PEDIATRIC OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Pediatric Occupational Therapy

A child's "occupation" is playing.

Children need play in order to grow and develop age-appropriate skills and to meet their developmental milestones. 


Occupational therapy uses play as a central treatment tool to help children improve skills, increase neuroplasticity of the brain, and develop greater daily independence. The goal of a pediatric occupational therapist is to help each child participate in activities of daily life, such as playing, dressing and caring for themselves, engaging with others, helping around the house, and participating in school and community activities.

Occupational Therapy at Sprouts Therapy

At Sprouts Therapy, the therapist and your child interact in a sensory-rich environment with lots of opportunities to experience tactile, visual, auditory, and movement inputs. The clinic is chalk full of play equipment to encourage swinging, spinning, riding, jumping, sliding, and climbing. The environment is created to feel like a giant playground for your child. Sessions are structured so your child is challenged but successful in completing each activity. When Occupational Therapy is effective, children improve their ability to accurately detect, regulate, and interpret sensations in order to execute appropriate motor and behavioral responses. This assists them in performing everyday “occupations” in a functional manner.

Children who benefit from Occupational Therapy

  • Children who are challenged in reaching their developmental milestones (in social, communication, self-care, fine and gross motor skills)
  • Children who have difficulty tolerating, navigating and accessing their environment
  • Children who have difficulty regulating emotions (meltdowns, rigidity with schedule, short fused, etc)

Common Conditions We Support

  • Developmental Delays
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Self/Emotional Regulation Difficulties
  • Visual Deficits (Motor, Perceptual, Functional)
  • Fine Motor Delay
  • Handwriting Deficits
  • Difficulty with Hand-eye and Finger Coordination
  • Gross Motor Delay (Sensorimotor, Bilateral Coordination, Low Muscle Tone, and Postural Instability)
  • Praxis/Motor Planning Difficulties
  • Unintegrated Primitive Reflexes
  • Lack of age appropriate play skills/toy engagement
  • Anxiety
  • Attention and Concentration Deficits (ADD/ADHD)
  • Learning Difficulties
  • Executive Functioning Deficits
  • Social Skill Difficulties
  • Neurological Disorders
  • Down Syndrome
  • Cerebral Palsy

OT Specialty Programs

Does my child need occupational therapy?

All children are different and develop skill sets at their own pace. However, if you think your child is struggling with adopting some of the skill areas below, and that his or her challenges are impacting day to day activities at home, school or in the community, your child may benefit from occupational therapy. 


For more help in determining what skills are appropriate for what age, view these developmental milestones for ages two months to five years.

  • Developmental Delay

    A developmental delay refers to a when child is not yet attempting or completing skills commonly seen in peers of the same age, often referred to as developmental milestones. Developmental delays frequently impact several skills or skill areas simultaneously, significantly impacting a child’s ability to successfully interact and engage across environments.

    • Not reaching developmental milestones of sitting, crawling, and walking
    • Not learning at an age appropriate level
    • Not developing age appropriate play and social skills
  • Fine Motor Skills

    Fine motor skills are small movements made with fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue, like holding a small object or picking up a spoon. If your child is struggling with fine motor skills, they may have difficulty with one or more of these activities:

    • Manipulating toys and puzzles
    • Holding a pencil
    • Using silverware or straws at an age-appropriate time
    • Using scissors
    • Manipulating zippers, buttons, shoelaces
    • Coloring, drawing, tracing, prewriting shapes
    • Poor handwriting, letter/number formation
    • Not developing a hand dominance at an age-appropriate time
    • Avoiding tasks and games that require fine motor skills
  • Movement, Strength, & Balance Development (Gross Motor Skills)

    Gross motor skills help us move and coordinate our arms, legs, and other body parts. They involve larger muscles that help us control our body. A child who is behind in movement, strength, and/or balance may appear clumsy or uncoordinated. They may also have difficulty with these things:

    • Going up and down stairs at an age appropriate time
    • Coordinating both sides of the body
    • Understanding the concept of right and left
    • Poor ball skills
    • Poor balance
    • Be fearful of feet leaving the ground
    • Avoid crossing midline of his or her body during play and school tasks
    • Avoid tasks and games that require gross motor skills
  • Visual Processing

    Visual processing is the process we use to make sense of what we see. It is a process in our brain that interprets visual information. If your child has difficulty with one of these things, they may have difficulty with visual processing:

    • Difficulty with the spacing and sizing of letters
    • Difficulty with recognizing letters
    • Difficulty with copying shapes or letters
    • Difficulty with visual tracking and crossing midline
    • Difficulty with finding objects among other objects
    • Difficulty with copying from the board or another paper
    • Difficulty with the concept of right and left
    • Difficulty with eye contact
    • Losing track of place when reading and copying
  • Oral Motor/Oral Sensory

