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OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
"Occupations" are the meaningful activities and routines that a person does as part of everyday life at home, school/work and in the community. When a child has difficulty doing activities that peers are doing, an occupational therapist can evaluate the child's abilities and identify strategies to improve his/her skills.

Here at the Center for Development and Learning our clients are primarily school-aged children. The information on this website is geared towards supporting children's abilities to participate and perform typical childhood occupations, which is sometimes difficult for children who have unique abilities in developmental, sensory processing, motor coordination, behavioral or other areas.
 
What are typical childhood occupations?
                    Click on the picture of children
 
Occupational Therapy focuses on supporting a child's ability to participate in, and perform, occupations by balancing the abilities of the child with the demands of the occupation and the influences of the environment in which the activity is done. The occupational therapist considers this dynamic balance when developing strategies to support and improve the child's abilities in an occupation.


Who should contact an occupational therapist?

Seek professional input from an occupational therapist if your child has difficulty participating in, or doing, meaningful activities and routines that you feel he/she is developmentally ready to do - or if your child has a known disability that is interfering with his/her ability to perform childhood occupations.
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© 2005 Catherine Alguire, MLA, OTR/L and Megan Belasco, BS, OTS, Occupational Therapy Section
Center for the Study of Development and Learning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill