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Pediatric occupational therapy is essential for children who experience sensory, physical, and/or cognitive issues in the classroom. These issues not only severely limit a child’s ability to complete their school work and learn the knowledge expected for their age (which sets the foundation for each academic year following), but also bleed into a child’s ability to care for themselves, complete daily activities, and befriend their peers.
As students return to the classroom, both parents and teachers have the opportunity to see and compare the behavior of certain students against their peer group. If you’re noticing a child in your life not hitting milestones, use the following list of signs to see if they may benefit from a pediatric occupational therapist.
Identify The Need for Pediatric Occupational Therapy: 18 Signs
A pediatric occupational therapist can greatly benefit children who experience a range of physical, cognitive, and sensory issues, even if the issues currently come across as mild. The following signs are key indicators that a child could benefit from occupational therapy.
Some of the signs have to do with gross motor skills, others with fine motor skills, sensory regulation, or visual-perceptual skills—a child with OT issues doesn’t need to (and likely won’t) display all of these behaviors and characteristics.
Physical Signs
- The child has poor posture while sitting in a chair.
- During circle time on the floor, the child rolls or moves around a lot.
- The child is an observer on the playground and rarely tries the equipment for themselves and without assistance.
- The child often chooses the same games and activities and avoids trying something that uses new motor skills.
- The child struggles to put together puzzles.
- The child cannot find a specific object in the classroom.
- The child struggles more than their peers do to put on a coat, put on and tie shoes, or button.
- The child often falls to the floor, runs into things, or purposefully crashes into things or people.
- The child struggles to manipulate small objects or use scissors, has an abnormal pencil grip, or finds that their hand tires quickly when completing fine motor tasks.
- The child avoids fine motor tasks.
- The child presses too lightly or hard on the paper while writing.
Cognitive Signs
- The child frequently demonstrates excessively risky behavior and low safety awareness.
- The child struggles to keep their desk and folder organized.
- The child often turns in assignments late.
- The child exhibits frequent meltdowns or tantrums with transitions, when routines change, or during unexpected situations.
Sensory Signs
- The child becomes easily overwhelmed by loud noises or crowded environments.
- The child shows extreme reactions such as covering their ears, avoiding touch, or becoming distressed by certain textures.
- The child seeks out sensory input in different ways, such as chewing on clothing or objects, spinning, or flapping their hands.
Occupational Therapy for Kids: How Does it Work?
Does a child you know display one or more of the signs above? They likely would benefit from Occupational therapy (OT). OT is a branch of healthcare focused on helping people with sensory, physical, or cognitive issues—the goal is to help them achieve independence by overcoming barriers that affect their emotional, physical, and social needs.
Occupational therapy helps children refine their cognitive skills, visual-perceptual skills, sensory-processing abilities, and fine motor skills, which are small-muscle movements made using the fingers, hands, and toes.
This can equate to help with:
- Handwriting
- Performing self-care tasks (e.g., dressing, using cutlery, brushing teeth)
- Improving confidence around peers
- Sitting correctly
- Staying organized
- Gross motor skills (e.g., dressing, riding a bike, running)
- Zipping clothes and tying shoes
- Medical equipment for complex needs
- Processing and responding to the environment
OT offers an opportunity to enhance a child’s day by improving the skills they use daily, but the key is to know when a child needs these interventions. OT is often a helpful tool for kids and teens with:
- Autism
- Sensory processing disorders
- Cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or other chronic illnesses
- ADHD
- Birth injuries or birth defects
- Learning problems
- Traumatic injuries to the spinal cord or brain
- Broken bones or burns, including severe hand injuries
- Mental health or behavioral problems
- Spina bifida
- Developmental delays
- Post-surgical conditions
- Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
- Cancer
Whether or not your child has an official diagnosis of any of the above, they can access pediatric occupational therapy to support their development.
