Pediatric Occupational Therapy Services
We work with babies, toddlers, children, and adolescents
Occupational therapy (OT) helps children acquire or reacquire the skills needed to perform the activities or “occupations” of daily life. A child’s primary occupation is play. Additional occupations include developmentally appropriate activities such as sitting, stacking blocks, eating a snack, getting dressed, and drawing a picture. Occupational therapists use their background in anatomy and physiology, neurology, psychology, sensory and motor development to determine the underlying difficulties impacting success and independence with activities.
Orange Pediatric Therapy occupational therapists help children develop the necessary skills for the job of living through play. Our therapists focus on creating the ‘just right challenge’ by following the child’s lead to achieve an adaptive response (targeted skill), building a strong foundation for further development. We include parents/guardians in everything including evaluation, treatment planning, and working with their child for optimal outcomes.
Areas Addressed by our Occupational Therapists
Click on any of the conditions below for more information about how our team of therapists at Orange Pediatric Therapy can help your child. Don’t see the condition you’re looking for? Contact us to learn more.
The ability to use both sides of the body at the same time. This impacts activities such as cutting while stabilizing the paper, manipulating clothing fasteners, and opening a container.
The interplay between visual skills, visual perceptual skills and motor skills such as coloring, cutting, and writing.
Processing and interpreting meaning from the visual information that we gain through our eyesight. Visual perception plays an important role in handwriting, mathematics, and reading.
The development of the torso muscles that stabilize, align, and move the trunk of the body. Decreased core strength can cause poor posture impacting fine motor skill development.
Underlying skills necessary for most childhood occupations such as self-feeding, getting dressed, catching a ball, and handwriting.
How a child processes what he/she sees, hears, feels, tastes, etc. and appropriately responds.
The ability to plan and sequence appropriate movements to meet the demands of a novel task. To achieve this, the brain relies on the sensory system and body awareness.
A complex skill that incorporates visual perceptual skills, visual motor skills, bilateral coordination, motor planning, hand strength, core strength and sensory processing skills.
Addressing the underlying skills that may impact independence in this area such as attention, hand strength, dexterity, visual motor skills, sensory processing and motor planning.
Skills such as organization, sequencing, initiation, and attention.
Evaluating a child’s need for specialized equipment such as feeding utensils, splints, bathing equipment, dressing devices, etc.
How do I know if my child needs therapy?
- They avoid fine motor tasks or experience difficulty and frustration when completing them.
- They have difficulty with learning novel tasks such as navigating playground equipment or playing with toys
- They are overly bothered by sensory input such as touch, texture, taste, sound, and movement.
- They demonstrate decreased reactions/limited awareness or seek out excessive touch, sound, taste, and movement experiences
- They have difficulty with handwriting related to visual or motor ability
- They have trouble learning how to use eating utensils
- They consume an extremely limited diet or demonstrate several food aversions
- They have trouble getting clothes and shoes on/off
- They have difficulty sustaining attention to age-appropriate tasks
What Clients Are Saying
My son has greatly benefited from OT and PT at Cheshire Fitness Zone. The therapists are so patient and knowledgeable. The facility is also very impressive and fun. We look forward to seeing our son progress as we continue therapy.
Both of our sons have participated in physical, occupational, and speech therapy at Cheshire Fitness Zone. We make the forty minute trek to Cheshire three times per week because the therapists are like none other we have encountered. Our sons (4 and 5 years old) have received therapy since birth and I was so pleased to have found Cheshire Fitness Zone. Both of my kids have been challenged and nurtured by the therapists. They are so amazing with the kids and I am thankful for their dedication.
My girls have been going to Cheshire Fitness Zone since the summer of 2015 and the therapy they receive from their therapist is the best therapy they have ever received. The therapists are the friendliest and nicest group of therapists we have ever met. The girls enjoy going to therapy and I am very happy that we go to Cheshire Fitness Zone.
I am so happy we came to Cheshire Fitness Zone. My daughter injured her hip figure skating. Another physical therapist diagnosed and treated her incorrectly. Luckily when we came to Cheshire Fitness Zone and saw Craig he discovered her injury was something else and much more of a serious injury. In fact, we were referred to a Pedi orthopedist who concluded with Craig’s diagnosis. The orthopedist said it was a good find, very difficult to catch, and often missed. My daughter had surgery and is now recovering and seeing Craig for rehab. She is almost done and doing well. Highly recommended Cheshire Fitness Zone.
Cheshire Fitness Zone therapists offer hope, encouragement, and creativity. They deliver on persistence, personal gains, and individual growth because they genuinely care. In spite of working on the steps to tie his shoes for over six months at a different facility, at Cheshire Fitness Zone Erin never lost hope or let him quit. Although he had no idea each week she worked on skills that when put together would tie a shoe. She approached the idea of tying many times only to be met with complete resistance and totally shutting down. Then one day he came to me after his session and said, ‘Hey mom, guess what? I can tie my shoes.’ When I saw the pride in his eyes and the encouragement on Erin’s face I knew he had done it. It was one of the happiest moments of his childhood. What a gift…self-pride and independence.
The physical therapists at Cheshire Fitness Zone are warm, caring individuals. They have worked with my daughter for about a year and a half now and she has made tremendous progress building her core strength, coordination, balance, and overall strengthening. I recommend them highly.
Cheshire Fitness Zone provides staff at our school that understands the role of related service providers in educational settings, meet the educationally related needs of the students, and communicate well with faculty, staff, and parents. They exhibit a high degree of professionalism and state of the art physical therapy.
Highly recommend. The warm, loving atmosphere sets the tone for these highly motivated therapists to do their thing. The office staff is top notch as well!!
Cheshire Fitness Zone has tremendously helped not only our two children receiving services, but our entire family. The atmosphere in the clinic is friendly, supportive, and understanding. Their office staff is amazing and accommodates each family’s schedule and needs. Our children receive speech, OT, and PT services. Every one of the therapists they have worked with has been wonderful and our children have made incredible progress. The kids also love going to all of their therapy sessions because the therapists make each and every session fun and exciting. We are so fortunate to have found Cheshire Fitness Zone and recommend it to any family looking for services for their children.
As a physical therapist at Cheshire Fitness Zone, I have seen firsthand the positive impact therapy services have had on so many children and their families. We are very family-oriented at Cheshire Fitness Zone and are constantly working with our families to help reach their goals for their children. It is an extremely rewarding feeling to see a child learn mobility skills that they were unable to perform prior to starting therapy services. The staff at Cheshire Fitness Zone is dedicated to providing the best care possible for all the children that they work with.