    Oral motor or oral sensory skills control  the muscle movements of the face and mouth, such as the lips, jaw, tongue, and soft palate. Delayed oral motor and sensory skills can show in one or more of these ways:

    • Excessive drool
    • Çhews food in the front of the mouth, rather than on the molars
    • Difficulty using a cup at an age-appropriate time
    • Difficulty with drinking from a straw at an age-appropriate time
    • Lengthy bottle or breast feedings
    • Tiredness after eating
    • Loses excessive liquid from his or her lips when bottle or breast feeding
    • Loses excessive liquid or food from his or her mouth when drinking or chewing
    • Child appears to be excessively picky when eating, only eating certain types or textures of food
    • Excessively mouths toys or objects beyond an age-appropriate time
    • Demonstrates signs of aspiration such as coughing or gagging
  • Sensory Processing

    Sensory processing is making sense of information that we receive through our senses, like sound and smell. Your child may have senosry processing challenges if they demonstrate some of the following symptoms:

    • Overly sensitive or heightened reactivity to sound, touch, or movement
    • Under-responsive to certain sensations (e.g., high pain tolerance, doesn't notice cuts/bruises)
    • Constantly moving, jumping, crashing, bumping
    • Easily distracted by visual or auditory stimuli
    • Inability to fluidly navigate and engage with their environment
    • Decreased safety and body awareness
    • Emotionally reactive
    • Difficulty coping with change
    • Inability to calm self when upset
  • Social Interaction Skills

    Social skills are those that help us initiate and maintain relationships, engage with those around us, and participate in group activities. Your child may have delayed social skills if they show some of the following things:

    • Difficulty engaging with family and/or peers
    • Difficulty adapting to new environments
    • Difficulty with turn-taking
    • Difficulty understanding and/or responding to non-verbal communication
    • Difficulty transitioning away from preferred topics or activities (e.g., space, ABC's, universe, dinosaurs, trains)
    • Difficulty coping across school settings
  • Learning Challenges

    Learning challenges, sometimes called learning disabilities, are another type of developmental delay. If your child is challenged by one of the following, you may want to consult an occupational therapist:

    • Unable to concentrate and focus at school
    • Easily distracted
    • Difficulty following instructions and completing work
    • Tires easily with school work
    • Poor impulse control
    • Hyperactivity or low energy
    • Not keeping up with workload at school
    • Difficulty learning new material
    • Makes letter or number reversals after age seven
  • Play Skills

    Play skills can help a child make sense of the world around them. A child can gain self-confidence, learn problem solving, and develop social skills through play. Your child may show difficulty if exhibiting the following symptoms:

    • Adult guidance to initiate and modify play schemes
    • Difficulty with imaginative play
    • Wanders aimlessly without purposeful play
    • Moves quickly from one activity to the next
    • Does not explore toys appropriately
    • Participates in repetitive play for hours (e.g., lining up toys)
    • Does not join in with peers/siblings when playing
    • Does not understand concepts of sharing and turn taking

The Evaluation Process

Initial evaluations are necessary to determine whether your child qualifies for therapy services and to create a specialized therapy program if services are needed.


What to Bring

Please bring prescription glasses, hearing aids, durable medical equipment, or AAC devices your child may use (if applicable).


Assessment Details

Your child’s OT Evaluation will include a 2-hour evaluation/parent consultation. Evaluations typically consist of standardized testing, observations in a clinical setting, and parent-report measures. Because all children are different, your evaluating therapist will determine appropriate testing methods based on your child’s needs.  A pediatric OT evaluation may include assessment of: Gross/sensory motor, fine motor, activities of daily living (ADLs), sensory processing skills, functional vision skills, visual motor/perception skills, play skills, executive functioning skills, and primitive reflexes.


The Report

You will receive a detailed evaluation report and plan of care via our HIPAA compliant software system (Therabill), within your personal client portal approximately four weeks after the assessment. If you have any questions after reviewing the evaluation report, we can set up a complimentary phone consultation with you and the evaluating therapist.


(If your child already has a recent evaluation from another facility, we may be able to use that evaluation to prepare a plan of care and begin treatment.)

The Scheduling Process

If the evaluating therapist has determined your child would benefit from therapy treatment, you may begin scheduling sessions immediately after the evaluation, while waiting for the full report. If there are no ongoing appointments available during your availability window, your child will be added to the waitlist.  We may email you one-time openings, as available. These are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis until an ongoing session becomes available for your child.


Occupational Therapy is offered through teletherapy, in-clinic or a combination of both.


For clients attending Sprouts at a recommended frequency of one session per week, your child will typically see the same therapist on the same day at the same time. If a child receives multiple weekly treatments, they may be scheduled with a different therapist on different days of the week. Each of your child's therapists are able to view daily notes from previous sessions. When multiple therapists observe your child demonstrating a new skill, it ensures the child is progressing in skill generalization.

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