Home
About Us
Pediatric Occupational Therapy
Services
Sensory Integration
Therapeutic
Listening
Astronaut
Program
Fine Motor Milestones
Frequently Asked
Questions
|
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Sensory Integration?
- How do I know if my child has a sensory integration disorder?
- What are some signs that my child may have a problem with sensory integration?
- How Does Occupational Therapy help?
- What is Therapeutic Listening?
- My child's teacher told me that my child might benefit from occupational therapy. What is it?
- What should I do if I suspect that my child has this difficulty?
- What are ocular motor skills and how do occupational therapists address it?
- What is body awareness?
- What is the vestibular system?
- What is proprioception?
- What is sensory defensiveness?
- How is therapy at Capital Kids Occupational Therapy different from what my child may receive in school?
- Who will pay for therapy?
1. What is Sensory Integration?
[Back to Top]
Sensory integration is the ability to take in information through the senses of touch, movement, smell, taste, vision, and hearing, and to combine the resulting perceptions with prior information, memories, and knowledge already stored in the brain, in order to derive coherent meaning from processing the stimuli.
2. How do I know if my child has a sensory integration disorder?
[Back to Top]
An efficient organization of sensory information provides the foundation for the development of functional skills, there can be many potential outcomes that might cause a parent concern.
A disruption in sensory processing can result in sensory defensiveness (sensory seeking or sensory avoiding behaviors), problems in self-regulation (activity levels too high or too low, not matched for the task at hand), and difficulties with praxis (the ability to conceive, organize and execute skills of all kinds). Disruptions in processing sensory information can interfere with self-care skills, language skills, motor skills, academic skills, and social/emotional skills.
3. What are some signs that my child may have a problem with sensory integration?
[Back to Top]
Some signs & symptoms of a possible motor or sensory challenge:
- Overly sensitive to touch, movement, sights, or sounds.
- Under-reactive to sensory stimulation.
- Activity level that is unusually high or unusually low.
- Takes a long time to learn a new task/skill.
- Seems clumsy, has too many accidents.
- Not keeping up with peers.
- Presents as a behavior problem at school.
- Has trouble with handwriting.
- Demonstrates unpredictable behavior in social situations, especially new or highly stimulating ones.
- Acts restless/fussy when held.
- Displays short attention span.
- Seems overly dependent on routine or schedules and/or easily upset with minor changes.
- Acts impulsively or explosively.
- Angers easily or frequently accused of fighting, acting out or "bullying" others.
- Appears overly colicky or fussy.
- Exhibits "picky" eating behavior.
- Difficulty with writing, self-dressing (buttons, zippers, snaps), use of utensils, and other hand skills.
- Trouble chewing, sucking, blowing, and/or making certain speech sounds.
4. How Does Occupational Therapy help?
[Back to Top]
- Our occupational therapists can help children
- Decrease developmental delays.
- Improve writing and drawing skills.
- Improve oral-motor strength.
- Improve oral-motor strength.
- Decrease oral-motor (structural) tightness.
- Improve overall strength.
- Improve overall coordination.
- Improve visual perceptual skills.
- Improve grasp and fine motor skills.
- Improve self-dressing, feeding, and grooming skills.
- Assist with increasing overall internal organization, focus, and attention.
- Improve sensory motor processing abilities
- Desensitize
children to their difficulties and instill confidence, trust, and
self-esteem!
5. What is Therapeutic Listening?
[Back to Top]
Therapeutic Listening® is an evidence-backed protocol that combines a sound-based intervention with sensory integrative activities to create a comprehensive program that is effective for diverse populations with sensory challenges. Therapeutic Listening can impact sensory modulation, attention, behavior, postural organization, and speech and language difficulties. Trained therapists learn to use modulated CDs to set up programs for clients in homes, schools and clinics. Listening is a function of the entire brain; when we listen, we listen with the whole body.
6. My child's teacher told me that my child might benefit from occupational therapy. What is it?
[Back to Top]
Occupational Therapists who specialize in pediatrics are trained to create opportunities for children to master developmental tasks and achieve independence in their home, school, and community. A few reasons for referral for evaluation and treatment include clumsiness, over sensitive to sound or touch, difficulty with grasp or motor skills, difficulty with visual perceptual skills, upper body weakness and difficulty playing or socializing effectively. Direct service or consultation may be provided by your school's therapist if your child's difficulties directly interfere with education. Private occupational therapists, often covered by insurance companies, focus on a greater variety of intensive treatment interventions.
