Pediatric occupational therapy (OT) helps children gain independence in their daily life while also strengthening the development of fine motor, sensory motor and visual motor skills that children need to function and socialize.

Aspen Center’s Pediatric Occupational Therapists can assist in:

• Sensory integration/processing
• Fine motor development (hand strength, cutting, griping, gluing)
• Prewriting and writing skills
• Activities of daily living (feeding, dressing, toileting)
• Core strength
• Sensory processing
• Body awareness
• Coordination and strengthening
• Executive functioning skills

Functional results may include:

• improving fine motor skills so they can grasp and release toys, open and close containers, use school materials and develop good handwriting skills
• addressing hand-eye coordination to improve kids’ play and school skills (hitting a target, batting a ball, copying from a blackboard, etc.)
• learning basic everyday tasks, such as brushing their teeth, bathing, getting dressed, and feeding themselves
• improving sensory processing and self regulation
• improving executive functioning and social skills to allow development of interpersonal relationships.
• maintaining positive behaviors in all environments

According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), in addition to dealing with a someone’s physical well-being, OT practitioners address psychological, social and environmental factors that can affect functioning in different ways. This approach makes OT a vital part of health care for some kids.

Aspen’s Occupational Therapists are currently accepting new clients.

Our occupational therapists are: Maggie Harrington, Mary Diehl, Joy Bretz, Kaylee Byrd and Amber Blanton.