At M.O.T.A. we can provide support to address the needs of children, adolescents and adults. To Occupational Therapists, occupation is anything that occupies your time, so all services are tailored to what occupations are meaningful and important to your or your child’s life.
While we work with a diverse range of clients we do not require you to have a diagnosis, as the diagnosis does not define a person, rather we will assist to meet you where you are and work with you to develop a program that is affirming and strengths based. As knowing the diagnosis of clients with whom we have experience working with can help with decision making we can let you know that we have experience working with people living with diagnoses such as:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Attention Deficit Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders
- Developmental and psychosocial effects of trauma and prematurity
- Genetic conditions such as SMA, Q22.11 deletion, William’s syndrome, Retts syndrome, Fragile X, Muscular Dystrophy and Down syndrome
- Cerebral Palsy and Mitrochondrial disease
- Functional Neurological Disorder/Conversion Disorder
- Dyspraxia
- Dysgraphia and handwriting difficulties
- Emotional and Self Regulation challenges
- Developmental delay
- Acquired brain injury
- Intellectual disabilities
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Sensory Defensiveness
- Learning and executive functioning differences
10 signs a child may need an OT
They struggle to maintain their posture on a chair or the floor. Working against gravity looks like hard work – they may slump, use their other arm to hold up their arm when asking a question, they may appear weak, easily fatigued or have greater difficulty than their peers doing activities like climbing, jumping and sit ups.
They have difficulty with or avoid fine motor activities. They may have an awkward grasp on a pencil, have difficulty manipulating scissors, use too much or too little force when holding and manipulating objects, they may tire easily or swap hands during fine motor activities beyond an age appropriate range.
The child has great difficulty than others with self care tasks – getting dressed, manipulating fasteners like buttons or shoe laces, recognising their clothing is inside out, moving through the steps in activities like bathing or packing a bag or lunch box.
They might appear clumsy, run into things or people, fall over frequently or are often rough with equipment or other children, have a limited understanding of their own personal space.
They may have difficulty walking in line with other children, be irritated by the accidental touch of others in the playground or not tolerate being involved in messy play. They might cover their ears and become distressed by loud or unexpected sounds or they may constantly seek out sensory input, touching everything and making lots of noise. They may be easily distracted, have trouble focusing with background noise or following instructions when there is background noise.
They may have difficulty maintaining and shifting attention, seeming to be distracted by every movement and sound around them and then also have difficulty shifting their attention away from something that they are very focused on.
They may appear to always need to move, more so than their peers. They may constantly wiggle, change positions, or move around the house or classroom when they are working at a table or sitting on the floor. They may also have difficulty concentrating or seem more and more tired the less movement they get in an activity. They may also take excessive risks and frequently demonstrate decreased safety awareness.
They may have difficulty putting together a puzzle, may have difficulty finding something in a room, easily lose their place when reading, have to use their finger to follow when reading or have difficulty with the spatial aspect of writing or maths, for example keeping their letters aligned on a writing line, keeping their numbers in appropriate columns or putting appropriate spaces between letters and words – more so than their peers.
They may be more emotionally reactive than their peers, is easily upset, has difficulty calming down after they have been hurt or become upset, is explosive in their reactions to things that upset them, or have difficulty matching their energy level to the activity you are presenting in the classroom or at home.
They have difficulty working out how to start a new task, is very disorganized or takes longer to organise their materials than their peers and has difficulty working out how to proceed through a task, they may also struggle with tasks that require sequencing such as spelling or maths. They may avoid new activities, always choosing the same activity or toy or avoid playing on playground equipment independently.