A comprehensive evaluation is conducted to understand each child’s functional abilities, challenges, and developmental milestones. This includes assessing fine and gross motor skills, self-care capabilities, sensory processing, visual-motor skills, ocular motor skills, social and emotional skills, and play behaviors to create a holistic view of the child’s needs.
Based on this evaluation, therapists develop an individualized plan of care that outlines targeted goals and therapy strategies. The plan of care ensures that each session is focused on the areas where the child will benefit most, providing a structured and personalized approach to support progress across all domains of development.
Self-regulation is a child’s ability to manage emotions, behaviors, and attention in response to different situations. This includes recognizing feelings, controlling impulses, staying focused, and adjusting behavior to meet the demands of the environment.
Occupational therapy helps children develop strategies to manage frustration, anxiety, overstimulation, and transitions between activities. Therapy may include activities that teach calming techniques, coping skills, and ways to respond appropriately to sensory input. Strengthening self-regulation skills supports success at home, school, and in the community, helping children participate more fully, handle challenges independently, and build confidence in their abilities.
Sensory integration activities help children process and respond appropriately to sensory input from their environment. Some children may be oversensitive to touch, movement, sounds, or visual stimuli, while others may seek more sensory input. Therapy may include activities to provide calming or stimulating sensations through touch, movement, or play. Personalized sensory diets can be created, which are structured activities designed to help the child maintain regulation, focus, and comfort throughout the day.
Emotional regulation is a child’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage their emotions in response to different situations. It involves skills such as coping with frustration, managing anxiety, controlling impulses, and responding appropriately to social and environmental demands.
Children may struggle with emotional regulation for a variety of reasons, including sensory sensitivities, difficulty with self-awareness, attention challenges, or difficulty coping with transitions and changes. Occupational therapy helps children develop strategies to manage their emotions, such as calming techniques, structured routines, sensory activities, and coping skills.
Through guided practice and play-based activities, children learn to respond to stress and frustration more effectively, stay focused, and participate successfully in daily life. Developing strong emotional regulation skills supports confidence, social participation, independence, and overall well-being.
Fine motor skills involve the use of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Therapy focuses on strengthening these muscles and improving coordination for tasks like writing, drawing, cutting with scissors, buttoning, zipping, and manipulating small objects. Improving fine motor skills helps children become more independent in schoolwork, self-care, and play.
Gross motor skills involve the use of larger muscles for activities like running, jumping, climbing, and balancing. Occupational therapy targets these skills to improve overall body coordination, strength, and endurance. Enhancing gross motor skills helps children move safely and confidently in play, school, and everyday activities.
Visual and ocular motor skills involve how a child uses their eyes to understand and interact with the world. This includes tracking moving objects, shifting focus between tasks, coordinating what they see with their hand movements, and interpreting visual information.
Difficulties in these areas can make tasks like catching a ball, copying shapes, writing, reading, or completing puzzles challenging. Occupational therapy uses targeted activities to strengthen these skills, helping children improve hand-eye coordination, visual tracking, accuracy, and overall confidence in schoolwork, play, and daily routines.
Self-care and ADL skills are essential for a child’s independence and participation in daily life. These include tasks such as dressing, grooming, brushing teeth, toileting, feeding, tying shoes, and other routines that allow children to take care of themselves and engage in everyday activities.
Children may struggle with these skills for many reasons, including challenges with sequencing, fine motor skills, gross motor coordination, sensory processing, attention, or planning. Occupational therapy helps identify the underlying factors contributing to these difficulties and provides targeted strategies to address them.
Therapists work with children using step-by-step guidance, adaptive tools, and play-based practice to teach and reinforce skills. Strengthening self-care and ADL abilities promotes independence, confidence, and success at home, school, and in the community.
Some children have challenges with eating due to sensory sensitivities, texture or taste preferences, or fear of trying new foods. These difficulties can make mealtimes stressful and may affect nutrition, growth, and daily routines.
Occupational therapy addresses both the sensory and motor aspects of eating. Therapists use sensory-based strategies, gradual exposure to new textures and flavors, and play-based activities to help children explore and tolerate different foods. In addition, therapy focuses on oral motor strengthening, including exercises to improve chewing, swallowing, lip and tongue movement, and overall mouth coordination.
By combining sensory strategies with oral motor skills practice, children can develop more comfortable and confident eating habits, gain independence during meals, expand their diet, reduce mealtime anxiety, and have more positive mealtime experiences.
Children may struggle with these skills for many reasons, including challenges with sequencing, fine motor skills, gross motor coordination, sensory processing, attention, or planning. Occupational therapy helps identify the underlying factors contributing to these difficulties and provides targeted strategies to address them.
Social skills involve interacting effectively with others. Therapy may address skills such as sharing, taking turns, understanding social cues, expressing emotions appropriately, and communicating needs. Developing social skills helps children build friendships, participate in group activities, and feel confident in social settings.
