Occupational Therapy (OT) is the science of enabling engagement in everyday living through occupation.
Occupation refers to everything that people do during the course of their everyday lives. Occupations provide us with meaning and purpose and are essential to our overall health and well-being. Occupational therapists help people overcome the barriers that can occur if their ability to do the things that are important to them is impacted by a disability or injury.
Children, just like adults, have many occupations and roles in their lives. These may include being a family member, a friend, a playmate, and a student.
As a child’s primary occupation is play, the OTs at Little Buddies use play as the medium to engage, build relationships, and develop a child’s skills in the areas of:
- Self-care: feeding skills, dressing, toileting, sleeping, and hygiene tasks
- Productivity: participation in & enjoyment of school or daycare activities, including tasks like printing & drawing
- Leisure: play and social interactions with peers, participation in sports, hobbies & interests, & extra-curricular activities
- Social Engagement: engagement in family and peer relationships and developing social skills
Where some children reach developmental milestones naturally, some children may require additional assistance to develop the same skills. OTs are trained to adapt tasks and/or the environment to facilitate a person’s ability to complete each task successfully and independently. OTs tailer their teaching to suit each child’s individual learning needs and collaborate with caregivers and other professionals (e.g. Speech-Language Pathologists, classroom teachers, Behaviour Consultants) to promote the child’s success in all environments.