What is an “occupation”?

The therapeutic use of everyday life activities (occupations) with individuals or groups for the purpose of enhancing or enabling participation in roles, habits, and routines in home, school, community, and other settings. Occupational therapy practitioners use their knowledge of the transactional relationship among the person, his or her engagement in valuable occupations, and the context to design occupation-based intervention plans that facilitate change or growth in client factors (body functions, body structures, values, and beliefs) and skills (motor, process, and social interaction) needed for successful participation. Occupational therapists are concerned with the end result of participation and thus enable engagement through adaptations and modifications to the environment or objects within the environment when needed (adapted from AOTA, 2011).

What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational Therapists (OT) focus on the development or regaining of skills needed for everyday activities. This can include gross motor coordination, fine motor skills, cognitive skills, self-care skill, visual motor/perceptual skills, and sensory processing needs. Fine motor skills can include activities such as grasp, handwriting, scissor skills, and manipulation of fasteners (buttons, zipper, etc.). Self-care skills can include feeding, dressing, and overall hygiene. Occupational Therapists often help children coordinate gross motor movements in the sense of timing, rhythm, and isolating movements. Integrating primitive reflexes is also an important milestone for all children. From infancy to adolescence, OT helps children achieve independence in everyday activities.

What are the benefits of Occupational Therapy?

• Improve fine motor skills

• Improve feeding, dressing, and hygiene skills

• Improve visual-motor/visual-perceptual skills

• Regulate level of arousal for participation in functional activities

• Increase socialization, organizational skills, and self-confidence

• Increase self-regulation by incorporating sensory strategies into a child’s routine