Occupational Therapy Month

The month of April is Occupational Therapy Month! Throughout my career people have asked me, “What is Occupational Therapy, I already have a job”.  When I am asked this question, I get excited to share what I do and love. Occupational Therapists enable people of all ages to live their lives to the fullest by helping them promote health, and prevent and/or live better with injury, illness, or disability. As a pediatric OT, my area of focus is infants all the way to young adults.
 
The skills and activities included in pediatric OT focus on Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) or Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs).  ADLs are activities we do on a daily basis that are necessary for us to function. An example of this would be bathing, dressing, eating, achieving developmental milestones, and sleeping.  IADLs are activities that are more complex than self-care. An example of these activities include caring for pets, making a bed, completing chores, and learning to prepare a meal.  
 
Infants and toddlers have different ADLs and IADLs compared to school aged children or a young adults. For this particular group their occupation or ADL is to develop skills needed for the next developmental stage. As an OT, I help babies with a variety of needs. Some of them have disabilities that are either physical or developmental, or babies who just need a little extra time to gain skills. The things I work on with babies and toddlers include: lots of playing, sitting, crawling, walking, socializing, sensory integration, fine motor- picking up things with fingers, and gross motor- rolling and walking.
 
Therapists have to change their therapeutic activities once the child is in school to accommodate for the growth and the advancement of the child. The child’s ADLs and IADLs are no longer stepping stones to the next milestone.  Often, the kids I see still have physical, developmental, and sensory integration needs that therapy addresses. During therapy, we continue to work on fine motor, gross motor, and sensory integration needs, but we also include: handwriting, executive functioning (decision making and thinking), toilet training, imaginary play, eating a variety of foods, coordination, and being social with peers.
 
To help celebrate OT month, please choose some activities from the list below! All of the below activities focus on a child’s most important ADL/IADL which is PLAY!

• Fine Motor
  • Cutting a tennis ball to have what appears to be a mouth and feeding him beans or beads.
  • Using a pipe cleaner and stringing beads.
  • Playing with small blocks and stacking towers and making walls with the blocks.
  • Playing with cars and train sets- try focusing on driving and making car sounds to work on speech and interaction.
  • Playing a game called "Hens and Chicks" for pincer grasping and learning about simple math facts.
  •  Coloring with a magna-doodle or with paper and crayons.
  • Ripping paper and gluing it onto another paper to make a picture.
  • Crafts of all kinds that include paper, scissors, glue, and paint.
  • Use an old carton of yogurt and cut a slit in it. Put buttons, pennies, and beads through the slit to work on pincer grasping.
  • Use old spice containers to work on twisting off the lids. Place a small treasure inside they can take out and then put the lid back on.
• Gross Motor
  • Play grounds are the best form of therapy and exploration for children. Most of these are closed right now so see what you have at home to create an at home play ground (e.g. tire swings, slides)
  • Therapy ball exercise
  • Tall kneeling with a stool
  • Wheelbarrow walking
  • Animal walking- e.g. crawling, crab walking, bear walking, and frog hops.
  • Side walk-chalk (bonus, work on hand writing with chalk too!)
  • Jumping, running, and skipping.
  • Heavy work like, bringing in groceries, helping to move furniture, making a fort, helping with the laundry and carrying the basket.
  • Playing a game of catch with a ball-start and a beach ball and then go smaller to a smaller ball.
  • “Duck-Duck Goose” and “Mother May I”