7. What should I do if I suspect that my child has this difficulty?
[Back to Top]
If a child is suspected of having a sensory integrative disorder, fine motor coordination disorder, visual perceptual disorder, ocular motor disorder or upper body strength/ motor planning disorder an evaluation is in order. An evaluation usually consists of standardized testing (when possible), a structured observation of play and responses to sensory input, and an interview with the parent or adult. If intervention is recommended it can be intensive (more than once a week), weekly, or consultative.
8. What are ocular motor skills and how do occupational therapists address it?
[Back to Top]
Ocular motor skills refer to how the eyes work together to provide us with one single image. This includes the skills of eye teaming – the ability of our eyes to move in and outward as we look close to read or further away toward the front of the classroom and eye movements of saccades and pursuits which refers to smooth coordinated movements necessary to find objects in our environment and for reading. These skills are separate from visual acuity which is the ability of our eyes to see clear images.The occupational therapists at Capital Kids Occupational Therapy, LLC have had specialized training in ocular motor skills. We are not vision therapists or behavioral optometrists, but we often work under the direction of behavioral optometrists. Occupational therapists are not skilled in the use of lenses or other specialized optometric tools. Occupational therapists are trained in visual motor therapy and techniques.
9. What is body awareness?
[Back to Top]
There is an internal body "map" each of us has that allows us to know where we are, what position we are in, and how we are moving at any given moment. The body map allows us to move without relying on our visual system to guide each movement. The body map is created over time as we develop from infancy throughout childhood, via repeated accurate sensory inputs produced from our motion through space. Inaccurate sensory perceptions do not allow for the creation of accurate body maps. Children with inaccurate body maps typically rely heavily on their visual systems and have significant difficulty with many aspects of motor skill.
10. What is the vestibular system?
[Back to Top]
This sense allows us to maintain our balance and upright posture. It is also closely involved with the visual system, allowing us to judge our motion in relation to the objects around us. This can sometimes play tricks on us (sitting in one of those movies where you feel like you are moving when you aren't). This sense allows us to feel secure with gravity and is a way of knowing where we are in relation to gravity (i.e.. if we are upside-down or sideways).
11. What is proprioception?
[Back to Top]
This is the sense that allows us to know what position our body parts are in. For example, without looking at them, you can tell if your elbows or knees are bent or straight. This sense also tells us about the force of our movements. So if we see a cup and want to reach for it, we can judge how much force and speed we are reaching with so we can accurately get our hand to the cup without knocking it over or missing it. We can also tell how hard we need to hold on to lift the cup without squashing it or dropping it. It is primarily proprioception you are using when you walk a familiar flight of stairs in the dark and know exactly where to place your feet and how high the steps are by the feel of the movement of your legs. This sense is extremely important for body awareness and coordinated movements.
12. What is sensory defensiveness?
[Back to Top]
Sensory defensiveness is a term coined by some OT's to describe a group of oversensitivities to touch, vision, auditory, movement and smell sensations. Sensory defensiveness is just oversensitivity to certain input. With the term defensiveness, a range of behaviors is implied. These behaviors are the things we can observe that indicate that a sensory input is aversive.
13. How is therapy at Capital Kids Occupational
Therapy different from what my child may receive in school?
[Back to Top]
School based services often for a shorter duration (30 minutes per week) and focus on the child’s ability to function in the school setting. Services tend to focus primarily on written output and less on sensory processing. Clinic based occupational therapy focuses on the “whole child” and how they function in school, home and the community. The clinic offers state of the art technology that may not be available in the school setting. The treatment plan and treatment sessions are often more comprehensive and intense than school based
services.
14. Who will pay for therapy?
[Back to Top]
Most insurance companies will pay for "medically necessary" therapy. Otherwise the family will assume financial responsibility. Our experience with this process is that the insurance company will cover the cost of the evaluation, and then determine funding the services from the results of the evaluation.
When you contact the office for an evaluation, how to proceed with your insurance coverage will be explained.
|
|
