Paediatric Occupational Therapy Services
Our paediatric occupational therapy staff members offer Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) as an approach to provide therapy to children under the age of 7 with developmental delays. We offer a family-centred therapy that uses a combination of play and education to allow children to meet their developmental milestones such as learning to take care of themselves, learning to play, learning to crawl, walk and do the things that make them happy! Our paediatric occupational therapists can help your child develop the following skills:
Developmental Milestones
The early years of a child’s life are very important for child development as this is where they learn the skills that set them up for independence. Healthy development means that children are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met.
Play
Play is an activity where children show their ability for exploration, imagination and decision making. While play is often described as ‘children’s work’, it is intensely enjoyable for them. The type of play children engage in and its purposes change over the course of childhood from infancy to adolescence.
Prep readiness
It can be hard for some children to transition into schooling and prep is an essential part of early learning. Our occupational therapists can assist with the skills needed for prep to reduce the difficulties experienced going into this new environment. These skills may include; learning to use scissors, learning to write their name, recognising shapes and colours, following 2-3 step directions and learning to play with others.
Cooking/Domestic skills
Achieving independence is an important part of the journey into adulthood. From the moment we wake in the morning, we go through certain tasks, known as domestic skills. These include things such as cooking and taking care of your home.
Job Readiness
Preparing for a job or volunteering role is an important transition from being a student to being a contributing member of society by developing skills such as writing a resume, looking for and applying for a job, interviewing and understanding job requirements.
Organisational Skills
An important part of learning the skills needed for independence is being able to understand organisations skills such as counting and managing money, measuring and understanding volumes and managing calendars and appointments.
Dressing
Dressing takes a lot of motor skills that your child might need to work on developing. Coordination is required to put their arms in a shirt. Fine motor skills help your child master buttons and other fasteners. To put pants on while standing, your child needs to be able to balance on one leg.
Eating
Learning to eat and drink can be a challenge for many children and the way your child responds to food can be affected by factors such as medical conditions, physical abilities, or resistance to trying new foods because of the texture or taste.
Toileting
How to and when to begin toilet training can be particularly challenging for parents. While no parent wants to push a child to perform in ways that are impossible, the sense of accomplishment experienced when they do succeed in this important aspect of self-care can make an enormous difference in their level of self-esteem. We are trained to assess and understand the difficulties that your child may be having in regards to learning to use the toilet and able to develop an individualised therapy plan to learn this important skill.
Equipment
Children may need specialised equipment in order to participate in everyday activities. Some of these specialised items include paediatric wheelchairs, walking devices, postural supports to be able to sit at the table and even car seats to ensure that your child is transported safely within a vehicle.
Fine Motor
Fine motor skills are necessary for performing everyday academic, play, and self care skills. These can include activities such as being able to cut with scissors, colour with crayons and pencils, paint using a paintbrush and play with small objects such as lego, and beads and puzzles.
Gross Motor
Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform everyday functions, such as walking, running, skipping, as well as playground skills such as climbing, catching, throwing and hitting a ball with a bat.
Expected and Unexpected Behaviour
Expected and unexpected behaviours are important for children to learn especially in a classroom environment. These behaviours look at what is expected in a group and what is unexpected. Children with social cognitive learning challenges do not experience a natural development of the skills needed to co-exist easily in a group.
Making and Keeping Friends
Making friends and keeping them involves using a range of skills. These include being able to recognise when others are open to friendship and knowing how to approach and engage others.
Social Cues
Social cues are an important part of your child’s social skill development. Social cues are the signals people send through body language and expression. Children who have difficulty with their social skills will often have trouble picking up on social cues. When children miss social cues they can misunderstand other people and situations.
Executive Functioning (Mental Skills)
Executive functioning skills are a set of cognitive processing skills which are necessary to learn, work, live, and function on a daily basis. They are the skills that we need everyday to be able to live including; working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.
Routine & Rituals
Routines dominate most of our day from the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed. These routines consist of tasks we know we need to complete to help our day to run smoothly and to take care of ourselves and others. Anything from brushing our teeth after breakfast, getting to school, taking a lunch break or getting ready for bed. Without a structured routine children have difficulties understanding what to expect next.
Sensory Processing
Children with disabilities often have high registration of their senses, and will pick up on taste, tactile, smell, sight, proprioception and vestibular input much stronger than others. Each person has a different sensory profile and will pick up on senses and react according to their profile.
Understanding Emotions
Children experience complex feelings just like adults. They get frustrated, excited, nervous, sad, jealous, frightened, worried, angry and embarrassed. Children don’t always communicate how they feel using their words, they often communicate how they feel through behaviour. Our occupational therapists can tailor a therapy plan to help your child be able to recognise, understand and express their emotions in an age appropriate way.
Assessment & Report
Our paediatric occupational therapists are able to complete comprehensive assessments and reports, that can include:
- Adaptive Behaviour Assessment
- Functional Assessment
- Home & Environmental Assessment
- NDIS AT Requests – Equipment, vehicle modifications, minor home modifications
- Sensory Profile Assessment
- Supported Independent Living Assessment
- Specialist Disability Accommodation Assessment
Developmental Milestones
The early years of a child’s life are very important for child development as this is where they learn the skills that set them up for independence. Healthy development means that children are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met.
