Occupational Therapy

When you hear the term “occupational therapy”, at first it might seem odd to be applied to the childhood environment. How could school kids be concerned with anything related to occupations?

In a recent interview, Meghan Brown, the Children’s Speech Therapy Center’s (CSTC) Occupational Therapist, explained what she does and how the CSTC approach works.

Ms. Brown (like other CSTC staff members) knew from her own childhood that she wanted to work with kids. Her entire family is involved in healthcare, so she naturally gravitated to the field. As a youngster she was active in the local 4-H club and participated in a project that provided therapeutic horse riding services for disabled children. That sparked interest in how she could help kids improve their lives.

As an undergraduate Ms. Brown volunteered in a variety of settings, with both adults and children, and always came back to the latter. “I knew I’d never be bored with kids,” she says.

To prepare for her career, Ms. Brown focused on psychology in her undergraduate studies and earned an MS in Occupational Therapy. She is an OTR/L—an Occupational Therapist, Registered, Licensed.

What does an Occupational Therapist do?

Occupational Therapists (OTs) help people improve their ability to perform tasks in their daily living environments. They treat individuals with conditions that are mentally, physically, developmentally or emotionally disabling. They help them develop, recover, or maintain daily living and work skills. OTs help clients not only to improve their basic motor functions and reasoning abilities, but also to compensate for permanent loss of function.

OTs assist clients in performing all types of activities, from using a computer to dressing or eating. They may use physical exercises to increase strength and dexterity and other activities to improve visual acuity, hand-eye coordination, abstract-reasoning, or memory-sequencing skills. With adults, they may be engaged following a stroke or a spinal cord injury.

Ms. Brown was attracted by the holistic approach of occupational therapy. “ There’s some physical therapy, some bio-mechanics, some psychology. That mix spoke to me.”

How does occupational therapy apply to children?

OTs can provide children with positive, fun activities to improve their cognitive, physical and motor skills. It can also enhance their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

Children’s main job is playing and learning. An OT can evaluate a child’s skills for play activities, school performance and activities of daily living, and compare them to what is developmentally appropriate for an age group.

The integrated approach—addressing psychological, social and environmental factors as well as physical well-being—makes OT a vital part of health care for some children.

OTs work on children’s fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills. They also address hand-eye coordination to improve play skills like hitting a target, batting a ball or copying from a blackboard.

What childhood conditions do you treat at CSTC?

• Birth injuries or birth defects
• Sensory processing/integrative disorders
• Learning disabilities
• Autism
• Pervasive Developmental Disorders
• Developmental delays
• Multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and other chronic illnesses

At CSTC we can also:

• Help children with developmental delays learn some basic tasks like bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth, and feeding themselves
• Teach children with physical disabilities the coordination skills required to feed themselves, use a computer, or increase the speed and legibility of their handwriting
• Provide adaptive equipment or modifications to the environment to help a child become more functional

What age groups are treated at CSTC?

CSTC accepts children ranging in age from a few weeks through teenagers.

How could an infant benefit from OT?

We help parents with positioning and handling infants who are displaying signs of feeding or other disorders. By learning different techniques for holding and propping up their baby, parents can improve their child’s swallowing and alleviate their own anxieties.

We also help infants learn to roll over, sit up and access toys.

What about older children?

From age 2 to 4 years, children get help from CSTC with dressing themselves, working fasteners, pushing buttons on toys, drinking from a cup, and using eating utensils.

Kids entering kindergarten may need assistance with using crayons or scissors, and with coordination and manipulation skills.

As they progress through school, we work with children to develop the skills that will help them cope with an increasingly-complex world.

What happens when we bring our child to CSTC for Occupational Therapy?

I begin by discussing any concerns with the parents. I may use standardized tests as a guideline, but my goal is to get to the root of the deficit. The evaluation includes both parental input and clinical observation. I check for such things as muscle tone and quality of movement, as well as posture, stability and other criteria.

Once a deficit has been identified, I break an activity down into small manageable tasks, and works with the child to master them one by one.

The skills we work on are both remedial and compensatory. Where possible, I help a child remediate skills he or she has been slow to develop. In some cases, such as illness, injury or various disabilities, I analyze the child’s individual capabilities and design exercises that will help him/her compensate for limitations.

How is the CSTC experience different from other settings?

At CSTC I am able to collaborate with Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) to treat some disorders in a variety of ways. For example, with some feeding disorders, an SLP might work on the mechanics, while I might assess textures and utensils as contributory factors.

The Center also has a wide range of tools, materials and assistive devices that many schools lack. For example, CSTC’s swing is a great tool for dealing with sensory processing skills. Particularly with vestibular (inner ear) disorders, a few minutes in the swing gets a child ready for a therapy session.

I am also excited that I am able to involve parents more fully in a comprehensive treatment program than is possible in a school environment. Each session includes time to consult with the parent or caregiver on the child’s progress and suggest home activities that can augment the session’s lesson.

Weekly contact can be a powerful boost to a treatment program. Moreover, consulting regularly with parents allows me to address any concerns or anxieties they might have. My work involves significant parent education on what’s normal and how families can help the child improve his or her living skills.

What are the qualifications for an OT?

Current requirements for practicing OT are a bachelor’s degree, a license from the state and certification by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). Beginning in 2007, OTs will have to have a master’s degree as well.