Occupational Therapy

What is Occupational Therapy?

An Occupational Therapist (OT) promotes the function, development, and engagement of infants and toddlers by addressing areas of occupations such as play, education, self-care, social participation, and rest and sleep. They assist children with their fine motor skills, which involve the small muscles of the body. These skills include reaching, grasping, using both hands together, and self-help skills such as self-feeding, dressing, and hygiene. An OT may also be helpful with feeding difficulties that involve the small muscles of the face and mouth, developing skills involving eye-hand coordination, and sensory-integration issues. The OT can assist in making recommendations for adaptive equipment that may be needed.

Our Approach

STARS has a dedicated team of therapists that are committed to providing your child and family with quality early intervention services. STARS’ therapists are state licensed and/or hold a Bachelor, Master, or Doctorate degree in their area of expertise. Continuing education is essential and all therapists are required to complete at least 24 hours of training each year. At STARS, we recognize that parents and caregivers know their children better than anyone, and are committed to making family/caregivers an integral part of treatment sessions.

  • An Occupational Therapist (OT) will implement services by providing your family with their expertise to help maximize your child’s success.
  • Each visit with your family will be in the most natural setting which may include your home or other places in the community.
  • Family involvement and participation is key and the OT will partner with you to help lay the foundation for your child to have a BRIGHT future!

FAQs

Early Intervention services helps children catch up and increases their chances for success in school and life overall.

Early Intervention services provide support and services to children and their families in their natural environment–community, home, play group, or daycare/preschool.

Infants and toddlers, ages 0-3.

If your child has a qualified diagnosis, 25% developmental delay in 1 or more areas, or the informed opinion of a clinician, he/she may be eligible for services.

We teach families strategies and techniques to help their child in their area of need through developmental and instructional support such as cognitive, communication, social-emotional, self-help, fine motor and gross motor.

These services are designed to help a child to function and become successful in his/her environment.

Early intervention is a federally funded program and provided at no cost to families.

Other Services

Physical
Therapy

Physical Therapy can support families in promoting their child’s development, learning, and participation in family and community life.

Speech
Therapy

Speech Therapy can assist families in helping their child participate in all activities and routines of daily life.

Vision
Instruction

A teacher of the visually impaired works with children who have visual loss or a brain based Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI).

Behavior
Supports

Behavioral support provides families, caregivers, and others with positive strategies to help with social-emotional and/or communication skills.

Nutrition
Instruction

A Registered Dietician (RD) or Registered Nurse (RN) will complete a comprehensive nutritional assessment and develop a plan to meet a child’s nutritional needs.

Developmental
Therapy

A Special Instructor typically has a background in education or child development and experience working with children under the age of five.

Would you like to learn more about how STARS can work for you?