Working with Occupational Therapists

Hi all,

      As speech therapists, we come across clients and students who may or may not need occupational therapy. Throughout the course of my career so far, I've seen countless kids who needed OT but were not receiving those services because parents and speech therapists don't really know what to look for. Here are some tips I have learned from two occupational therapists that I have had the privilege of working with...
     - Incorporate a coloring activity in your session and monitor how the child holds the crayon. If the child is holding the crayon with for example, with a closed fist, it may signify weak fine motor skills. 
     - Take notice of how the child is actually coloring. Is the child coloring the picture completely or are there lots of white spaces showing the child did not complete the picture even though he/she thinks it's finished? This too may also demonstrate a fine motor weakness.
     - Take notice of switching hands. If the child is switching back and forth between right and left hands, it may indicate that the child does not have a dominant hand or difficulty with both, again signifying weak fine motor skills.
     - I noticed that one of my kids could not color while sitting in a chair. He needed to be standing in order to color a picture. I brought this to an occupational therapists attention and she said it may be an issue with proprioreceptive skills.
     - Watch the child actually color. Does it appear that the child is moving his/her entire arm to color the picture or are they using their hand? Again, another sign of potential weaknesses.

     Keep a look out for all of these things while working with your client/student. Of course we are not the experts in classifying delays in these areas but these issues to watch for may help the child obtain services he/she needs. Even if your not sure about what it is you're noticing, always ask an OT who could better point you in the right direction.