Play
Play is an activity where children show their ability for exploration, imagination and decision making. While play is often described as ‘children’s work’, it is intensely enjoyable for them. The type of play children engage in and its purposes change over the course of childhood from infancy to adolescence.
Prep readiness
It can be hard for some children to transition into schooling and prep is an essential part of early learning. Our occupational therapists can assist with the skills needed for prep to reduce the difficulties experienced going into this new environment. These skills may include; learning to use scissors, learning to write their name, recognising shapes and colours, following 2-3 step directions and learning to play with others.
Cooking/Domestic skills
Achieving independence is an important part of the journey into adulthood. From the moment we wake in the morning, we go through certain tasks, known as domestic skills. These include things such as cooking and taking care of your home.
Job Readiness
Preparing for a job or volunteering role is an important transition from being a student to being a contributing member of society by developing skills such as writing a resume, looking for and applying for a job, interviewing and understanding job requirements.
Organisational Skills
An important part of learning the skills needed for independence is being able to understand organisations skills such as counting and managing money, measuring and understanding volumes and managing calendars and appointments.
Dressing
Dressing takes a lot of motor skills that your child might need to work on developing. Coordination is required to put their arms in a shirt. Fine motor skills help your child master buttons and other fasteners. To put pants on while standing, your child needs to be able to balance on one leg.
Eating
Learning to eat and drink can be a challenge for many children and the way your child responds to food can be affected by factors such as medical conditions, physical abilities, or resistance to trying new foods because of the texture or taste.
Toileting
How to and when to begin toilet training can be particularly challenging for parents. While no parent wants to push a child to perform in ways that are impossible, the sense of accomplishment experienced when they do succeed in this important aspect of self-care can make an enormous difference in their level of self-esteem. We are trained to assess and understand the difficulties that your child may be having in regards to learning to use the toilet and able to develop an individualised therapy plan to learn this important skill.
Equipment
Children may need specialised equipment in order to participate in everyday activities. Some of these specialised items include paediatric wheelchairs, walking devices, postural supports to be able to sit at the table and even car seats to ensure that your child is transported safely within a vehicle.
Fine Motor
Fine motor skills are necessary for performing everyday academic, play, and self care skills. These can include activities such as being able to cut with scissors, colour with crayons and pencils, paint using a paintbrush and play with small objects such as lego, and beads and puzzles.
Gross Motor
Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform everyday functions, such as walking, running, skipping, as well as playground skills such as climbing, catching, throwing and hitting a ball with a bat.
Expected and Unexpected Behaviour
Expected and unexpected behaviours are important for children to learn especially in a classroom environment. These behaviours look at what is expected in a group and what is unexpected. Children with social cognitive learning challenges do not experience a natural development of the skills needed to co-exist easily in a group.
Making and Keeping Friends
Making friends and keeping them involves using a range of skills. These include being able to recognise when others are open to friendship and knowing how to approach and engage others.
Social Cues
Social cues are an important part of your child’s social skill development. Social cues are the signals people send through body language and expression. Children who have difficulty with their social skills will often have trouble picking up on social cues. When children miss social cues they can misunderstand other people and situations.
Executive Functioning (Mental Skills)
Executive functioning skills are a set of cognitive processing skills which are necessary to learn, work, live, and function on a daily basis. They are the skills that we need everyday to be able to live including; working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.
Routine & Rituals
Routines dominate most of our day from the moment we wake up to the time we go to bed. These routines consist of tasks we know we need to complete to help our day to run smoothly and to take care of ourselves and others. Anything from brushing our teeth after breakfast, getting to school, taking a lunch break or getting ready for bed. Without a structured routine children have difficulties understanding what to expect next.
Sensory Processing
Children with disabilities often have high registration of their senses, and will pick up on taste, tactile, smell, sight, proprioception and vestibular input much stronger than others. Each person has a different sensory profile and will pick up on senses and react according to their profile.
Understanding Emotions
Children experience complex feelings just like adults. They get frustrated, excited, nervous, sad, jealous, frightened, worried, angry and embarrassed. Children don’t always communicate how they feel using their words, they often communicate how they feel through behaviour. Our occupational therapists can tailor a therapy plan to help your child be able to recognise, understand and express their emotions in an age appropriate way.
Assessment & Report
Our occupational therapists are able to complete comprehensive assessments and reports, that can include:
- Adaptive Behaviour Assessment
- Functional Assessment
- Home & Environmental Assessment
- NDIS AT Requests – Equipment, vehicle modifications, minor home modifications
- Sensory Profile Assessment
- Supported Independent Living Assessment
- Specialist Disability Accommodation Assessment
Paediatric Occupational Therapy with OpportunOTy
For more information about paediatric Occupational Therapy at OpportunOTy, please contact our friendly team for more information. We’re based in Aitkenvale, Townsville, but also offer regular outreach services throughout Queensland.