Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapists help to identify barriers that affect your child’s emotional, social and physical needs, particularly in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, sensory processing, cognitive skills, social development, and establishing self-care routines. Our OT’s at DSKC assess your child’s needs and implement tailored interventions through evidence-based practice.

They specialise in assessing and treating children in the following areas so they can live a more independent life…

Sensory Processing 

What is Sensory Processing? 

At De Silva Kids Clinic, we see lots of children that have particular sensitivities to touch, hearing, taste, smell and sight, e.g. to certain textures, clothing or food. Those who have sensory processing issues may have trouble filtering, organising and interpreting information taken in by their senses, this can cause extreme reactions. Sensory Processing challenges can exist in isolation with no other developmental concerns or coexist with numerous other conditions such as ASD. 

What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

This is a condition in which the brain has trouble receiving and responding to information that comes in through the senses. As a result, they may feel overwhelmed by sensory information, may seek out sensory experiences or may avoid certain experiences.

Some symptoms include:

• Think clothing feel overly scratchy or itchy.
• Think lights seem too bright.
• Think sounds seem too loud.
• Think soft touches feel too hard.
• Experience food textures making them gag.
• Have poor balance or presenting as clumsy.
• Are afraid to play on the swings, or alternatively need a swing to relax. 

What is Sensory Integration?

This is a term developed by Dr Jean Ayres to describe ‘the neurological process that organises sensations from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment” (Ayres, p11, 1989).

Sensory Integration is the body’s ability to:
1. Receive or take in sensory stimuli
2. Interpret the stimuli
3. Process the stimuli into a response
4. Adaptively respond to the stimuli

How can Occupational Therapy aid Sensory Integration?

At De Silva Kids Clinic we have a Sensory room where OT’s work with various types of equipment for children to use. The equipment in this room, such as swings and hammocks, may help calm and regulate children with sensory issues. This room may also encourage the introduction of new experiences for your child through play and graded desensitisation. Graded Desensitisation is a tool our OT’s use to slowly introduce undesired senses and improve their tactile, auditory, visual, vestibular, taste, smell or movement sensitivity and processing. 

The aim of OT’s sensory integration therapy at DSKC is ultimately to help your child regulate their behaviour when in the presence of sensory inputs.

Gross Motor skills 

What are Gross Motor Skills?

Gross Motor skills allow us to do tasks that involve large muscles in our torso, legs, and arms. Children use gross motor skills for various types of physical activities, from catching or throwing a ball to coordinated running. These skills involve the coordination of the muscles and the neurological system.

As well as physical activities, gross motor skills are essential for everyday self-care skills. These include maintaining good posture while sitting at a desk, walking around their everyday environment, standing up to brush their teeth or standing on one leg while putting on pants. 

How do I know if my child has Gross Motor difficulties?

• Avoiding or disinterest in physical tasks
• Displays poor coordination & presents as clumsy
• Rushing or acting silly when they find a task challenging to mask difficulty or fatigue
• Bossy during activities; tells others what to do without actively engaging themselves

How can Occupational Therapy help?

The OT’s at DSKC can administer a range of assessments to pinpoint what Gross Motor skills your child is having difficulty with, they can then implement a therapy plan to reach your child’s goals by building both muscles and confidence throughout sessions.

Fine Motor skills

What are Fine Motor Skills?

Fine Motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscles in your hands, commonly in activities like using scissors and glue, lacing, buttoning, zipping, using utensils, holding a pen and opening lunch boxes.

Having the Fine Motor ability to complete these tasks efficiently, influences the pace and quality of the task outcome. Efficient Fine Motor skills require a number of independent skills to work together to manipulate the object in a way that is suitable for the task.

How do I know if my child has Fine Motor difficulties?

• Poor academic skills; trouble writing or using scissors. 
• Struggles with common play tools; lego, puzzles, train tracks, doll dressing and manipulation
• Prefers gross motor or active play
• Finds some self-care tasks challenging; 
  • dressing – socks & shoes, zips, buttons, belts
  • eating – using cutlery, opening lunch boxes
  • self-care – brushing teeth & hair, toileting.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

The OT’s at DSKC can administer various assessments to pinpoint what specific Fine Motor skills your child finds challenging. The OT can then implement a therapy plan to reach your child’s goals by not only building muscles through generic tone building but also practising goal-oriented tasks in sessions, such as brushing their teeth or using cutlery. Our OT’s also touch on tone and strength to help good posture as this is an essential element of fine motor skills. 

Handwriting skills

Handwriting skills include letter formation, writing pace, pencil grip, fine motor skills etc. Pre-writing skills are developed through play in your child’s pre-school years, this gives them good foundational skills for school. Poor handwriting skills can affect a child’s academic performance and furthermore their self-esteem. 

How do I know if my child finds handwriting challenging?

• Awkwardly holding their pencil 
• Handwriting is illegible; letters are not written on the line and/or are not the correct size.
• Incorrect letter and number formation.
• Completes written tasks slowly/tires easily when writing.
• Avoids writing; writes the most concise answers possible despite verbally answering at length.
• Does not stabilise the page with their non-dominant hand and slumps at the table.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

We offer various assessments and therapy to address your child’s handwriting difficulties. Our OT’s look at what your child is having trouble with and implement various techniques to overcome these issues and improve their handwriting, they can also provide assertive techniques to improve their grip.

