What is Occupational Therapy?

 

An occupational therapist (O.T) sounds like someone you see for help with a job. Well this is somewhat true.  Children have very important jobs- to play, make friends, be successful at home tasks such as dressing and feeding, and probably most importantly, to reach their academic and social potential.

 

When a child’s ability to be successful in any of these areas is hindered, it can have a dramatic impact on both their self confidence and motivation to persevere.  That’s where an O.T comes in.  At Leapfrog Therapy services we assist children who have a learning, social communication or movement based difficulty to be successful in day to day activities including self care, play, leisure and school life.  In order to do this O.T’s conduct a thorough assessment of the child’s performance in functional tasks and identify the particular problem(s) preventing success.  We then work with the child, parents and teachers to remediate and/or develop cohesive strategies to optimize performance in these tasks.

 

Children are referred to O.T’s with a variety of difficulties including:

 

• Developmental Coordination Disorder (including  Dyspraxia)
• Specific learning difficulties
• Acquired brain injuries/  and brain tumors
• Cerebral palsy
• Autism spectrum disorders (including Aspergers)
• Downs syndrome
• Global developmental delay.

 

 

  We utilize a range of therapy approaches including neurodevelopmental therapy, sensory processing strategies and cognitive approaches.  We adapt these to the home and/or school/ pre-school environment to achieve functional goals.