Services

Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Pediatric Occupational Therapy helps children succeed in important areas of their lives. Occupational Therapists look at children from a holistic perspective. We work to determine where delays or limitations are coming from, especially in the areas of fine motor skills, cognitive skills, social development and establishing self-care routines. Together these skills lead to children being able to grow into healthy well-functioning adults.

Children see occupational therapists for a variety of reasons including:

• Develop fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting or computer skills.
• Improve visual motor skills such as eye–hand coordination so they can play and do needed school skills such as bat a ball and copy from a blackboard.
• Feeding therapy is also an area that Occupational Therapy addresses to help children learn to eat a greater variety and get beyond the frustrations of mealtimes. Picky eating and problem feeding are areas that several OT’s are also able to help with.
• Master life skills such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing teeth, and self-feeding.
• Learn positive behaviors and social skills by practicing how they manage frustration and anger.
• Increase cognitive skills so they can remember letters, shapes, sequencing task, manage time and solve problems.
• Learn emotional regulation so they can practice how to manage emotions so they able make friends, developed relationship and self-advocate.
• Sensory processing and regulation learn coping skills to reduce sensory aversions that prevent participation with activities of daily living, dressing, eating, brushing teeth etc.
• Develop gross motor skills such as balance and body coordination so they can ride a bike, navigate playgrounds, and play sports.

How can I get my child started with OT?

Your child will first need an evaluation. Depending on your insurance plan you may need to obtain a referral before your appointment is scheduled. On the day on your evaluations, which will take approximately an hour, please be prepared to provide your child’s medical history including developmental milestones, areas of difficulty, relationships with others. Your OT will work with you to develop your child’s goals for success. This plan of care will follow them as they work to make progress. You will also discuss frequency of service as there is no one size fits all approach. Treatment options will vary for each child as will the duration of therapy.

What does an OT session look like?

Sessions are tailored to your child’s specific needs and challenges. Most sessions go for an hour but can be shortened if your child is not able to handle that amount of time to start. We work with each family to find the fit that is needed to support the child and the family where they are at.

Children do not like to just sit in therapy, so Occupational Therapists strive to make therapy sessions feel like play. By participating in motivating activities that are meaningful to your child, such as games, crafts, and building obstacle courses, we work to make gains towards goals while having fun! Occupational therapists help children develop these necessary physical, cognitive, and sensory skills so they can perform daily tasks more with more confidence and independence.

Feeding Therapy

Children often have many reasons why they have difficulty with feeding. Here at Vital we take a holistic approach by taking your families unique needs. Vital feeding therapist considers your entire family, including your culture, routines, and priorities as we develop a custom approach to mealtime and feeding.

At Vital our feeding therapist take a sensory, oral motor and play-based approach to feeding that alleviates children’s anxiety surrounding foods while building strong foundational skills for success.

Eating and oral motor skills are very closely linked. Feeding therapy can be done by both an Occupational Therapist or a Speech and Language Pathologist. Most often feeding teams consist of both! However, if your child has difficulties with coordinating suck-swallow-breathing, chocking or trouble swallowing an evaluation with a Speech Language pathologist will be required to ensure a comprehensive and safe approach to feeding therapy is taken.

What is Feeding Therapy?

Feeding and the act of eating is a developmental skill. From birth, children learn to develop emotions and routines surrounding mealtime. Some of the first bonds a child makes with their parent are during feeding. As children grow and begin to explore their world, they develop more meaningful and complex relationships with foods. During this phase, children begin to explore foods with their sensory systems (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound). Food begins to play a significant role in their daily habits and routines. When a child has underlying sensory processing difficulties, visual or fine motor challenges, this relationship with food and mealtimes can become disrupted. They may begin to avoid foods, become upset or present with behavioral challenges during mealtime, and new patterns regarding foods can emerge. Feeding Therapy is an approach that helps to identify these challenging patterns or underlying sensory processing difficulties and help to remediate them making eating a positive and enjoyable experience.

Does My Child Need Feeding Therapy? (sensory based)

The following are some signs your child might benefit from feeding therapy:

• “Picky Eater”, resistant to trying new foods.
• Gagging or vomiting with foods present or during meals (not while eating).
• Limited diet.
• Developmental history of feeding challenges (bottle/breastfed, purees to solids).
• Nutritional Challenges.
• Failure to Thrive (FTT) or below growth curve.
• Behaviors or emotions (anxiety, meltdowns) surrounding mealtime.
• Doesn’t ask for food; not hungry often.
• Craves certain foods/tastes/textures. Chooses these above all other foods/snacks.
• Excessive drooling.
• Pockets food or overstuffs while eating.
• Difficulty identifying tastes/smells.
• Overly concerned with how food “looks”.
• Gagging or difficulty with tooth brushing.
• Mouthing of non-food objects and other oral motor seeking behaviors. (oral motor based)
• Swallowing challenges including choking, or coughing when eating or drinking.
• Dietary restrictions based on the thickness of liquids (i.e. can only eat purees or semi-solid foods).
• Young children who cannot synchronize suck-swallow-breath during bottle or breast feeding.
• Children with a G-tube, N-G-Tube or other feeding tube who have not had prior exposure to feeding therapy or food eaten by mouth.

How can Feeding Therapy Help?

Feeding is complex! Our VITAL feeding therapists use a comprehensive approach that specifically targets each client’s specific needs. If your family needs a sensory-based approach to decrease anxiety around mealtimes or if improvement of oral motor skills can make feeding safe and enjoyable, our skilled therapists have a variety of interventions to guide your family to happy, safe mealtimes. If you feel your child may benefit from feeding therapy or have any questions regarding our oral motor and feeding therapy approaches, please call the office!