Pediatric occupational therapy is designed to help infants and children improve independence with daily activities, such as feeding, dressing, playing, and learning skills by improving their motor, sensory, behavioral, and cognitive capabilities.
Activities may include but are not limited to:
- Fine motor skills and hand function
- Sensory Integration
- Visual motor Integration
- Balance and posture control
- Strengthening and coordination
- Self-help skills
Our pediatric occupational therapy program provides services to children with a wide range of diagnoses, including, but not limited, to the following:
- Prematurity
- Developmental delay
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Cerebral palsy
- Genetic syndromes
- Traumatic Injuries
- Cancer & blood-related diagnoses
- Sports injures
- Musculoskeletal disorders
- Neurological injuries
- Intellectual disability
- Sensory processing disorder (SPD)
When to refer
A child might benefit from an occupational therapy evaluation and/or ongoing treatment if they experience the following:
- Delayed milestones
- Poor fine motor skills (difficulty holding a pencil and cutting with scissors for age)
- Limited independence with self-care skills
- Decreased hand-eye coordination
- Experiencing difficulties in school with visual-motor or visual-perceptual activities, such as copying from the board or completing assignments accurately
- High or low muscle tone (hyper- or hypotonia)
- Weakness in the arms or trunk
- Tight or stiff muscles
- Clumsiness/difficulty coordinating the use of both hands together and/or poor endurance with fine motor tasks
- Trouble "keeping up" with the activities of same-aged children
Sensory processing and regulation difficulties, such as:
- Over or under-reactivity to touch, sounds, movement in environment compared to peers
- Difficulty with attention and/or energy level
- Difficulty with transitions between tasks or accepting change in the environment or routine
Our locations
Distance from Change locationEnter your location
MedStar Health: Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
3800 Reservoir Road NW Pasquerilla Healthcare Center (PHC), 3rd Floor Washington, D.C., 20007