Occupational therapy for children is advisable for the developmental phase of kids. Children might find it hard to get on with their daily activities at school, at home, or their society. This stage is called developmental delay. A parent could have tried all in their power too to resolve this but found it difficult.
What is developmental delay?
Developmental delay refers to a situation where a child is not at the right stage of development. As a result, the child will lack some skills like;
- Inability to perform some physical abilities like crawling, sitting, and walking
- Inability to learn at an appropriate age
- The lack of some social skills
Immediately you notice any or multiple cases of this; you should consider occupational therapy for children.
What are fine motor skills?
Fine motor skills refer to little movements made with wrists, fingers, lips, toes, and tongue. A child that lacks these skills will struggle with some actions like;
- Being able to handle puzzles and toys
- Handling a pencil
- Using straws or silverware at the right time
- Being able to handle scissors, buttons, zippers, and shoelaces
- Ability to colour, trace, draw, and prewrite shapes
- Bad number and letter formation
- Poor handwriting
- Avoiding games and tasks that need fine motor skills
At this stage, you should be clear about whether your kid needs occupational therapy for children or otherwise.
What are the other skills that are indicators that a kid needs occupational therapy for children?
Without much ado, the following skills are major determiners that will help your decision;
- Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor skills help to coordinate your legs, arms, and other parts of the body. A child experiencing developmental delay will have uncoordinated or clumsy balance, strength, and movement. Their difficulties will include;
- Being able to ascend or descend steps
- Body coordination
- Identifying their left hand from the right one
- Poor balance
- Visual Processing
Visual process refers to interpreting things based on vision. The human brain can process sights and their meanings. A child that finds this difficult at a certain age needs occupational therapy for children. He/she will have;
- Difficulty with sizes and spacing of letters
- Inability to identify letters
- Unable to copy letters or shapes
- Inability to identify visible objects
- Inability to copy from another paper or the board
- Oral sensory skills
Oral sensory skills refer to being able to control muscle movement on the tongue, jaw, lips, and soft palate. Having a delay in this is enough reason to get occupational therapy for children. Examples of these skills are;
- Chewing food inappropriately
- Inability to handle a cup
- Extended breast and bottle feeding
- Losing liquid excessively from the mouth
You can also pay attention to their social skills, learning challenges, play skills, and sensory processing. If you see any lapses in these skills, please go ahead with occupational therapy for children to help the child. Children have different stages of development. It could vary with two children with the same parent. However, you can always tell when a kid needs occupational therapy for children.
