Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapists at Kids+ specialise in working with children from birth, during childhood, and adolescence with the aim of improving their play, independence skills and overall participation in their everyday activities.

Occupational Therapists can help your child develop their independence skills to participate more fully in the things they want and need to do at home, kinder/school and out in the community, through the use of everyday activities (occupations). Our team of Occupational Therapists are trained in child development as well as task and movement analysis to support identification of limitations or restrictions related your child's goals.

Occupational therapy incorporates the assessment and treatment of movement skills, functional hand use, play skills, sensory processing skills, functional vision and visual perceptual, and self-care skills. Programs are tailored to each individual and may include direct skills training, home activities and assistive technology or adaptations if required.

The aim of Occupational therapy intervention is to enable participation in everyday tasks, including:

• Hand function and tool use: Supporting the developing of fine motor and hand skills necessary for kinder/school such as drawing/writing, cutting, typing and using technology such as switches and computer use to record ideas.

• Play skills and leisure activities: Participating in recreation and leisure activities in the home, school and community environments.

• Self-care Skills: Daily living tasks including dressing (buttons, zippers, shoes and clothing), self-feeding (finger feeding and use of utensils), toileting, bathing and grooming activities (showering, teeth brushing, hair brushing), as well as getting to and staying asleep.

Occupational therapy supports typically includes an individualized assessment, during which the child, family and occupational therapist work together to explore the child’s goals and customise therapy supports to improve the child’s ability to perform daily activities and reach the goals, as well as outcome measurement and evaluation to ensure that the goals are being met.

Occupational therapy services may also include evaluations of the child’s home and other environments (e.g. kinder, school), recommendations for adaptive equipment and training in its use, and guidance and education for family members and caregivers.