupational therapy?
• Who is an occupational therapist?
• Qualification
• When does a child need occupational therapy?
• How do they work?
• Where do they work?

What is occupational therapy?

Who is an occupational therapist?

Qualification

When does a child need occupational therapy?

• Gross Motor Skills : movement of the large muscles in the arms, and legs. Abilities like rolling, crawling, walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping etc
• Fine Motor Skills : movement and dexterity of the small muscles in the hands and fingers. Abilities like in-hand manipulation, reaching, carrying, shifting small objects etc.
• Cognitive Perceptual Skills : Abilities like attention, concentration, memory, comprehending information, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, understanding concept of shape, size and colors etc.
• Sensory Integration : ability to take in, sort out, and respond to the input received from the world. Sensory processing abilities like vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, visual, auditory, gustatory and olfactory skills.
• Visual Motor Skills : a child's movement based on the perception of visual information. Abilities like copying.
• Motor Planning Skills : ability to plan, implement, and sequence motor tasks.
• Oral Motor Skills : movement of muscles in the mouth, lips, tongue, and jaw, including sucking, biting, chewing, blowing and licking.
• Play skills : to develop age appropriate, purposeful play skills.
• Socio-emotional skills : ability to interact with peers and others.
• Activities of daily living: Self-care skills like daily dressing, feeding, grooming and toilet tasks. Also environment manipulation like handling switches, door knobs, phones, TV remote etc.
• Occupational therapists in schools collaborate with teachers, special educators, other school personnel, and parents to develop and implement individual or group programs, provide counseling, and support classroom activities.
• Occupational therapists design and develop equipment or techniques for improving existing mode of functioning.

How do they work?

Where do they work?

• Hospitals/Clinics : There are many hospitals/clinics in which these professionals are employed with in the pediatric department. The children will be directly referred to them by doctors for assessment and therapy.
• Rehabilitation centre : There are many public/private rehabilitation centres.
• Special schools : Therapists also work within the school settings.
• Private practice : In India private practice is very common where many therapists work independently. They may be working part-time in any of the facilities mentioned above along with private practice also.