OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
INTERVENTIONS IN
SPECIAL NEED CHILDREN
NUR THAQQIFAH BINTI MD SANI
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST
KLINIK KESIHATAN UJONG PASIR
PEJABAT KESIHATAN DAERAH MELAKA TENGAH
KK Durian Tunggal
KK Batu Berendam
KK Ujong Pasir
KK Kuala Sg Baru
KK Seri Tanjung
KK Ayer Keroh
KK Cheng
OT
Department
AN OVERVIEW OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FOR
CHILDREN
1. Occupational therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with
promoting health and well being through occupation.
2. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate
in the activities of everyday life.
3. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and
communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they
want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or
the environment to better support their occupational engagement.
WFOT 2012
AN OVERVIEW OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY FOR
CHILDREN
1. Occupational therapists (OT) develop interventions based on analysis of
the child’s behaviours and performance, the occupations in which he or she
engages, and the context for those occupations.
2. When evaluating a child’s performance, the therapist determines how
performance is influenced by impairment and how the environment
supports or constrains performance.
3. At the same time that OT systematically analyze the child’s occupational
performance and social participation, they acknowledge that the spirit of
the child also determines who he or she is and will become (holistic
approach).
HANDWRITING SKILLS
COLOURING SKILLS
SCISSORING SKILLS
• Copying written work from a
chalkboard or overhead can be
quite difficult for some students
with visual processing concerns
• Using a slant board is one tool
that can be used in the
classroom.
• The upright posture and less
movement of the head and eyes
that need to shift to visually
scan from the desk to the wall
can help with copying when a
slant board is used.
SLANT BOARD
Notes:
Saccadic eye movement = the ability of our eyes to make accurate jumps as we change targets
*Special needs student may have trouble shifting gaze in all planes
Handwriting
Skills
Handwriting Readiness Can Be Developed By:
Activities To Improve Stability Of Proximal Joint
Activities To Improve Children's Fine Motor
Control And Isolated Finger Movements
Activities To Improve Ability To Hold Writing Tools
Activities To Enhance Right-left Discrimination
ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
STABILITY OF PROXIMAL
JOINT
Games such as tug-of-war,
wheelbarrow walking, animal walks
[Link]
Tug of war
Heavy work:
Pushing furniture, carrying
shopping bags, carrying chair,
etc
Scooter board
Wall/floor push up
Commando crawl
Tummy-lying on the floor to colour or
do puzzles
Use the playground equipment,
such as the climbers and monkey
bars
ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
CHILDREN'S FINE MOTOR
CONTROL AND ISOLATED
FINGER MOVEMENTS
Picking up small objects
with tweezers/
Rolling tiny balls of clay or therapy-
adapted chopsticks
putty between the tip of the thumb
and tips of the index and middle
fingers
Lace beads with strings
Find hidden beads in putty
Stretching rubber band
onto cylindrical object
Tug of war with fingers
using coffee stirrer
and/or tongue
depressor
TRY IT WITH YOUR PARTNER
ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE
CHILDREN’S ABILITY TO
HOLD WRITING TOOLS
IMMATURED PENCIL GRIP
PALMAR GRASP AGE 1-2 y/o DIGITAL GRASP AGE 2-3 y/o
RADIAL CROSS PALMAR GRASP AGE 2-3y/o BRUSH GRASP AGE 2-3y/o
MATURED PENCIL GRIP
CROSS THUMB GRASP AGE 4+y/o LATERAL TRIPOD GRASP 4-6+ y/o
QUADROPOD GRASP AGE 4+y/o DYNAMIC TRIPOD AGE 4-6+ y/o
Linking chain
Pick up small objects (toys,
sweets etc.) with thumb and
first finger rather than whole
hand, or thumb and middle
finger
Note:
-Can use marker or
colored tape to
mark pencil grip
position
-Grip pressure:
Balloon/soft surface
activity
While doing pincer grip activities place a small object
(e.g. a rubber) in the child’s palm to be held in place by
the middle, index and little finger. This will help with
pincer isolation i.e. only using thumb and first finger
Clothes pegs opened with the
thumb and index finger help to
strengthen pincer grip
ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE
RIGHT-LEFT
DISCRIMINATION
Lacing activities
Screwing nuts and bolt
1
3 y/o
TFEHIL
2
XMXYAZ
3
PSBDR
dghm
Dit to dot:
- Understand letter formation
- Memorizing the sequences
Dot to dot
Example of handwriting difficulties:
Lazy 8
For student
with bad
handwriting
and dyslexia
Colouring
Skills
1 2 3
Colouring : Part by parts
Problem
Student colour the
whole picture as they
do not understand that
they have to colour
part by parts yet.
Student has grasped
the understanding to
colour part by parts,
but waiting for
teacher’s cue to
proceed to the
BALLOONS next.(orientate skill BALLOONS
not establish yet).
Example of cues
1 2
3 4 5 To emphasize student
to colour within line
BALLOON BALLOON BALLOON
S
Number cue
S
Arrow S
Bold the balloon
with different
colour
Follow border line
Scissoring
Skills
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
- Thumb and
pinky
- Open fist
- Lazy 8
EXPECTATION
REALITY ^_^
