walker for disabled people

How Do Parents Know if They Need Occupational Therapy for Children?

Mums, dads and guardians might have been informed about local occupational therapy from Youth Living Skills for children but struggle to understand whether or not their child’s circumstances applies to these services.

Whilst they might be highly functioning in some key demographics, they could be struggling with other elements of their development.

Is this a natural occurrence? Are there simple techniques that parents can use to manage this phase themselves? Will it be a long lasting deficiency or will it solve itself?

Here we will look at some clear examples where the inclusion of these experts can deliver tangible results.

Struggle With Basic Daily Tasks

When parents are presented with occupational therapists from Youth Living Skills for children, they might not consider how prevalent their service can be for even the most mundane tasks. This can include sleeping behaviors, watching television habits, eating healthy, cleaning teeth and bathing, and a myriad of other practices that helps them to transition into adolescence. Should there be behavioral problems or simply a lack of understanding or capacity to engage in these tasks correctly, that is where an experienced practitioner can step into the breach and start a program that works towards these goals. Once parents pick up on these teaching tactics, they can adopt them as well.

young boy with walking disabilityInability to Make Friends

Adapting to social environments is a key focus when it comes to occupational therapy for children. Those kids who struggle to fit in with other pre-school or primary school groups feel isolated and that can create feelings of anger, loneliness, frustration and depression. Therapists in this field have experience across the board working with kids who encounter these problems, equipping them with a new approach that discourages anti-social behaviour and encourages friendly and engaging behaviour.

Educational Difficulties

Occupational therapy for children offers young girls and boys a chance to be equipped with sound learning practices, picking up on key cognitive skills and techniques that will boost their development. Kids can be left behind the rest of the class and struggle to keep up with the standards of their age group if they are not equipped with sound learning practice. From reading and writing to interpreting information and communicating knowledge to others, these tasks will give boys and girls a chance to engage with their peers on a similar level.

Physical Limitations

Motor skills are required when it comes to the domain of occupational therapy for children. This will feature hand-eye coordination, running, catching, throwing, jumping, reaction time and other physical tests that can be run through fun games and other programs. The old adage is true that healthy bodies makes for healthy minds and if there are issues with physical conditioning and motor skills, that can be a domain to improve on during this crucial phase of development.

Diagnosis From Medical Practitioner

Any of these four shortcomings can be identified and picked up on by the parents. However, there will be a professional referral that can place a parent in front of occupational therapy for children. Young boys and girls who have been diagnosed with autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD) or a sensory processing disorder (SPD) will be front and center of what these services can give as they will uniquely design a program that works on key facets of their development. Other physical, emotional or cognitive deficiencies can be diagnosed by a medical specialist and place parents in contact with these operators.

Summary

Occupational therapy for children can scale from young toddlers all the way to approaching adolescence at the conclusion of primary school. There should not be any restriction to access as minor development cases to the severe should be managed as early as possible to improve on the child’s development.

Scroll to top