Our comprehensive Occupational Therapy (OT) for kids in Bellevue helps them succeed in the important areas of their lives, their “occupations of childhood.” OTs address delays or concerns in the areas of fine and gross motor skills, cognitive skills, social development, and self-care that may be impacted by the following diagnoses:
- Autism
- Brain injuries
- Genetic disorders
- Seizure disorders
- ADHD/learning disorders
- Sensory processing disorders
- Other developmental differences, disorders, or delays
Our innovative program aims to improve your child’s ability to meaningfully engage in daily occupations. The occupations of childhood include:
- Social Participation
- Activities of Daily Living (including toileting, bathing, dressing, and eating)
- Play
- Education
OT works to build foundational skills. OTs do this by using specialized equipment and playful sensory-motor activities to provide the “just right” challenge for children as they develop skills through participation in their occupations.
Additionally, OT’s frequently collaborate with developmental optometrists and vision therapists on cases that can be helped by OT’s building a strong foundation for the body and sensory systems, which then serves to progress visual skills.
Sensory Processing
“Parents are the adults in the best position to know when their child has a sensory problem but, too often, their observations are discounted because they are ‘just the parents.’ If the family’s health care provider isn’t familiar with SPD, the clues that triggered the parents’ alarm may be overlooked, misinterpreted, or dismissed. The parents may be scolded for over-reacting or they may be offered assurances that their child is ‘just a little delayed’ or ‘going through a phase’ or ‘showing his personality,’ or ‘just being a boy.’ The child may be misdiagnosed and even treated for another disorder that is already familiar to the doctor rather than for the real culprit: Sensory Processing Disorder. By the time I meet families through the STAR Institute, at our Treatment Center in Denver, or in one of the workshops I teach, the parents are often near despair because they have tried and failed to convince somebody that red flag symptoms exist and are disrupting their child’s life in basic ways. . . . The parents are convinced that something isn’t right but they are intimidated, frustrated, or downright discouraged because nobody believes them.”
– from Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) by Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR
Ten Fundamental Facts About SPD
When extended family, teachers, neighbors, other parents, and service providers ask you what Sensory Processing Disorder is, the following are research-supported statements you can make.
- Sensory Processing Disorder is a complex disorder of the brain that affects developing children and adults.
- Parent surveys, clinical assessments, and laboratory protocols exist to identify children with SPD.
- At least one in twenty people in the general population may be affected by SPD.
- In children who are gifted and those with ADHD, Autism, and fragile X syndrome, the prevalence of SPD is much higher than in the general population.
- Studies have found a significant difference between the physiology of children with SPD and children who are typically developing.
- Studies have found a significant difference between the physiology of children with SPD and children with ADHD.
- Sensory Processing Disorder has unique sensory symptoms that are not explained by other known disorders.
- Heredity may be one cause of the disorder.
- Laboratory studies suggest that the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are not functioning typically in children with SPD.
- Preliminary research data support decades of anecdotal evidence that occupational therapy is an effective intervention for treating the symptoms of SPD.
– from Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD ) p. 249-250 by Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR
The Eight Sensory Systems
Most people are surprised to find out that we actually have eight sensory systems rather than five.
Learn more about these eight systems in detail.
- Visual
- Auditory
- Tactile
- Olfactory
- Gustatory
- Vestibular
- Proprioception
- Interoception
Pioneering occupational therapist, psychologist, and neuroscientist A. Jean Ayres, Ph.D., likened SPD to a neurological “traffic jam” that prevents certain parts of the brain from receiving the information needed to interpret sensory information correctly.Causes of SPD
The exact cause of Sensory Processing Disorder has not yet been identified. Preliminary studies and research suggest that SPD is often inherited. Prenatal and birth complications have also been implicated as causal in SPD, as well as certain environmental factors. A summary of research into the causes and prevalence of SPD is included in
Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder (New York: Perigee, 2014, 2nd edition). written by Founder and current Executive Director of STAR Institute, Lucy Jane Miller Ph.D., OTR
Red Flags for SPD:
Over-sensitive to touch, noises, smells, other people
Difficulty making friends
Difficulty dressing, eating, sleeping, and/or toilet training
Clumsy; poor motor skills; weak
In constant motion; in everyone else’s “face and space”
Frequent or long temper tantrums
Problems eating or sleeping
Refuses to go to anyone but their mom for comfort
Irritable when being dressed; uncomfortable in clothes
Rarely plays with toys
Resists cuddling, arches away when held
Cannot calm self
Floppy or stiff body, motor delays
Over-sensitive to touch, noise, smells, other people
Easily distracted, fidgety, craves movement; aggressive
Easily overwhelmed
Difficulty with handwriting or motor activities
Difficulty making friends
Unaware of pain and/or other people
Over-sensitive to touch, noise, smells, and other people
Poor self-esteem; afraid of failing at new tasks
Lethargic and slow
Always on the go; impulsive; distractible
Leaves tasks uncompleted
Clumsy, slow, poor motor skills or handwriting
Difficulty staying focused
Difficulty staying focused at work and in meetings
Unmotivated; never seems to get joy from life
We serve the Bellevue, Redmond, Seattle, Kirkland, Bothell, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, North Bend, Renton, Tukwila, Mercer Island communities.
