What is Occupational Therapy (OT)?
OT is a health and rehabilitation profession designed to help people regain and build skills that are important for health, well-being, security, and happiness. OT’s work with people of all ages who, because of physical, developmental, social, or emotional deficits, need specialized assistance in learning skills to enable them to lead productive, independent, and satisfying lives. Through the use of therapeutic activities, OT’s help individuals to engage and participate in life activities, or occupations.
Occupational Therapists facilitate the development of the “small” muscle groups. These small muscles are throughout the body and help children accomplish many tasks like reaching, pointing, grasping, writing, and activities of daily living (dressing, toileting, tooth brushing, etc). These small muscles also control vision and visual perception. Occupational Therapists also help children with sensory integration (SI). SI is the how the body and brain work together to receive information from various sensory modes (touch, sound, taste, smell, etc.) and then process that information in an effective functional way. CTC’s occupational therapists assess each child’s individual and developmental needs and develop a motor, sensory, visual, or multi-modality play activities to teach children with OT needs.