Search for Occupational Therapists in your Area
How Teachers Can Support Students with OT Issues
Children with OT issues have a harder time going through their day than other children, which can affect their success in school. Recommending that the child sees an occupational therapist is the best way for teachers to help, as occupational therapy allows the child to work on techniques and strategies that enable them to work on these motor skills and improve their daily and academic performance.
In addition to recommending a child for an occupational therapy in-school screening, teachers can also make the following accommodations in their classroom to help children with OT issues.
- Institute Movement Breaks: Children with OT issues may have a hard time sitting still for the entire day, so instituting regular movement breaks can offer an opportunity for them to take a break from sitting. Movement breaks also offer a break from schoolwork, which lets their mind rest for a few minutes.
- Offer Flexible Seating: Offer different seating options for the students, such as an exercise ball chair, stand-up desk, or wobble stool. For kids who bounce their feet, attaching a stretchy exercise band to the legs of their chair offers a way for them to do this. You can also let the children work in different positions, such as at an easel or by lying on the floor with a clipboard. During group seating on the carpet, offer carpet squares or beanbag chairs.
- Have A Consistent Routine: Children with OT issues can benefit from having a consistent daily routine, as it lets them know what to expect and when. If there’s going to be a routine change, whether because of a half-day or a field trip, be sure to give ample notice to the children. To further vamp up your schedule, establish clear start and end times for each task and post visual schedules, directions, and to-do lists in a way that students can see.
- Create a “Calm Down” Area: Offer a place where children can go when the sensory inputs are too much. Place it away from doors, windows, and buzzing lights. Offer earplugs or noise-muffling headphones and have sensory tools, such as a fidget spinner or stress ball, available. With a space for them to retreat to and self-management tools readily available, your students can learn how to recognize and respond to overwhelming sensory inputs.
- Reduce The Need for Handwriting: For children who struggle with handwriting, offering an alternative can help them get the same out of their academic studies without causing unnecessary frustrations. For example, instead of having them provide short answers to the questions, use fill-in-the-blank. When students are handwriting, offer them extra time if needed. For kids that have motor skills fatigue, this gives them time to complete their work without being concerned about not getting it done in time. You could also utilize speech-to-text software on the computer, which can help the child get their thoughts out.
- Help Them Focus: Too many inputs can be distracting, but you can help your students focus by making some small adjustments. First, try to reduce how much information is on a page, and when there’s a lot, help the child focus by using blank pieces of paper to cover everything but a few questions at a time, or use a highlighter to emphasize what they should be focusing on. To block out classroom distractions, consider using manilla folders as a screen or let them listen to music while working. These can help block visual and auditory distractions.
Helping Children with Physical, Cognitive, and Sensory Issues
Occupational therapy can be a salve for a child’s well-being; it helps kids play, aids their daily activities, improves their school performance, and boosts their self-esteem.
The classroom can exacerbate many OT challenges, but teachers can make modifications that allow for all their students to thrive. By offering stations where kids can self-regulate, following (and making known) a regular schedule already loaded with brain breaks, and providing alternative seating options, teachers can help meet kids where they are so that they can continue to enjoy school.
While teachers can make these modifications, they aren’t able to address and remedy the sensory and motor challenges that those with OT issues live with every day— families can fill in this gap by booking appointments with an occupational therapist to improve children’s skills and confidence.
We know that parents are looking for the best for their children, which is why it is our mission at Coral Care to match them with the best occupational therapists. By offering in-home appointments with flexible scheduling, we help students succeed by connecting them with quality SLPs, OTs, and PTs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Signs include: messy or illegible handwriting that doesn't improve with instruction, significant difficulty with scissors, buttons, or zippers, sensory sensitivities that disrupt classroom participation, emotional dysregulation that interferes with learning, avoidance of fine motor tasks, trouble with self-care tasks, and difficulty organizing materials or following multi-step instructions. Any of these patterns, when persistent, warrants a referral for OT evaluation.
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