Confidence is a child’s belief in their ability to complete tasks, try new activities, and handle challenges. Occupational therapy helps children build confidence by providing a safe and supportive environment where they can practice skills, explore movement, and take on challenges without fear of failure.
Children gain confidence as they successfully achieve goals in therapy, whether it’s mastering a fine motor task, completing a self-care routine, improving balance, or navigating social situations. Therapists use positive reinforcement, step-by-step guidance, and play-based activities to encourage children to try new things and celebrate successes.
Building confidence in therapy often carries over into daily life, helping children approach school, home, and social activities with greater independence, resilience, and a positive attitude toward learning and problem-solving.
Some children experience anxiety that can affect their participation in daily activities, school, play, and social interactions. Anxiety may appear as avoidance, worry, difficulty focusing, or strong reactions to changes in routine.
Occupational therapy helps children manage anxiety by teaching coping strategies, building self-regulation skills, and creating structured, predictable routines. Therapists may use sensory activities, relaxation techniques, and gradual exposure to challenging situations to help children feel safe and confident.
Through therapy, children learn to recognize their feelings, develop strategies to manage stress, and approach new or challenging tasks with greater confidence. Supporting children in managing anxiety can improve their participation in school, home, social activities, and daily life.
Primitive reflexes are automatic movements that babies are born with to help them survive and develop basic skills, like turning their head, grasping objects, or startling in response to a sudden movement. Normally, these reflexes fade as a child grows, allowing them to gain better control over their body and movements.
Sometimes, a child may retain some of these reflexes beyond infancy. When this happens, it can make everyday activities more challenging. For example, a child might have trouble sitting still, holding a pencil, walking or running smoothly, balancing, or following instructions. Retained reflexes can also affect sensory processing, attention, and coordination.
Occupational therapists use specific exercises and activities to help integrate these reflexes. These activities help children move more smoothly, improve balance and coordination, develop better motor skills, and feel more confident in their daily activities. By addressing retained reflexes, therapy can make tasks like writing, playing, and getting dressed easier and more enjoyable for your child.
Safety and body awareness involve understanding where your body is in space and how to move safely. Therapy helps children develop balance, spatial awareness, and control over their movements. These skills prevent injuries and allow children to navigate different environments with confidence, from playgrounds to classrooms and beyond.
Processing information is a child’s ability to take in, understand, and respond to what they see, hear, and feel in their environment. Every child processes information in their own way and at their own pace. Some children may have difficulty organizing sensory input, following multi-step directions, or responding appropriately in social or learning situations.
Occupational therapy helps children improve how they process and respond to information. Therapists use targeted activities to strengthen attention, memory, sequencing, problem-solving, and cognitive flexibility, often incorporating play-based or hands-on exercises. By supporting each child’s unique way of processing information, therapy helps them better understand instructions, complete tasks more efficiently, interact successfully with peers, and feel more confident in daily activities.
Executive functioning refers to a set of mental skills that help children plan, organize, start and finish tasks, manage time, control impulses, and adjust to changes. These skills are essential for success at home, school, and in social settings. Children with challenges in executive functioning may have difficulty following multi-step directions, completing homework, managing their belongings, or staying focused during activities.
Occupational therapy helps children strengthen executive functioning skills through targeted activities and strategies. Therapists work with children to break tasks into smaller, manageable steps, practice organization and time management skills, and develop problem-solving and decision-making strategies. Visual supports, checklists, and consistent routines may also be used to guide independence. Therapy incorporates these skills into play, self-care, and school-related activities, helping children gain the tools they need to stay organized, complete tasks efficiently, handle transitions, and build confidence and independence in daily life.
Play is central to pediatric occupational therapy. Therapists use play-based activities to engage children while addressing developmental goals. Play allows children to practice motor, sensory, cognitive, social, and self-regulation skills in a natural, motivating way. It also helps build creativity, problem-solving, and confidence.
Occupational therapists may recommend tools and equipment that help children perform tasks more independently and safely. This can include specialized utensils for eating, modified writing tools, seating supports, adaptive scissors, or clothing modifications. These tools are designed to compensate for challenges in strength, coordination, or fine motor control, allowing children to participate successfully in school, play, and daily routines.
Therapists work closely with parents and caregivers, offering guidance on how to support skill development at home and school. This includes strategies for practicing motor skills, sensory regulation, daily living tasks, and play activities outside of therapy sessions. Caregiver education helps reinforce skills learned in therapy, creating consistency and improving outcomes for the child.
Occupational therapy (OT) helps children develop the skills they need to participate fully in daily life. OT focuses on physical, cognitive, sensory, and social abilities, supporting children in activities such as self-care, school tasks, play, and social interaction. Through individualized, goal-oriented therapy, occupational therapists work with children and their caregivers to build independence, confidence, and functional skills that enhance overall quality of life.
