Occupational Therapy, also known as OT, can be a confusing term. To put it simply Occupational Therapy helps people of all ages who have physical, sensory, cognitive, emotional, and/or social challenges. An OT’s goal is to help the person overcome and/or work with these challenges so that they can successfully engage in meaningful everyday activities. I can help you understand what pediatric occupational therapy looks like in different settings (the home, in school, or a private outpatient clinic) and how therapy can help serve your child.

Sensory Processing refers to the way the body interprets and responds to information received from the eight sensory systems. Sensory Processing Disorder exists when a person’s nervous system is unable to appropriately interpret and respond to a particular kind of sensory input. Since most of the activities in life require the use of multiple sensory systems at one time, our body is constantly managing sensory messages. When these messages become disorganized it can impact a person's behavior, emotion, attention, and cognitive skills.

Understanding what sensory processing is and how it relates to your child’s ability to develop and function successfully in a variety of settings is essential information to have when supporting and advocating for your child. Together we can investigate how your child’s sensory processing may be impacting them and come up with solutions!

Believe it or not, we have eight sensory systems as opposed to the five that are most recognized: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. It is easy to recognize these senses because they are connected to an external organ - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. However, we have three hidden senses that are essential to our everyday functioning. These include our:

• Vestibular System: This gives our bodies awareness of speed (fast, slow), direction of movement (climbing vs falling, forward vs backwards), and our bodies orientation within the world around us (right side up vs upside down, our body moving vs something around us moving).

• Proprioceptive System: This gives our body awareness of feedback and pressure on our joints and muscles, which helps us create a map of our body to use when moving through different environments.

• Interocpetion System: This gives our body awareness of feedback from our internal organs. For example, this sensory system tells us when we have to go to the bathroom, when we are thirsty or hungry, if we need to adjust our temperature, whether we are tired or alert, and if we are experiencing pain. This sensory system also gives us clues about our state of regulation and what emotion we are feeling.

These three senses, as well as touch, are essential to our bodies ability to emotionally regulate, and each of these senses can be thought of when creating specific regulation plans for your child.

Each person has a unique nervous system that processes input from the world in their own way. A sensory profile refers to a map of how a person's nervous system processes sensory input from their eight sensory systems, and how their ability to organize this input impacts them behaviorally and functionally. Our current knowledge suggests that there are six subtypes of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). SPD may occur in each sensory system, and symptoms may vary depending on the subtype.

Together we can develop a deeper understanding of your child’s Sensory Profile and discuss how this may be impacting what is challenging for them. If we can understand why they are challenged in a particular way, then we can develop strategies to support them in finding more success and regulation in their life!

Regulation is something that we are always working on whether we are aware of it or not. Self-regulation is a lifelong practice that is best done when we have access to personal tools and strategies that work for our bodies. Most of us are not supported in learning how to regulate our bodies, so this is something we have to learn as we get older.

There are several programs that can aid in creating a common language to use when helping your child learn to reflect on their state of regulation, and when helping them to use tools to self-regulate. Some programs that you may be familiar with are The Alert Program, Zones of Regulation, and The Incredible 5 Point Scale. Together we can create something personal to you that meets your child’s needs!

Together we can create action plans and strategies that help you support your child. Here are a few topics we could address:

• Transitions

• Self-care routines

• Completing daily schedules

• Increasing body awareness

• Building self-regulation skills

• Implementing self-regulation strategies

• Finding success in school

• Fostering a healthy self esteem