Pediatric occupational therapists help children master daily life skills with ease and efficiency. The “job” or “occupation” of a child is to play, use tools such as crayons, scissors or utensils, and interact with their environment, adults and their peers effectively.  At Chicago Therapeutic Children’s Academy, our pediatric occupational therapists work with children one on one to assess and recommend appropriate tools for children to practice within the academy during the day.

For example, a child may do well with a shorter writing utensil to improve their tripod grasp, which is a modification that they use throughout their day in the academy during writing activities.  Additionally, our occupational therapists recommend individualized sensory routines for each child to create calm and safe spaces for any child that may be auditorily, visually or environmentally over-stimulated.  Having customized sensory “diets” makes a world of difference in a child’s processing, to set them up for true success in learning.

While each child may have one to one therapeutic support from an occupational therapist throughout their week, we also have our pediatric occupational therapists helping with small groups in the classroom to customize each curriculum activity, making a fine motor and sensory-rich experience in the day to day routines.

Every classroom utilizes the foundations of the Handwriting Without Tears program, a multi-sensory approach to learning letter formation, number formation, and drawing and coloring fundamentals.  With such a purposeful and refined touch to the classroom curriculum, our occupational therapists provide the therapeutic support necessary to set our children up for fine motor and sensory regulation success!