What Do Pediatric OTs Help With?
May 8, 2025
What Do Pediatric OTs Help With?
What Do Pediatric Occupational Therapists (OTs) Help With?
Occupational therapists support children in developing the skills they need to participate in daily life. This includes skills for play, school, home life, socializing and beyond. Here’s what OTs commonly focus on:
1. Fine Motor Skills
Improving control and coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers for tasks like holding a pencil, using scissors, buttoning clothes, or feeding themselves.
Learnigo’s handwriting program is a great way to practice pre-handwriting skills like shapes, lines, and tracing.
2. Gross Motor Skills
Building strength, balance, and coordination for larger movements like climbing, jumping, throwing, or sitting upright in a chair.
Learnigo’s Visual Perception program works on critical visual perception abilities that can support gross motor skills.
3. Sensory Processing
Helping children manage and respond appropriately to sensory input (e.g., sound, touch, movement, taste, body awareness)—including kids who may seem overly sensitive or under-responsive to sensations.
Our Focus and Memory program provides opportunities to respond to visual and auditory stimuli, among other processing activities.
4. Self-Care Skills (Activities of Daily Living)
Supporting independence with dressing, grooming, toileting, eating, and hygiene routines (toothbrushing, toileting, etc.) at home and school.
We created Life Skills to support self-care skills for older students, including managing schedules, routines, and more.
5. Emotional Regulation & Coping Skills
Teaching strategies to help children recognize, express, and manage emotions, especially in stressful or overstimulating situations or environments.
Our Life Skills program provides real-life examples to practice emotional regulation and other strategies.
6. Attention & Executive Functioning
Helping kids stay focused, follow multi-step directions, plan tasks, and organize materials—skills that are critical for learning and independence.
Learnigo’s ADHD program was created to support children with ADHD and ADHD-like symptoms, from cognitive flexibility, planning, and more.
Our Focus and Memory program is also a great resource to target executive functioning skills such as working memory, visual and auditory perception, and selective attention.
7. Play & Social Participation
Using play as a tool to build peer interaction, problem-solving, turn-taking, and creativity—especially for children who struggle with engagement or flexibility in play.
Learnigo’s Speech in the Social Context is a helpful tool to support social skills and how to navigate social situations.
Consider reaching out to an Occupational Therapist if your child:
- Has trouble with using their hands for play or school tasks (e.g., coloring, writing, building with blocks)
- Struggles with dressing, feeding, or toileting independently
- Avoids or seeks out certain sensory experiences (e.g., loud sounds, messy textures, swinging, increased movement, etc.)
- Seems clumsy, falls often, or avoids physical activity
- Has difficulty with focus, following directions, or finishing tasks
- Gets overwhelmed or upset easily and has trouble calming down
- Has a diagnosis that may affect development (e.g., autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, sensory processing disorder, developmental delay, etc)
- Early intervention makes a big difference. Trust your instincts—if you’re concerned, it’s always appropriate to ask for an evaluation.
Early support builds strong foundations for independence and confidence. If you’re unsure, it’s always okay to ask for an OT evaluation from your pediatrician.
How Can Families Support Progress at Home?
- Embed skill-building into everyday routines (e.g., dressing, mealtimes, clean-up)
- Break tasks into small, manageable steps
- Offer choices to support independence and motivation
- Use visuals or checklists to support routines and transitions
- Encourage movement and play to build strength and coordination
- Allow time for your child to try things on their own—even if it’s messy or slow
- Praise effort, not just success
- Stay in touch with your OT for tips, strategies, and personalized goals
- Ask your OT for the “top 3 things” to practice at home to carry over skills
You are your child’s most important teacher and advocate. When families and therapists work together, kids build skills that last a lifetime.
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