Occupational Therapy
Pediatric Occupational Therapy
Our pediatric occupational therapists can help your child reach goals and developmental milestones to improve their quality and function for daily living. Occupational therapy focuses on how your child coordinates movements, plays, regulates, attends to, and receives sensory information from the world around them. The skilled intervention and caregiver education provided within our Occupational Therapy program can help your child:
Improve sensory processing abilities
Develop Age appropriate play skills
Improve independence and participation in dressing, bathing, eating, or grooming.
Fine motor and eye hand coordination development
Visual perceptual abilities
Skills needed for their education (pre-writing, writing and scissor skills).
Reach motor development milestones
Improve ability to regulate within and attend to environment
Develop and learn strategies to improve executive functioning skills.
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Common concerns include:
Refusing food or liquid
Failure to accept different food textures
Coughing or gagging during meals
Difficulty chewing
Excessive drooling while feeding
Gurgling, hoarse, or breathy voice during feeding
Frequent spitting or vomiting
Recurring pneumonia or respiratory infections
Less than normal weight gain or growth
Sensory processing difficulties
Delayed developmental milestones
Through evidence-based practice, OTs are able to provide a holistic approach to breastfeeding through a unique perspective as developmental specialist with significant training in anatomy, physiology, and sensory processing. Through this whole-body approach, OTs can educate and empower parents while supporting infants with & without developmental disorders in the natural progression of feeding by addressing internal and external factors, such as positioning, state regulation, oral motor skills, and more.
Speech-language pathologists are trained in the mechanisms of the swallow, oral motor development, and the management of dysphagia. SLP’s play a critical role in the management of feeding for those with complex medical needs while assisting parents in chairing their goals. SLP’s provide support to parents and infants by addressing pre-feeding skills, the physiology of the swallow, and how these factors may impact their ability to safely and adequately consume an age-appropriate diet.