Occupational Therapy
Assists children in achieving greater independence in all areas of everyday life, facilitating satisfying and productive living.
Ages
Birth to three
Occupational Therapy (OT) assists individuals in achieving greater independence in all areas of life. “Occupations” include any meaningful activity of an individual's everyday life. An OT's role is to assist people in performing these activities with the greatest extent of independence possible, which will facilitate satisfying and productive living.
One of the activities that Occupational Therapists can address to meet children's needs is working on fine motor skills so that kids can grasp and release toys and develop good handwriting skills. Occupational Therapists also address hand-eye coordination to improve play skills, such as hitting a target, batting a ball, or copying from a blackboard.
An Occupational Therapist can also help children with severe developmental delays learn basic tasks such as bathing, getting dressed, brushing their teeth and feeding themselves; help children with behavioral disorders learn anger-management techniques; teach children with physical disabilities the coordination skills required to feed themselves or use a computer; evaluate each child's needs for specialized equipment; and work with children who have sensory and attention issues to improve focus and social skills.
In the field
What a session actually looks like
Our clinicians work where children live and play — living room floors, kitchen tables, backyards and parks — with caregivers right there in the session.
Caseloads are built around real drive times, and every clinician is supported by an interdisciplinary team that shares strategies across disciplines.
Is your child experiencing any of the following?
- Poor fine motor skills
- Immature gross motor skills
- Decreased motor control
- Decreased eye hand coordination
- Overly sensitive to sensory input
- Under responsive to sensory input
- Touches people or objects constantly
- Crashes and/or bangs into people or objects
- Poor attention / difficulty sitting still
- Difficulty calming self
- Difficulty with sleeping
- Difficulty with eating and food choices
- Emotional reactivity
- Reactive to feel of clothing, baths, haircuts, nail cutting, or tooth brushing
- Limited play skills
- Poor social development
- Limited independence in self-care skills
- Difficulty transitioning or accepting change in environment or routine
This is the clinical work our occupational therapy team is trained to take on every day.
Our team
Clinicians who stay
Average employment retention at Every Child Achieves is over eight years. Our clinicians stay because the work is meaningful, the mentorship is real, and they are treated as professionals.
We are always looking for pediatric clinicians who love this age group as much as we do.
Our Occupational Therapy program offers services for:
- Adaptive equipment modifications
- Apraxia
- Attention skills
- Auditory processing difficulties
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Birth injuries / birth defects
- Cerebral palsy
- Child development
- Chronic illnesses
- Coordination and motor planning
- Feeding and oral motor difficulties
- Sensory processing differences
Explore
Our other services
Are you a pediatric clinician?
Every Child Achieves is hiring experienced pediatric clinicians across Southern California. Learn what it's like to work here, then send us your resume.