Private Occupational Therapy
Are you suffering from injury, disability, illness, or other ailments hindering your daily activities? You can opt for private occupational therapy services in Riverhead to get rid of the issues permanently and in a shorter period. Occupational therapy is a therapy given daily to eliminate all the physical and mental issues and thereby helps in getting the best benefits of the medications.
Pediatric Occupational Therapy Qualifications
A pediatric occupational therapist typically holds a maters degree from an accredited university and has passed a national licensure exam to practice in the field. Hand-on training and fieldwork is required of all therapists. Licenses must be renewed every three years and to do so a therapist must complete 36 credits of continuing education each time they apply for a license renewal. Therapists are trained to incorporate play as part of their practice to help motivate children and reduce anxiety or reluctance they may feel towards therapy and to foster independence, self-esteem, and confidence to complete tasks.
Advantages of Pediatric Occupational Therapy
Increased Independence: Regular and consistent occupational therapy sessions can help your little ones take steps toward living a more independent life. Therapy helps children create and stick to a routine which will increase their ability to complete tasks on their own.
Improved Academic Success: Your therapist will work on occupational therapy skills while incorporating educational goals. Many academic tasks can be disguised as play, so your child doesn’t even realize they are doing work!
Confidence Boost: Tasks can be adapted or modified to help children complete them with less frustration and more success.
Stronger Social Skills: Play and social skills are incorporated into each occupational therapy session. The sequence of play is not always obvious to children so your therapist will break down activities into small teachable steps to show children what is expected of them in social situations. This promotes learning and gives children an understanding of appropriate behavior.
Occupational Therapy Evaluations
To begin therapy, an evaluation must be completed. If your child has already had an evaluation completed by their school or another occupational therapist, we can review this to see if it is sufficient to create appropriate goals and a treatment plan. If not, we will continue with our evaluation measures. A non-standardized evaluation can be used to determine your child’s strengths and abilities. It will highlight challenges and areas of weakness to focus on during therapy sessions. These evaluations assist with creating meaningful and attainable goals and determining a frequency and duration of sessions that will be most beneficial for your child. Standardized evaluations can also be completed which would provide you with quantifiable scores, allowing you to focus on your child’s skills in relation to other children who have completed the same evaluation. Most times a non-standardized assessment is enough to develop an effective treatment plan.
Occupational Therapy Sessions
Pediatric occupational therapy helps children develop the skills they need to become functional and independent adults. Both in-person and virtual sessions can help address areas impacting your child’s independence and growth.
In-person sessions involve a therapist coming to your home to work on skills with your child. Virtual sessions utilize an online platform, allowing you to log onto your computer and complete therapy alongside your child.
Many children will regress over extended holidays or summer vacation as they are not practicing skills as frequently as when they were in school. Rebecca House of OT, PLLC offers therapy during these times when school is not in session to ensure that skills are retained.
Who might need occupational therapy?
OT can help children and teens who have:
Birth injuries
Sensory processing disorders
ADD/ADHD
Autism
Down Syndrome
Traumatic injuries to the brain or spinal cord
Mental health/emotional/behavioral challenges
Hand injuries
Learning disability
Dyslexia
Dyspraxia
Dysgraphia
Post-surgical conditions
Cerebral palsy
Chronic illnesses
Examples of skills addressed in occupational therapy sessions
Cognitive skills such as identifying letters, numbers, shapes, and sequences
Fine motor skills that address manual dexterity, hand strength, forearm control and hand strength such as cutting and handwriting
Gross motor skills such as strength, balance, coordination, and endurance
Social skills such as taking turns, listening, and following directions
Visual perceptual and motor skills such as building with puzzles or playing memory games
Executive functioning skills such as attention and organization
Sensory processing skills such as toleration of certain clothing and food
Regulation skills such as being able to identify and better control emotions
Virtual Parent Education & Training
Parent education is crucial to your child’s success. This education and training sessions can be done through a virtual platform. You will be provided with resources and can learn strategies to help your child practice new skills and become more independent. These sessions allow you to feel more involved in your child’s progress. Along with teaching strategies and techniques to continue working on occupational therapy goals, we can review your child’s IEP or 504 plan to help clarify any questions or concerns you may have including committee recommendations, evaluations and reports, functional performance and physical development write ups, management needs, supplementary aids, assistive technology and adaptive equipment.
Courses for New & Practicing Therapists
I started creating courses for therapists because I truly understand the challenges that you will face as a new grad or are already facing as a practicing therapist. After graduation, I was thrown into the therapy world to fend for myself and “fake it til’ I made it.” I don’t want any other therapists to feel like they have to do that and I am here to help!
