If you notice that your child has difficulties with their fine motor, visual motor, and/or self-help skills, they may benefit from occupational therapy.
As a mom of two children, former teacher, and current pediatric occupational therapist, I understand the importance of fine motor skills and how it correlates to visual motor skills and overall brain development. These skills impact everything, from how your child will learn to self-feed, play intentionally with toys, use a baseball bat to hit a ball, copy notes from the whiteboard, and will even impact learning in school.
According to the CDC, brain development in this age group happens quickly due to how fast the brain grows! It is a crucial time to start developing fine motor skills.
There is a correlation between fine motor skills and academic ability, particularly in core subjects like mathematics and reading. It’s no wonder that when you observe what other countries are doing with their education system, particularly in China, for one example, you will find that they are focusing on a myriad of activities to build up gross motor and fine motor development in the early stages.
What is Good for the Hands is Good for the Brain
Get your child into “intentional play” by developmentally appropriate toys and activities like cause and effect toys, finger isolation games, coloring with small writing tools to build up intrinsic hand muscles, popping bubbles outside to increase visual motor skills, simpler versions of crocheting and knitting, play-dough activities, ball skills and movement activities, such as obstacle courses can challenge the somatic motor responses. These are all fun examples of activities that children will enjoy, while also having the added benefits of creating new neuronal synapses that are strengthened along the way! You can also adapt and modify the activities to suit your child’s needs.
Early Intervention is Key
If you have concerns about your child ages newborn to three, you may want to seek out an Early Intervention Program Occupational Therapist that specializes in the motor development of this age group. They can travel to your home or a community setting to evaluate your child, work on goals, and also coach the caregivers on best practices!
When your child is between the ages of 3 to 21 years there are feeding therapists, certified hand therapists, developmental therapists, inpatient therapists, acute care therapists, as well as other subspecialty therapists. If you prefer to work in your home or community setting, then you can always find a home health company that will send an occupational therapist to work with your child in your home setting.
Occupational Therapy in an Educational Setting
If your child qualifies under the umbrella of Special Education or a 504 plan, you can always advocate for your child and request to speak to someone regarding your child’s individual needs. There are occupational therapists who work in school districts as a “Related Service”, to evaluate and support children when there are concerns that impact their learning, whether that is addressing sensory needs, self-care, fine motor skills, handwriting, transfer training or assistive technology.
In an educational setting, the goal is to support your child to be as successful and as independent as possible in order to participate in their academics. This is a different setting, and the occupational therapist works and consults with educational staff, the student, and parents. They may come up with strategies to support your child and may also provide equipment, or set up motor labs. In the schools, the therapist may pull-out the student and work with them on handwriting one day, or push-in to the classroom to support the child’s learning another day, (pushing into the classroom is considered the “gold standard”).
A school therapist may strategize with the teacher on things like having the child sit closer to the front of the room to decrease distractions, or providing a slant board to increase visual attention and increase wrist stability for students who do not prefer to write, or trialing various assistive technology to decrease the cognitive load for the student and increase the quality of written work. Or pulling the student out of class to trial different handwriting papers to see what works best for functional handwriting.
School based occupational therapy does not take the place of an outpatient or home health therapist, where the goals are more parent and child driven with increased targeted goals and intensive therapy times of 53 minutes or more a session on a given day. Another example of how these two settings differ in practice is a school therapist may ask that if the student is unable to tie their shoes, then having velcro shoes allows the student to be able to participate quickly and independently in their academic setting, while an outpatient or home health therapist would make that a goal if desired by the caregiver. School based occupational therapists are tied to mostly academic goals, and they can collaborate with educational staff on these goals.
Other OT Needs
If you notice that your child has difficulties with their fine motor, visual motor, and/or self-help skills, your child may benefit from occupational therapy. If your child has learned all of their ADLs (activities of daily living) and are growing up, but you would like them to learn some IADLs or more complex activities that require higher levels of problem solving to support independent living there are Occupational Therapists that work on these things, such as: money management, venturing into the community, shopping, managing appointments and medications, laundry, driving, using public modes of transportation, using apps, swim safety, job training and meal preparation (just to name a few things).
Occupational Therapists are trained healthcare professionals who study neuroscience, body
movements, evaluate the whole person and use interventions that are supported by research to tailor a program specifically for your child. Occupational Therapists work to improve the quality of lives of people who need it, to increase and support their independence and goals, while taking a holistic approach to the person’s individual needs.
About Stephanie Belz
Stephanie Belz is a mom of two, a former teacher, and current occupational therapist. She resides in Spring, Texas. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, watching her sons play sports, working out, gardening, reading and writing. She recently beat aggressive cancer, using an integrative approach.
