Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is provided for infants and children up to age 5 in order to assess and treat fine motor skills, joint range of motion, muscle strength, muscle tone, visual-perceptual skills, cognitive skills, and sensory-processing impairments. Occupational Therapists may also work on motor planning, bilateral coordination and sensory functioning. Our Occupational Therapists may work with your child on skills such dressing, grasping, tying shoes, writing, cutting with scissors, or handwriting. Often times Occupational Therapists help kids create alternate ways to play popular games they might miss out on because of fine motor impairments.

A child may be delayed in reaching major fine motor milestones. In general, these milestones for infants and children up to age 5 are as follows:

6 months – may reach for objects and pick them up
6 to 12 months – place objects in a container
12 to 18 months - make marks on paper with crayon
18 to 24 months - build a tower of 4 or more blocks
24 to 36 months - turn one page in a book at a time
36 to 48 months - draw a person with body

In order to facilitate the achievement of these milestones, a child should engage in the following activities to encourage fine motor development:

Manipulate objects of different sizes and textures
Use a shape sorter
Color on tables, chalkboards, and easels
Build with blocks, string beads, and complete two piece interlocking puzzles
Practice using utensils for feeding