Children’s Occupational Therapy: What It Is And What Are Its Objectives
Some children may have some difficulties in their daily life. These limitations may be due to simple individual differences, since there are children who are better at some aspects while others find them more difficult.
But Sometimes problems can be really worrying, especially if a disorder explains them That is why intervention focused on improving the weaknesses that a child may present is essential to achieve optimal intellectual and motor development.
Children’s occupational therapy It is responsible for detecting the limitations that a child may manifest, analyzing how to correct them and starting a program focused on this improvement, with the intention of ensuring that he or she can fully function both at home, at school and socially.
In this article we are going to talk about this type of therapy, explaining in more depth how it is performed and what are the characteristics to be expected in those professionals who perform it.
Children’s occupational therapy is a type of intervention that is specialized in find out what problems a child may have that make it difficult for them to have a rhythm of development and vital fullness expected in other children of the same age. This type of therapy aims, once the limitations suffered by the infant are detected, to begin a process of overcoming them and promote greater autonomy in the child.
Although It normally focuses on problems related to motor skills, such as problems when walking or picking up objects, the truth is that trying to go a little further than this, and see if problems could arise in the sphere of cognitive or even perception. It aims to improve fine motor skills, gross motor skills and motor planning, in addition to self-regulation and sensory processing problems.
There are several reasons that may be behind a child suffering from some type of problem that affects their behavior and interaction with the world around them, with developmental disorders and medical illnesses being especially significant.
One of the disorders in which this type of intervention is most needed is dyspraxia, in which coordination problems occur, although it can also be applied to people who suffer from an autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy and other developmental problems.
The word “occupational” indicates that this type of therapy focuses on providing the child with the necessary tools to be able to carry out daily activities such as, for example, lacing your shoes, using a pencil or scissors correctly, or preparing your backpack.
All these daily actions are within several spheres of fundamental importance for the mental and physical health of the infant, such as self-care, leisure, social interaction and participation in activities together with other children.
Thus, children’s occupational therapy is a type of intervention whose objective is to ensure that the child is as independent and autonomous as is expected at his or her age and, thus, ensure that the rest of the learning that may occur naturally occurs more quickly. ease. This therapy focused on childhood can be carried out at school, the child’s own home, the hospital and in specialized health centers.
How it is performed?
Learning, during the first years of life, occurs above all through interaction with the environment Children relate to and become familiar with the world around them. This child-world interaction is what allows the infant to develop, especially in terms of motor skills and intelligence.
Each child is a world and if we add to this that each behavioral and intellectual facet can develop differently, it is possible that there are children who are more advanced in some aspects while in others they are quite behind.
The environment in which he was raised and the stimuli he has received from the people who make up his close environment can be key factors in explaining why the child has some limitations.
It is for this reason that, to give an example, it is recommended from the moment the child is born to speak to the child, even if he or she does not have the capacity to even pronounce “mama” or “papa.” Having received this type of stimulation from the moment he came into the world It helps the child learn to speak early and more fluently and quickly.
The therapy is adapted to the specific needs of the child, for this reason, before it begins, the child occupational therapist must analyze the child, see what his or her skills are and what challenges are present in his or her daily life, in addition to understand which daily tasks, whether at school or at home, cause problems.
From all this information, the professional will prepare an intervention program with activities focused on improving the child’s weak points
Some examples of activities that are usually done in children’s occupational therapy are the following:
The sooner this therapy is performed, the more benefits will be achieved Working on what is a problem and improving it can have the effect of better satisfaction in the child, seeing that there are problems that apparently had no solution, how they are being fixed, in addition to improving their self-esteem. This can have another positive effect, such as greater confidence when interacting with other children.
Detecting children’s limitations in time is essential, given that children with problems, especially in the field of motor skills, are not usually very well accepted by other children, who can make fun of their difficulties, depress them, negatively affect in their school performance and isolate themselves.
What should children’s occupational therapists be like?
Childhood is a critical period This is why the professional who carries out any type of therapy focused on children must be a specialist in the subject.
In the case of children’s occupational therapists, it is necessary that, in addition to having extensive knowledge of psychology and pedagogy, they know motor skills that allow improve both fine and gross motor skills as well as aspects more related to the mind such as planning and sensory stimulation.
They must have sufficient skills to enable them to deal with the difficulties that children may suffer, whether intervening individually or in groups of varying sizes. In addition, you must know what the interactions are like between these children and if there is some type of social hierarchy in the group that depends on the difficulties of its members.
The occupational therapist has, as previously mentioned, the main task of detecting to what extent the child’s difficulties prevent him from relating to the world, from having a satisfactory level of physical and psychological maturation, and to what degree he is further behind with respect to the child. rest of children of the same age.
Children’s occupational intervention must comply with the following phases:
Assessment: define the child’s occupational profile and perform an analysis of his or her occupational performance.
First intervention to define objectives to be met.
Fully defined intervention.
Evaluation of the results obtained.
Analysis of weak aspects of therapy and improvement of them.
