• 7800 Shoal Creek Blvd, Suite 110W, Austin, TX 78757
  • 512-610-1190
  • info@ACSkids.com
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Service Tag: Support

Home Service Tag: Support

Occupational Therapy

A child’s “occupation” can be defined as the daily activities they are expected to participate in; this usually includes playing, socializing with other children and adults, eating, completing schoolwork, staying calm, attending, accomplishing daily hygiene tasks and many other tasks that may be challenging. Occupational therapists work alongside the kids to build up skills that will be used to help them succeed later in life, including fine and gross motor skills, self-care independence, play, regulation, and social skills.

Occupational Therapy helps to develop the underlying skills necessary for learning and performing specific tasks, as well as social and behavior skills. It also helps teach children self-help skills needed for dressing and feeding and can provide special equipment and assistive devices to help a child function as independently as possible.

Occupational Therapists look at children from a holistic perspective. They strive to determine where delays or limitations are coming from, especially in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, cognitive skills, social development, emotional regulation, executive functioning, and self-care. Together, these skills lead to children being able to grow into healthy, well-functioning adults. By gaining these skills early on in life, your child will be able to develop the confidence and independence to keep up with their peers and fully engage in the activities they are involved in. 

Children don’t like to just sit in therapy, so occupational therapists strive to make therapy sessions feel like play. By participating in motivating activities such as games, crafts, and building obstacle courses, children are developing skills while having fun! Occupational therapists help children develop these necessary physical, cognitive, regulation, and sensory skills so they can perform daily tasks more independently. Therapy can also help kids learn how to respond to a sensory rich world when playing with friends, learning, eating, or simply enjoying life.

  • Social Thinking®
  • Zones of Regulation®
  • Sensation, Task, Environment, Predictability, Self-Monitoring, and Interactions (STEP-SI)
  • Therapeutic Listening
  • SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Feeding approach
  • Astronaut Training
  • Executive functioning strategies and programs from a variety of sources including Sarah Ward, MS, CCC-SLP from Cognitive Connections, Seth Perler, Dr. Russell Barkley, and many more.
  • Specialized training in ADHD and anxiety
  • Handwriting without Tears
  • Experience with DIR Floortime approach
  • Intentional Relationship Model

Feeding Therapy/Picky Eaters

If your child only eats certain foods or dislikes trying new foods he/she may be considered a picky eater.   Sensory sensitive children may be hypersensitive to the way food looks, smells, feels, or sounds which can limit their overall diet and nutrition.  

Eating is not just about chewing and swallowing food.   The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Feeding Therapy approach explains:

There are six major “Steps to Eating” – Eating does not begin at the mouth!

First, we must tolerate the physical presence or the look of the food. This might even include just being in the same room as the food. Then, perhaps, we can interact with the food without directly touching the food to your skin, maybe by using a kitchen utensil like a mini food chopper or a fork. Next, our body needs to process and manage the smell or odor of a food.  The play then expands to include touching the food with your fingers, hands, body, and mouth. Think about that baby first learning to eat! Tasting comes next, which might look like quickly poking the food with the tip of your tongue, or maybe putting the food in your mouth, and spitting it out. Finally, we are ready to practice chewing and swallowing. (Source: www.sosapproachtofeeding.com)