What is Occupational Therapy?

Occupational therapy (OT) is a healthcare profession that focuses on helping individuals of all ages improve their ability to engage in meaningful and purposeful activities, or 'occupations,' that are essential for daily life. These activities include self-care, work, leisure, play, learning, and social participation, with the goal of enhancing well-being by addressing physical, cognitive, emotional, and social factors.

What kind of training do Occupational Therapists have?

Occupational Therapists (OTs) undergo extensive training in areas such as neuroplasticity, functional anatomy, and developmental progressions. To become an OT, a person must earn a Bachelor's degree followed by a Master's degree from an accredited program, which includes supervised practice. OTs must also engage in continuing education to maintain their certification.

What are OTs looking for to determine how to support a child who has developmental differences?

Occupational therapists assess a child's sensory, affective, and motor developmental skills, including sensory integration, postural stability, social-emotional skills, and executive functioning. By understanding these needs, OTs create holistic treatment plans to help children develop the skills needed to participate in daily activities and build healthy relationships.

I watched my child in their therapy session and it looked like they were playing. What happens during an Occupational Therapy Session?

During an occupational therapy session, the OT provides a 'just right challenge' to help children grow and develop through therapeutic play. This approach encourages adaptive responses, builds positive self-esteem, enhances social engagement, and supports the skills needed for daily living.

Occupational Therapy

occupational therapist helping a boy roll a toy towards toys for bowling

small hand within larger holding a heart

Pediatric Occupational Therapy

At DFX, we ground our Occupational Therapy program in the belief that children should be met where they are and supported to make progress in a way that matches their strengths and needs. This ‘Therapy that fits’ philosophy is woven across the services we provide within our OT program including assessments, treatment, wrap-around services, consultations, and community collaborations.

How Therapy Unfolds at DFX

Top Quality Therapy Equipment

We pride ourselves on having one of the best-equipped therapy spaces in the region, incorporating a range of resources including high-suspension ropes for enhanced vestibular input, dozens of options for swings, varied height surfaces, soft, safe, and cozy spaces to crash, a trampoline, ramps, and a ball pit. We have several sensory gyms and outdoor therapy spaces that can be modified to match then expand a child’s abilities, and these spaces can be shared with other clients or reserved for a single client’s use as appropriate to treatment goals.

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infographic showing how ot can affect child development including interoception, proprioception, and body awareness

Occupational therapy (OT) is a healthcare profession that focuses on supporting individuals of all ages to engage in meaningful and purposeful activities. These activities are also known as "occupations" and for children, these can include play, school, social, and activities of daily living (ADLs). Occupations support an individual's role as a sibling, friend, student, self-maintainer (feeding, dressing, toileting and hygiene activities) and family member.

The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable individuals to participate in the activities of everyday life by addressing physical (sensory & motor), cognitive, emotional, and social factors that impact participation in these activities.
A Master’s degree is the minimum educational requirement for becoming an Occupational Therapist (OT). Some therapists may also have a doctorate, and all OTs must complete supervised practice hours as a student. After graduating and passing a board certification exam, OTs are required to participate in continuing education to maintain a valid license. OTs are extensively trained in activity and environmental analysis as well as in reading cues signaling the state of the child’s nervous system. OTs are also educated in neuroscience, functional anatomy, and developmental progressions.
Occupational therapists are experts in determining a child’s underlying skills and needs by looking at their sensory, affective, and motor developmental skills including sensory integration, postural stability, social-emotional skills, and executive functioning. By understanding the child’s underlying needs, an OT can support each child in a holistic way, creating a treatment plan to help them develop skills needed to participate fully in their daily activities and relate to others appropriately.
Occupational therapy intervention is highly individualized, evidence-based, and informed by a variety of philosophies and techniques. These techniques can include Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI), DIR/Floortime, Sequential Oral Sensory Approach to Feeding (SOS), Polyvagal Theory, and others. During an occupational therapy session, the OT can utilize these techniques to achieve a fun, enjoyable, and play based activity, one that also provokes change - what we call a “just right challenge”.
Play can be a powerful tool as it allows a safe space for the brain to fluidly integrate change. Playing can also assist children in learning about their bodies and environments to more effectively manage them and fully understand how to navigate any opportunity in their lives, for example, social, emotional and body based. Occupational therapists integrate child-led playful interactions and meaningful occupations into sessions. Activities in each session are also aimed to create an ‘adaptive response’, a growth point in the goals of the client, to work toward skill growth and development. OTs support a child to respond to environmental demands, fuel positive self-esteem, increase comfort with social engagement, support playfulness, and achieve success in their skills of daily living.

Occupational Therapy FAQs

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The Goal of OT

The primary goal of occupational therapy (OT) is to enable individuals to participate in meaningful activities of everyday living. Occupational therapists use occupations (activities that occupy our time) both as a therapeutic tool and a goal of therapy. For children, the occupations that we assist them in navigating include their roles as child, sibling, student, player, or self-maintainer (feeding, dressing, toileting, and hygiene activities). The goal of pediatric occupational therapy is to build a child’s capacity to participate in their occupations and increase their abilities to perform them independently.

Our occupational therapy intervention is highly individualized, evidence-based, and informed by a variety of philosophies and techniques including: