Play 2 Learn 4 Life

Occupational Therapy for Children

Occupational Therapy (OT) focuses on the activities or work that occupies a person's life. Since play is the work of children, it is through play-based activities that children learn the life skills they require. It is important to focus on making learning these skills meaningful and functional while being creative and fun.

This includes learning:

- Play: social, recreation & leisure interests (games, ball skills, riding a bike)
- Learn: school-readiness (fine motor skills: grasp, drawing, printing, cutting)
- Life: independence in self-care skills (dressing, washing, feeding, sleeping)
- Self-regulation: using our senses to be at a 'just right' level of alertness to pay attention and have fun (in the green zone)

Our practice focuses on the value that families come first, and that in order for therapy to be effective, it has to work within the family framework. We offer therapy at our private clinic, during home visits, and/or through consultations with schools, daycares, and other organizations.

Paediatric OTs often work with children with disabilities and/or developmental delays. We specialize in working with families and their children with:

- Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
- Developmental Disabilities (i.e CP, Down's Syndrome)
- Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD)
- Learning Disabilities
- Brain Injuries (ABI)
- Mental Health issues (i.e. anxiety)
- Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD)

Therapy begins with a thorough assessment of your child's skills and your family's goals. A therapy plan is generated which may recommend direct therapy or consultation as necessary. A report is written to share these goals with other service providers. Every six months reassessments monitor progress and update goals.

Speech-Language Therapy

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) use play-based activities to teach children how to improve their functioning with:

- Communication: sign-language, pictures (PECS), or assistive technology
- Speech: improve articulation, pronunciation and vocal output
- Social skills: how to have a conversation and make positive friendship
- Social thinking: how to be flexible and understand other perspectives

Paediatric SLPs assist children with language and communication delays including children with:

- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Dyspraxia
- Aphasia
- Selective Mutism
- Developmental Disorders (CP, Down's Syndrome)
- Brain injury (ABI)

Behaviour Consultation

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) work with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other developmental disorders to assist with their learning of new skills. They can:

assess, develop, and oversee a Behaviour Plan of Intervention for families & home team
use Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to teach and measure/track progress
use Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) strategies to resolve issues with problem behaviours
supervise a team of Behaviour Interventionists (BIs) and collaborate with team members
attend school meetings to help advocate for services in the classroom.

Therapy Assistant

If your child would benefit from more sessions, then we have a trained Therapy Assistant who can continue to work with your child on OT/SLP/BC goals throughout the week. This can be really helpful for more intensive programs and is a cost effective way of increasing your therapy hours. For those with government funding, we can bill the therapy assistant through the Autism Funding Unit (AFU) as a Behaviour Interventionist (BI) or the At Home Program (AHP) as a Rehab Assistant.