Pediatric Occupational Therapy
Growing confidence. Building independence.
The Shoreline Center is pleased to offer occupational therapy as a “stand-alone” therapeutic service or in collaboration with our ABA therapy and speech and language therapy. Our skilled Occupational Therapists work one-on-one with your child to help them gain confidence and independence.
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy (OT) is a branch of health care that helps people of all ages who have physical, emotional, sensory, or cognitive challenges. OT can help people regain independence in all areas of their lives. Occupational therapists help with barriers that affect a person’s emotional, social, and physical needs. To do this, therapists use every day activities, exercise, and play. OT helps children learn to play, improves school performance, social skills, and overall increases independence in daily activities. OT also increases self esteem, confidence, and sense of accomplishment.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy
Our occupational therapists are driven to provide interactive rehab services that promote your child's engagement and success in their everyday life activities. Therapists assist to promote your child's physical development, fine motor skills, feeding skills, social-emotional skills, sensory processing, cognition, and visual abilities that are related to their daily life. We collaborate with your family, as well as with your child’s team. Our sessions are all about “play”, as a child’s main “occupation” is play. It is proven, we learn best through doing everyday activities in a supported environment. We are proud to offer interactive evaluations and client-centered interventions to assist your child reach their highest potential in the following areas:
Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Social interactions and Engagement
Oral motor skills related to feeding
S.O.S feeding approach
Related to those with a limited diet, sensory sensitivities related to food, and “picky eaters”
Self care/help skills
Handwriting
Cognition
Executive Functioning Skills
Body awareness
Sensory Processing and Sensory Integration
Self regulation
Visual Motor and Visual perceptual skills
Coordination and motor planning
Should my child see an Occupational Therapist?
Does your child:
Avoid physical activities
Have difficulties coordinating both sides of their body
Have low muscle tone or muscle weakness
Appear overactive, or “always on the go”
Have poor balance or body awareness, and seems to often bump into things
Have difficulty learning a new skill
Have difficulty with transitions, or when changes to the schedule occur
Overreact to sensory inputs such as touch, smell, taste, crowds etc.
Have trouble attending to sedentary activities
Have poor handwriting or tires quickly with writing tasks
Have trouble with self help skills (dressing, bathing, feeding)
Dislike jumping, swinging, or spinning activities
Dislike certain types of clothing, baths, hair cuts etc.
Have difficulty with grasp on utensils
Have difficulty with feeding/meal times
If any of these are true, then your child could likely benefit from occupational therapy! Our Occupational Therapists offer client centered, engaging and fun sessions that directly involve your child and family for hands on involvement and education to increase overall success and independence for you and your child. We also work closely with your child’s team of therapists, and will collaborate with other disciplines, such as ABA and Speech Therapy to ensure coordination of goals and treatment interventions.
Call our office at (616) 935-7606 to schedule an appointment or evaluation today! We look forward to working collaboratively with you and your child at The Shoreline Center.