Pediatric Occupational Therapy

Lurie Children’s offers a comprehensive, evidence based occupational therapy with a vibrant family centered- approach.

Occupational therapy intervention uses everyday life activities (occupations) to promote health, well-being, and your ability to participate in the important activities in your life. Everyone has occupations, including children, who are developing the important skills of self-care, social engagement, and play. 

Occupational therapy breaks down tasks to figure out which skills may be difficult for the child and then address them in ways that are meaningful to the child and, when needed, will recommend modifications in the child’s environment to foster greater participation. 

An occupational therapist will evaluate your child and with input from you (and appropriate additional family members and /or care providers), create individualized goals that allow you to resume or pursue the child’s preferred and valued occupations. After you develop a plan with your occupational therapist, you will work together on exercises and strategies to help improve their ability to perform daily activities and reach their goals.

Our skilled and versatile occupational therapy team specializes in the evaluation and treatment of children from premature babies to teenagers with health challenges in the following areas: 

• Self care skills: which include dressing, grooming, and feeding
• Upper extremity skills including range of motion, strength and coordination
• State control: the ability to attend to and interact with caregivers and environment
• Fine motor skills: small muscle movements of the hand and fingers 
• Motor planning: ability to plan and complete an unfamiliar or complicated motor task or novel motor experience in a coordinated fashion
• Bilateral coordination: coordination of both sides of the body for a purposeful action
• Sensorimotor skills: incorporating information received from body senses and the environment to carry out appropriate movement or behavior responses required for functional living skills, engagement in play and learning 
• Social engagement and play: Play is a way for children to learn about the world and provides an important context to teach social skills. Engagement is the connection of a child with people and or other objects/toys. When children engage, they spend more time connected with others and are learning about the world around them.
• Visual motor skills: the ability of the eyes to direct the hands to successfully perform activities.

Desired Outcomes for Our Patients

We strive to help our patients achieve the best outcomes possible, including:

Improved

• Participation and independence in self-care activities
• Range of motion, strength and coordination of the upper body 
• Participation with parents, family members, and caregivers for daily routines 
• Interactions and engagement in play and learning activities at home and in the community 
• Ability to engage in age appropriate play
• Tolerance of sensory inputs, including tastes, smells, textures, movement, and sounds