Northwest Pediatric Therapy
Making a difference in children's lives since 1999!
2580 E. Joyce Blvd, Ste 12, Fayetteville, AR 72703 (479) 521-7337 nwpediatrictherapy@sbcglobal.net
2580 E. Joyce Blvd, Ste 12, Fayetteville, AR 72703 (479) 521-7337 nwpediatrictherapy@sbcglobal.net
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational Therapy works to help a child become more independent in everyday tasks. Occupational therapists provide treatment that is designed to support a child and their family when they experience difficulties in the following areas:
Difficulty playing with toys and doing puzzles.
Difficulty using feeding utensils at an age appropriate time.
Difficulty fastening and unfastening clothing fasteners: buttons, buckles, zippers, snaps, and tying shoelaces.
Unable to establish a hand dominance, poor pencil grasp, poor handwriting of letters and numbers.
Difficulty coloring, tracing, drawing, and copying pre-writing shapes.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
STRENGTH, MOVEMENT, & BALANCE
Appears clumsy or uncoordinated.
Difficulty with discriminating between right and left High or low muscle tone.
Difficulty coordinating both sides of the body at the same time.
VISUAL PROCESSING/PERCEPTION
Difficulty recognizing both letters and numbers and matching shapes.
Has poor eye contact.
ORAL MOTOR/ORAL SENSORY
Child appears to be excessively picky when eating certain foods and textures of food.
Child excessively mouths clothes, toys, and/or objects beyond an age appropriate time.
SENSORY PROCESSING
Overly sensitive or heightened reactivity to sound, touch, smell, or movement.
Under-responsive to certain sensations (e.g. high pain tolerance, doesn’t notice cuts or bruises, doesn’t care if hands are sticky).
Constantly moving, jumping, crashing, bumping, and/or rough-housing.
Easily distracted by background noise and activities that others are doing.
Becomes easily emotional when feelings get hurt or they get hurt physically.
Difficulty coping with change and transitioning between environments or activities.
Has meltdowns and/or inability to calm self when upset.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
Difficulty adapting and interacting socially and engaging with family and peers
Gets overly focused on one subject, toy, object, activity.
LEARNING CHALLENGES
Easily distracted, unable to concentrate and focus, as well as difficulty following instructions or completing activity.
Hyperactivity or low energy.
Makes letter and number reversals.
Difficulty learning new material.
PLAY SKILLS
Difficulty with imaginative play; prefers repetitive play as well as solitary play.
Wanders aimlessly without purposeful play and/or moves quickly from one activity to the next without completion.
Does not explore toys appropriately or with purpose.