What is Occupational Therapy (OT)?
Occupational therapy is all about people and the things they do every day — their occupations. These include activities such as getting dressed, playing, learning at school, bathing, socialising, enjoying hobbies, and even sleeping.
Sometimes barriers like illness, injury, sensory processing differences, motor skill challenges, developmental differences, disabilities, or emotional regulation difficulties can make it harder to participate in these daily occupations in the way we want to.
Occupational therapists help people overcome these barriers and empower them to live meaningful, happy lives. We work across many different settings and with people of all ages, each OT bringing their own area of expertise.
Using a whole-person lens, occupational therapists consider the individual, their occupations, and their environment. Together with clients, OTs find the best fit between the person, their activities, and their surroundings to enable successful participation. This might involve adapting tasks, introducing simple or specialised equipment, modifying the environment, or building new skills.
Would My Child Benefit From OT?
Common challenges paediatric occupational therapy can help with include:
Movement and coordination
- Finding it hard to learn new skills such as riding a bike or using playground equipment
- Difficulties with balance or coordination (e.g., tripping, bumping into things, struggling with stairs)
- Avoiding certain types of physical play or movement activities
- Fatigue or low endurance
Emotions and behaviour
- Frequent meltdowns or emotional outbursts
- Difficulty adapting to change or when things don’t go to plan
- Impulsive behaviour
- Challenges managing or regulating emotions
Learning and attention
- Trouble focusing or sitting still in class or at the dinner table
- Difficulties with handwriting, reading, or other classroom tasks
- Feeling anxious about attending school
Social skills
- Difficulty making or keeping friends
- Struggles with understanding personal space
Daily living skills
- Challenges with self-care tasks such as dressing, eating, or bathing
- Finding hair brushing, showering, or certain textures uncomfortable
Sensory processing
- Avoiding or seeking certain sensations (textures, movement, pressure)
- Feeling overwhelmed by noise or busy environments
And many more — every child is unique, and OT support is tailored to their individual strengths and needs.
How Can OT Support My Child?
Sensory Processing
Emotional Regulation
Emotional Regulation
Sensory processing refers to the way our brain receives, organises and responds to sensory input such as sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Our brain also processes vestibular input (responsible for balance), input from outside our body, in relation to where our body is in space (proprioception), and information from inside our body , e.g. my bladder is full (interoception).
Emotional Regulation
Emotional Regulation
Emotional Regulation
Difficulties with sensory processing, fatigue, unexpected outcomes or changes are just some things that can make our kids cups overflow and emotions difficult to regulate. Dysregulation can also look different, for e.g. a calm presenting child can actually be overwhelmed and frozen. Sensory accommodations, education, connection, co-regulation and other strategies can support regulation.
Fine Motor Skills
Emotional Regulation
Gross Motor Skills
Motor skills requiring postural stability and the use of small muscles in the hands, wrists and fingers to perform precise motor movements. These skills are essential for many occupations such as dressing (buttons, zips, shoelaces), handwriting, eating (knife and fork), opening lunch boxes or drink bottles, self-care, play and learning tasks.
Gross Motor Skills
Emotional Regulation
Gross Motor Skills
Motor skills which require postural stability (core muscles), endurance and large muscles to move our whole body and keep us upright. These skills are essential to perform everyday occupations, such as sitting in the classroom, playing in the playground, playing sports, dressing, sitting on the toilet or at the table, running and jumping.
Executive Function
Executive Function
Executive Function
The cognitive (mental) work involved in guiding and managing our occupations, safety and daily lives.
Executive functioning is required for starting and completing tasks, decision making, behaviour, planning, prioritising, organisation, attention, impulse control, flexibility, self-regulation and problem solving.
Confidence
Executive Function
Executive Function
We support our clients in gaining a greater understanding and appreciation for their wonderful selves. We seek to empower children by promoting their independence, collaborating with them and the people who support them, building skills, discovering individualised strategies, and educating others to increase understanding and acceptance.
Self-Care
Executive Function
Play Skills
Self-care is the occupation of hygiene and grooming, such as having a bath or shower, brushing your teeth or hair and washing your hands. Completion of these tasks requires motor skills, sequencing skills and following a routine (executive functions). Sensory sensitivities (for e.g. tactile) can also impact self-care.
Play Skills
Executive Function
Play Skills
Play and playing with others is incredibly important for children. Not only do children learn about themselves and the world through play, they also learn and build skills the quickest through play. Which is why we play so much in OT!
Skills learnt through play such as sharing, turn taking, collaboration, negotiation, and problem solving are required for social skills and relationships.