Social skills

We use social skills every day to interact and communicate, they include verbal and non-verbal communication such as speech, gesture, facial expressions and body language. Strong social skills are displayed if a child understands how to behave in social situations, they know both the written and implied rules when communicating with others. Children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often have difficulties with social skills.

Children at our clinic also often have trouble understanding people around them’s behaviour, and how to respond to it. They may have difficulty understanding their own emotions or those of others, promoting social-emotional learning, regulate overactive or under-active sensory systems.

How do I know if my child finds socialising challenging?

• Not taking turns when communicating with someone else.
• Struggles to use appropriate body language (e.g. stands too close/far to another person).
• Does not use greetings, please or thank-you.
• Finds commencing or ceasing conversations appropriately difficult, interrupts frequently.
• Struggles to maintain a topic of conversation and provides irrelevant comments during a conversation.
• Talk ‘at you’ in a conversation – does not engage and shows little or no interest in what the other person has to say.
• Fail to understand jokes and language, such as sarcasm.
• Struggles to understand different tones of voice or read facial cues.
• Does not ask for more information if they are confused or the situation is unclear.
• Discloses personal information to unfamiliar people or strangers.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

OT’s use play at DSKC so children can develop joint attention, turn-taking, shared interests, cooperation and appropriate play with toys. They also focus on emotions, the goal here being to aid the child to understand and display their own emotions, and furthermore to recognise these emotions in other people. Empathy is one of the emotions they focus on, OT’s help the child to understand and recognise how others are feeling in particular situations. OT’s use social stories to introduce these concepts, these are stories about specific social skills that children may find difficult to understand or are confusing, they help increase the child’s understanding by describing in detail a specific situation and suggesting a more suitable social response.

Academic Skills 

Preparing for school allows the anxiety that comes with new experiences to be alleviated. It also helps parents discuss any concerns about their child’s ‘school readiness’. You may think of academics as the most important aspect, such as knowing the alphabet, but school readiness actually refers to a much broader range of skills, children also need self-care (eg. toileting), play skills, attention and concentration, social skills, physical skills, emotional regulation and language skills.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

Our OT’s address play, language, attention, emotional regulation and other components through their therapy sessions in order to aid your child in successful performance at school or other environments.

Visual-Motor Skills

What is Visual Motor Integration?

It is the ability to incorporate visual information that we perceive with our motor skills in order to correctly execute the movement of our arms, legs, and body. Visual-motor skills are integral to an efficient and coordinated movement that allows your child to successfully engage in daily occupations.

Signs that your child is struggling with Visual Motor Integration skills?

Handwriting difficulties:

●  Poor line awareness in handwriting 

●  Difficulty copying written work 

●  Difficulty drawing pictures or shapes

Gross Motor challenges: 

●  Difficulty riding a bike or catching or kicking a ball 

●  Clumsiness 

●  Difficulty perceiving shapes 

●  Difficulty perceiving space 

Self-care skills:

• To find matching or favourite socks in a messy drawer 
• Tying shoelaces 
• Brushing hair 
• Toileting 
• Brushing Teeth 
• Getting dressed

How can Occupational Therapy help?

The OT’s at DSKC can do activities with your child that are fun and engaging, such as mazes and puzzles, to improve your child’s Visual Motor Skills. 

Cognition

Cognitive skills include attention, short term memory, long term memory, logic & reasoning, auditory processing, visual processing, and processing speed. They are the skills the brain uses to think, learn, read, remember, pay attention, and solve problems.

How do I know if my child has difficulty cognitively?

The following are known as “Cognitive Milestones”, if your child has difficulty completing these they may need to see an OT to work on their cognitive skills. 

• Pretend play with others; Begins to use objects correctly (brushing hair, drinking from a cup).
• Begin to match and sort shapes, pictures, and some colours.
• Understand that things are different shapes and sizes.
• Become aware of the sequence of numbers, when spoken.
• Show an increased attention span.
• Begin to solve problems by trial and error.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

If you have any concerns about your child, an OT can check in on their attention skills, initiation and planning of an activity, problem-solving and safety awareness, and also where they are at in terms of developmental milestones.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

What is ASD? 

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition that involves persistent challenges in social interaction, speech and nonverbal communication, and restricted & repetitive behaviours. The effects of ASD and the severity of symptoms are different in children. There is not one type of autism, it is caused by different combinations of genetic and environmental influences. The term “spectrum” reflects the wide variation in challenges and strengths possessed by each person with autism. Autism’s most obvious signs tend to appear between 2 and 3 years of age. In some cases, it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months.

How can Occupational Therapy help?

As an Occupational Therapist, our role is to help people function in their everyday life. For some children with ASD, living their day to day life can be difficult. The OT’s at DSKC can help make this a little easier by addressing the issues that make your child’s life complex and implementing interventions for these issues. These issues include: 

• Gross motor skills & Low muscle tone (riding a bike)
• Fine motor skills (writing and cutting, using a fork and knife)
• Motor planning & execution (planning & completing a movement one after another)
• Play skills
• Engaging in social interactions
• Sensory issues

Assistive technology 

The OT’s at our clinic aim is to help your child be as independent as possible. Sometimes this means modifying their school or home environment so it is suited to the child’s needs. OT’s at DSKC recommend certain types of equipment that help your child regulate their emotions (fidgets), improve their handwriting (pencil grips), help them focus in class (wobble chairs) and aid many other goals!

 

Contact our clinic today if you have any questions!