Occupational Therapy
When is occupational therapy sought/needed?
Professional OT services are sought out when every-day activities that are meaningful to the child or family are met with challenges and likely frustration. These every-day activities fall within the broad areas of self-care (e.g. dressing, bathing, feeding), productivity (e.g. printing, school work, or community involvement) and leisure (e.g. biking, playground play, keeping up with peers).
How can we help?
An Occupational Therapist endeavours in an assessment process to determine what is preventing the child from participating in the desired activity. This may result in the identification of motor challenges or sensory differences. Additionally, environmental factors such as home, school, and daycare may also limit the child’s ability to meaningfully participate.
Utilizing a family-centre approach to therapy, the Occupational Therapist will work with the child and family to address the limitations identified, and coach/educate the parents to support their child in his/her desired activities. It is hoped through the OT sessions the parents are empowered to implement the skills and knowledge used by the Occupational Therapist to support their child’s continued growth and learning.
Our clients are involved in every step of the decision-making process involving their treatment plans – we firmly believe that no client should ever be “shut out” of their own future. We help clients develop skills that can benefit them at home, work/school, and community activities. This is accomplished either through one on one sessions or through group sessions, depending on what helps that specific client the most.
What should you expect?
In order to provide the most effective treatment, at Compass Clinic we take an integrated, holistic approach to occupational therapy. There are no borders here – our occupational therapists work in close collaboration with other members of our team, like our behaviour therapists, our speech therapists, and our language pathologists. This collaborative format helps us share information, determine optimal outcomes, and deliver the best treatment to our clients. Our occupational therapists also happily provide additional assessments and specialized treatment specific to your needs.
You can expect that your OT has received a University education, often a Master’s degree. Your OT must be registered with a college. In B.C. is it the College of Occupational Therapists, B.C. (COTBC).
Compass Clinic treatments may be covered by provincial health plans; make sure to check with your insurance company and healthcare plan for more information!
Useful Links
- Autism Assessment
- ADHD Assessment
- Learning Disability Assessment
- Giftedness Assessment
- Psycho-educational Assessment
- LEAP (Academic) Assessment
- Psychometry
- Psychiatry
- Consultation
- Whole Life Support
- Counselling/Therapy: Overview
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Emotion Focused Therapy
- Group Counselling
- Career Counselling
- Speech Therapy
- Executive Functioning Tutoring
Our dedicated occupational therapist can help with:
- Self-care needs, like eating, dressing, organizing, and moving independently,
- Productivity needs, like going to school, work, engaging with your community, volunteering, and more,
- Recreational needs, like socializing, playing sports, doing fun things, and more generally enjoying life
An OT assessment and intervention process at Compass Clinic can also include working with the following diagnoses:
- Developmental Coordination Disorder
- Developmental disabilities- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Down Syndrome, genetic abnormalities, etc.
- Mental health issues
- Sensory processing differences and self-regulation challenges
- Executive dysfunction