All things OT and Beyond!..
My name is Heidi McLarty, and I am a pediatric Occupational Therapist, working in Northern Ontario. I have been working with children since October of 2005 and have LOVED every minute of it! My "kiddos" have all been an inspiration to me to do more, read more and become the best Occupational Therapist I can be to help them! As I have been reading and gathering what I feel is good information to pass on to the parents I work with, I feel like all of this information is scattered in various places.
It is my goal to create a useful website to share various resources with the world. Feel free to comment and also point out great resources you've found so I can also post them on my site. Happy reading! I hope to frequently update my site as I have the time. -Heidi McLarty, OT Reg. (Ont.).
I will not be posting advice for specific cases but I hope to gather and post useful information in respect to issues in which I am interested, or that I have dealt with or researched as a professional in the field of occupational therapy. Some resources I haven't reviewed in depth but consider them to be useful resources. Please note that I will not be offering direct advice on my website and I am not soliciting clients. I hope you will find my comments and links helpful. The information that I post is for general informational purposes only. People who wish further information should consult with an Occupational Therapist in their area for more details. Please remember that every person is very unique and different from anyone else. If we start to think of "cookie cutter" solutions, we may be missing important ingredients and the end product won't turn out right!
What is Occupational Therapy as Related to Children?
could include assessing areas such as fine motor & coordination development, visual motor skill development (how they are integrating use of their eyes with their muscles), visual perceptual skill development, and Sensory Processing (aka Sensory Integration or how they are integrating information from all of their senses to adapt and interact with their environment). There are actually many more areas in which OTs can focus on, and this depends on the child.
Occupational Therapists focus on 3 main areas:
Self Care - how are they able to get dressed, feed themselves, take a bath, etc.
Productivity - how are they learning and understanding concepts, how are they doing in school with things like handwriting, cutting, organizational skills,
interacting with peers & following routines, etc.
Leisure - how they are able to engage in activities they find "fun" such as play activities, sports, crafts, etc.
Occupational therapists aim to help children to develop skills to become as independent as possible in their day to day activities (known as "occupations"). OTs focus on goals which are personally meaningful to the child and his or her family. Goals can be worked on by either trying to develop more skills and/or adapting methods (called the "remedial approach") to become more independent (having the child work on improving with his or her own abilities) or by using special equipment (called the "compensatory approach") to help them to be more independent. The occupational therapist will decide with the child and family which treatment method is the most realistic to focus on.
