Benefits Of Pediatric Occupational Therapy

While many studies have been conducted on occupational therapy and the effectiveness of its treatments, many studies have also been conducted on the long lasting results that come along with success rates seen by the patients. Occupational therapists see and work with many types of patients starting from pediatric, youth and lastly to the elderly. Each age group of patients requires for occupational therapists to be trained in a different way as well as a different type of setting. Occupational therapy assists individuals of all ages with different abilities to engage and be more functional in their daily living. Depending on the persons age these activities might include shaking a rattle (baby), learning work/job skills (adolescent), or

planting a vegetable garden (adult and older adult).* A pediatric occupational therapist working with a five year old would not use the same treatment when working with an elderly person. This paper is focused on the pediatric and youth occupational therapy side and not only how they differ from the other age groups but how successful the treatments are as well.
Pediatrics is a certain branch of the medical field that deals specifically with children and more specifically diseases that children have.

The following age ranges are what would typically be coming into see a pediatric occupational therapist. Pediatric occupational therapy focuses and works with infants which are zero to twelve months old, toddlers which are one to three years old, preschoolers which are three to five years old, grade school students which are five to twelve years old and lastly teens which are twelve to eighteen years old. Along with these age groups pediatric occupational therapists will also be working alongside with the child’s families.

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typical patient coming to see an occupational therapist would be doing so because they would be having trouble completing the daily occupations of their everyday lives. More specifically children might have problems with hand-eye coordination, sensory and attentional issues or need help with handwriting. Pediatric occupational therapists focus on fine motor skills for children such as grasping and releasing, working through behavioral disorders, swallowing, feeling and oral motor difficulties as well as working on basic development tasks such as bathing, dressing and brushing the patients hair or teeth. **
Instead of being focused on illnesses and diagnoses occupational therapists are different because they focus on the quality of life. Pediatric occupational therapists are constantly analyzing, adapting, modifying, and teaching. They are looking at the big picture first and trying to understand what do you need or want to do to have a meaningful life? They then look at how factors about a person (how the mind and body function) interact with factors about the environment (physical, cultural, and social environments). * Children would be seeing an occupational therapist because they might be having problems with misinterpreting everyday sensory information and input. Sensory information is defined as touch, movement and sound. Children and youth may feel sensory overload which can lead to difficulties with motor coordination, social and emotional challenges, school difficulties and behavioral problems.
People might believe that occupational therapists are only for adults, since children do not yet have occupations or jobs.

However a child’s job is going to school, learning, doing their homework, playing and even being on a sports team. An occupational therapist will be able to compare the child’s learning, interacting with others, school performance and daily activities with what is developmentally appropriate for that age group. If it is apparent that the child is

struggling or behind on one of those aspects then they would work with the child to help them improve.

While age groups differ in what skills they should be able to successful do on their own, for children in elementary and middle school they need to be able to have functional motor and fine motor skills, functional and academic skills as well as general knowledge and comprehension. For example a check list can be done by a teacher to see if the student can pass the functional skills check list. The check list would include all of the following skills. After the test is over the teacher would then decide if the parent would need to be contacted to consult with an occupational therapist.

For example during the motor skills the teacher could ask the student if they can take their jacket on and off, take their shoes on and off and take their backpack on and

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