Do you ever wonder what occupational therapists work on with the pediatric population? Well if you do, you have come to the right place.
I think the majority of people have thought to themselves how wonderful it would be to go back to being a kid with no responsibilities. This is never more true than when life gets overwhelming. How fun would it be to go to the park with your friends and play tag, or pull out all the Legos and build anything you wanted? Those were the days when hopefully our biggest concern was what toy we wanted to play with.
Guess what? As an occupational therapist working with kids, I get to reminisce a little every day, as I join them in their world. How fun, right?!
The definition of play is to ‘engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation.’ Play is a child’s job and occupation. They use play to develop social skills, motor coordination, emotional maturity, and self-confidence, in order to participate in daily activities. As an occupational therapist, I utilize play to help children develop these skills. I can modify toys and activities to give a child the ‘just right challenge.’ I use games and craft activities to encourage fine motor, gross motor, visual motor, and social skills. Play can also be used to help develop self care skills such as dressing, hygiene, and feeding skills. As the child gets older play is adapted into activities they are interested in and that are more challenging to encourage growth and development.
I believe learning and therapy should be fun for a kid. You know the old saying “choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life,” this is the same for kids when developing and growing. That’s my goal as an occupational therapist here at Advance Therapy.