Occupational Therapy Services at High Peaks

High Peaks performs Occupational Therapy evaluations and treatment sessions when there are concerns regarding fine motor, sensory, and/or visual motor/perceptual development. The evaluation usually lasts for 1 to 1.5 hours and can be completed in your home, our office, or elsewhere.

If your child demonstrates a need for OT intervention, a recommendation is made by your child's evaluator/evaluation team. Once your child's services are approved, services will begin. A doctor's prescription is also needed before therapy can begin.

Occupational Therapy treatment differs from child to child. Children are usually seen for 30 or 60 minutes, 2-3 times per week. A schedule is set up for convenient times with the child and the therapist. Sessions can take place in the home, at daycare, preschool, or in our office. High Peaks services Early Intervention clients (0-3 years old), preschoolers (3-5 years old), and some school-based children (ages 5+).

A therapist may bring blocks, puzzles, MagnaDoodles, balls, shaving cream, scissors, pegs, putty, playdough, rice, beads, buttons, bubbles, and games to encourage motor-sensory and visual development. Your child may play in different positions to develop muscle control. OT sessions are generally fun and your child may see the time as "play" rather than therapy or work!

Another apsect of an OT's job is to educate parents regarding their child's strengths and weaknesses and to provide activities that can be completed during non-therapy times. Parent education and involvement is CRUCIAL to the success of the child's programs and goals. The OT also works closely with other professionals who may be involved with your child to ensure carry-over and continuity of all goals intended for successful outcomes for your child.

"An OT provides carefully designed challenges that build on your child's unique strengths and interests (playing and learning) to build developmental skills such as..."

Attention span and arousal level If a child isn't interested, fidgets constantly, or simply doesn't look at what she is doing, she can't learn effectively. An OT will help you discover what motivates your child, makes his body ready to learn (that is, what helps him keep still, calm, and alert), and to pay attention and stay focused.

Sensory processing skills A child needs to effectively use information derived from all the senses that pick up input from the environment (vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) as well as from inside the body (movement and internal body awareness). All this input must be registered by sensory receptors, processed in the brain, and acted upon in an adaptive way for a child to function at her best. An OT will help your child to become increasingly aware of his or her sensory needs, learn appropriate behaviors, and use new skills to calm or arouse him or herself. An OT will also work with caregivers and teachers to design environments to help your child to be successful and learn at his or her best.

Fine motor and gross motor skills Many children have difficulty with fine motor skills such as drawing, using scissors, buttoning, and stringing beads. Their small hand muscles are still maturing, and they may not have developed the strength, coordination, and dexterity they need. OTs also work on gross motor skills that use "larger" muscles, such as throwing and catching a ball, climbing stairs and playground equipment, jumping and hopping, and so on.

Activities of daily living Children have lots of daily tasks to master, and most children love becoming independent with these tasks. OTs help children learn to eat with utensils, drink from a cup, eat food without gagging, choking or vomiting, get dressed and undressed independently, take a shower or bath, use the toilet, and handle grooming and hygiene tasks age-appropriately.

Visual-perceptual skills From stacking blocks to doing puzzles to understanding geometry, a child must be able to perceive depth and relationships between objects in the environment. An OT can help a child to form a mental map of how the world works and where he fits in it, all of which are essential to feeling physically and emotionally secure.

Handwriting Over the years, the time spent learning and practicing handwriting in school has dramatically decreased. Handwriting skills, from the basics of letter formation to taking class notes legibly, can be extremely difficult for some children to learn quickly. OTs use a fun multisensory approach to handwriting, including use of touch (e.g., using a wet finger to write on a chalkboard) and sound (teaching a special story or rhyme about how a specific letter is formed).

Assistive technology Low-tech devices (like pencil grips and slantboards) and high-tech equipment (like adapted computers) are increasingly used in schools. If your child needs them, he has a legal right to use them. An OT can help you to find the right AT for your child, teach him how to use it, and help integrate it into the classroom. Many OTs work with kids with mild to profound physical disabilities, helping them function at their best using wheelchairs and other ambulatory devices as well as helping non-verbal children access communication devices that help them communicate with the world.

Commonly used assessments... The Miler Assessment for Preschoolers, the Peabody evelopmental Motor Scales (PDMS), The Bragance Diagnostic Inventory or Early Development and the Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP), the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI), the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test, the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Sensory Integration Praxis Test (SIPT), observation, caregiver questionnaire, checklists, and caregiver report.