Occupational Therapy

Gross and Fine Motor Movement

Gross motor skills involve use of the large muscles of the body for major movements such as rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, walking, climbing and jumping. These major muscle groups are also used to perform functional activities such as dressing and undressing, as well as maintaining a sitting position on the floor or on a chair. Children’s gross motor skills develop first and form an important foundation for the effective development of fine motor skills.

Fine motor skills relate to use of the muscles in the forearms and the smaller muscles of the hands for tasks such as tying a shoe, undoing a button, using cutlery and writing.

TLC-WA’s qualified Occupational Therapists diagnose and work with babies and children struggling with a variety of gross and fine motor skill development difficulties, including children with disabilities. Our therapies are tailored to the needs of each child and are designed to build strength, balance, agility and skill in a way that is nurturing and enjoyable for clients and their families.

Handwriting

Handwriting is a highly important fine motor skill that many children can find challenging. Ongoing difficulties with handwriting can seriously impact literacy and negatively affect a child’s performance at school as well as their overall confidence.

TLC’s Occupational Therapists can assess the development of all aspects of your child’s handwriting, identifying the primary reasons for the difficulties they are experiencing. Our therapies are structured around each individual child’s interests and attributes and are designed to be enjoyable as well as functional. Skills are developed in the areas of strength, dexterity, pencil control, letter memory and formations as well as placement of letters on lines, sizing of letters and spacing between words for legibility.

Independent Living Skills

Independent Living Skills can include anything from playing, dressing, grooming, feeding and washing to money skills, time skills, domestic skills, community access and independent living in general.

TLC-WA’s Occupational Therapists have extensive experience working with a vast array of clients from children struggling with early self-care skills through to older kids and adults with disabilities aspiring to achieve greater independence.

Regardless of their individual circumstances, the aim of TLC-WA’s Occupational Therapy is to empower each client to realise their full potential. We work closely with clients and their families to understand the unique challenges they face and which goals are most important to them. We carefully assess each client, addressing both their skills and challenges and design tailored therapies which may include direct instruction, supporting sequences and the trial and use of specialist equipment, as required.

Feeding

Any parent can attest to often frustrating process of encouraging children to eat healthy foods. Whilst most children will exhibit unwillingness to try certain foods at some stage in their life, for many families, meal time represents an ongoing battle of wills that results in significant upset for all involved.

TLC-WA’s Occupational Therapists have considerable expertise working with children and supporting families dealing with feeding challenges. From the ‘fussy’ eater to the ‘problem’ eater, we are able to assess and address the sensory and oral motor aspects of food and eating and providing strategies to gradually increase a child’s tolerance and trial of new foods and textures.

Memory

Memory, that is remembering characteristics, sequences and actions, is a vital component of all functional motor and cognitive tasks. We have many types of memory skills that work together to help us function, including short-term, long-term and working-memory, as well as more specific visual, auditory and motor memory.

Memory difficulties can affect all areas of a child’s life including their performance at school, social activities and ability to perform basic daily tasks at home. TLC-WA’s Occupational Therapists have extensive experience in supporting the development and enhancement of key memory skills through the use of play based activities and specific memory strategies.

Attention

Maintaining attention and focus can be challenging for many children, particularly in busy environments such as at school, home and out in the community. Being able to maintain concentration is an important and necessary skill required for effective learning as well as for safety, social interaction and self-care.

TLC-WA’s experienced Occupational Therapists can assess your child to determine the primary reasons behind their inability to maintain concentration. They can then develop tailored interventions to support the development of attention and focus through addressing related sensory challenges and motor skill issues as well as providing tools for enhancing attention in specific environments.

Sensory Processing

Sensory Processing relates to the multiple sensory systems we rely upon to constantly absorb and interpret information, both from our bodies themselves and from our environments. Together with our brains, these systems process information to help us make sense of our bodies and our environments.

For some children, processing part, or all, of this sensory-based information can be challenging, resulting in the child reacting differently to the world around them than adults or other children without Sensory Processing difficulties. TLC-WA’s caring Occupational Therapists assess and support children experiencing Sensory Processing difficulties in a nurturing and non-threatening environment. Children are gradually supported to be able to tolerate a greater range of sensory input and experiences through direct intervention to specific sensory systems. In addition, cognitive strategies are tailored to each child, developing their abilities to positively react to their specific environments. These strategies include evidence based cognitive approaches such as ‘The Alert Program for Self-Regulation’ and ‘The Zones of Regulation’.