Occupational Therapy
Are You Considering Occupational Therapy?
Do you or your child have trouble with daily activities because of an injury, health issue, or chronic medical condition?
Do you struggle to live independently and wish you could perform common tasks more easily and with less pain?
Are routines like bathing, dressing, walking, going to school, and working proving to be too difficult?
Perhaps you have been told you have sensory challenges and are curious how an occupational therapist can help you work through them. Or maybe you have a child with sensory, fine motor, gross motor, behavioral, and or social skill difficulties and have been advised to seek therapy for them. Occupational Therapy (OT) can help you or your child learn to successfully perform the skills of daily life to gain independence and confidence.
A Helping Hand Can Make All The Difference
Maybe you are pursuing Occupational Therapy because of a recent autism or attentional disorder diagnosis like ADHD, and you are ready to overcome the obstacles that make your life challenging.
Additionally, adults and children alike may need help with using assistive devices that can help them perform tasks at work, school, and home that are new to them, and an OT can help with that. These can include mobility devices like wheelchairs, as well as hearing aids and other cognitive aids.
An Occupational Therapist can help you learn to independently perform tasks that are currently challenging but require some skill work and practice. For instance, if you or your child struggle with eating meals, accomplishing tasks at school or work, or performing basic hygiene rituals without assistance, an OT can offer strategies for increasing your executive functions. No matter the cause of your condition or the behavioral or cognitive issues you face, you or your child deserve to find a friendly and compassionate Occupational Therapist through our practice who can help bring independence into your lives.
Occupational Therapists Treat a Wide Array Of Common Issues
Occupational therapy can aid with many challenges related to the following:
● Autism - a neurodevelopmental condition that impacts communication, social interactions, and behaviors.
● Developmental delays - can be related to reaching certain milestones by a typical age, including physical, cognitive, communication, social, emotional, or behavioral skills.
● Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - when people have difficulty focusing or paying attention, as well as recognize patterns of inattention followed by intense hyperactivity (only with ADHD)
● Emotional and Sensory Regulation issues - involve having trouble regulating emotions and processing sensory stimulation, usually related to executive dysfunction.
● Physical and mental disorders - including anxiety, trauma, and panic disorder as well as physical challenges due to issues like a stroke or other physical impairments.
It can be hard to know if your child needs a pediatric Occupational Therapist, but there are many reasons why it can help. Children are more likely to struggle with emotional and behavioral issues, as well as developmental delays that can impact their coordination and motor control. Additionally, expecting children to sit still for long periods in school can be a real struggle, and when they face attentional difficulties, they may be labeled as "disruptive," or "aggressive," but an occupational therapist can help.
Adults might seek out therapy if they have a challenge with understanding sensory information and having adverse reactions, which an OT can help make sense of. For instance, loud noises might create anxiety and physical reactions that disrupt their lives, and the sensation of clothing can be bothersome to adults with sensory issues.
Luckily, Occupational Therapy can help children, teens, and adults with the physical and mental challenges they face in life because of these issues. Reaching out to Integral Psychological Services to discover if our OT program is the right fit is a great first step.
What Therapy Sessions And Treatment Methods Look Like
This process begins with a neuropsychological evaluation that will determine if our OT services are right for you or your child. Then, in our first session, I will review your medical history and watch you perform certain tasks to assess your needs. We will talk about your activities of daily living and determine what is challenging and what is not. Based on whether you or your child have a sensory processing disorder or attentional challenges, I will explain how I can help as your therapist and what activities we will engage in during sessions.
Depending on your situation, we may work on your fine, gross, and ocular motor skills using a variety of activities. I often utilize reflexive work and reflexive integration. This is done with what's called “Neurodevelopmental Movement” as well as breathwork, and mindfulness work to help you modify your body’s reactions to typical stressors.
This therapy can also help with sensory integration disorder because our senses are often involved in reflex responses. Furthermore, sensory integration involves a sort of “organizing” and interpreting information from the environment and your own body. When you are “disorganized” you may feel panicked or in a state of fight or flight.
Coping Skills and Calming Strategies Can Help You Find Balance
I can teach you strategies to help calm and relax your autonomic nervous system, which controls things like your heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and digestion. Coping skills are an important learned skill that can help with emotional regulation. I draw from methods like Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) that encourage you to accept your situation and your emotional responses as they are, but then also explore the benefits of changing your reactions.
Additionally, Occupational Therapy is considered a more conservative approach for issues like ADD and ADHD if you are not interested in treating it with medication. This type of therapy can be a frontline attempt at treatment for attentional issues with skills that can benefit you or your child after a few sessions and with practice.
When you seek out an Occupational Therapist, you are giving yourself a chance to live the life you want without your impairment being in control. You can learn or regain the ability to perform your daily tasks with self-sufficiency. Your caregivers can learn how to help you in ways that are liberating and not restricting. You’ll have the chance to tangibly see progress, growth, independence, and confidence over time for you or your child, becoming successful in performing everyday activities that can offer you freedom and the joy of accomplishment.
You Might Still Have Questions About Occupational Therapy…
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Families are always welcome in sessions with their children. However, if you don’t wish to attend sessions, I can provide an overview of what we completed as well as any applicable instructions and guidance for how to carry out the activities at home. That way, you don’t have to worry about missing critical information for the continued progress of your child.
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This depends on each client’s age and level of impairment, but generally, I will start working with and teaching both my client and their family or support system strategies for immediate help and improvements. Consistent attendance and carry-over at home are very important for improved functional outcomes. The work I do—including reflexive work, coping skills, and bodywork—can help with things like sensory integration right away.
Using these approaches, you can avoid the fight or flight feeling of panic and overwhelm in your daily life.
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If you have had a negative experience in therapy in the past, it’s important for me to know if there is anything specific that did not work or that you did not like previously. I will do my best to make sure you, your child, and your family feel comfortable and safe with my practice.
My approach for pediatric occupational therapy services is to keep activities as physical as possible, moving around the room and not keeping the child working in one place. With my older clients, I try to apply their skill practice and various activities to something functional so the cognitive burden is not so overwhelming.
Reach Out To Get Started With Occupational Therapy
We can help determine whether an Occupational Therapy program through Integral Psychological Services is the right choice. Undergoing this kind of treatment can have lifelong benefits to give you independence and confidence to live your life the way you wish to.
The first step is to contact us through our online form or by calling us at (616) 600-2845 to schedule a thorough evaluation of your or your child’s current needs.
