9/24/2009 7:31:08 AM
What is Occupational Therapy?
What is Sensory Integration?
Who can provide Sen...
- What is Occupational Therapy?
- What is Sensory Integration?
- Who can provide Sensory Integration Therapy?
What is Occupational Therapy?
Occupational therapy, or OT for short, is a treatment therapy that helps people achieve independence in all facets of their lives through purposeful activities. If your child has physical disabilities or developmental delays, occupational therapy can improve their cognitive (thinking), physical and sensory-motor skills as well as address psychological, social, and environmental factors that impact your child's functioning.
Occupational therapists use play to enhance the child's fine motor skills and muscular strength. They also address feeding and oral motor skills, self-care skills, positioning, adaptive equipment, splint fabrication and use, sensory integration techniques, and assist individuals in acquiring the knowledge, needed to perform. Occupational therapy is beneficial when there are concerns regarding fine motor, sensory, visual motor, handwriting, daily living skills and/or motor planning.
What is Sensory Integration?
Sensory Integration is the process by which a child learns to use information from all the senses for movement, learning, behaviour and maturation. These senses include body position, how the body moves, his/her relationship to gravity, sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. These senses interact to develop a child’s awareness of himself and the environment around him/her. Receiving, organizing and interpreting this information is the first step in learning.
The concept and theory of Sensory Integration comes from a body of work developed by A.Jean Ayres, PhD.
Some signs of sensory integrative dysfunction
* Oversensitivity to touch, movement, sights, sounds
* Under reactivity to touch, movement, sights, sounds
* Specific learning difficulties/ delays in academic achievement
* Difficulties in making transition from one situation to another
* Tendency to be easily distracted/limited attention
* Activity level that is unusually high/low
* Social and/or emotional problems
* Difficulty learning new movements
* Delays in speech, language and motor skills
* Physical clumsiness or apparent carelessness
* Impulsivity, lacking in self control
* Inability to unwind or calm self
* Poor self concept/body awareness
All children may display some of these behaviors occasionally. Also, children may display these traits for reasons other than sensory integrative needs. However, if several of these concerns are noted over a period of time an evaluation may be warranted. A pediatric therapist can assist parents in deciding whether an evaluation is needed.
Who can provide Sensory Integration Therapy?
Occupational Therapists trained in sensory integration therapy. By providing sensory integration therapy, Occupational Therapists are able to supply vital sensory input and experiences that children with sensory integrative difficulties need to grow and learn.
Motor skills training methods provided by Occupational Therapists or Physiotherapists are often used, and while these are important skills to work on, the sensory integrative approach is vital to treating sensory integrative dysfunction.
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