If you are a parent, we can understand how dear and precious your child is to you. We are sure you will want to take the best care of them. However, while the child is growing up, you need to keep close watch that all the necessary growth and developments are happening. You will realize that for them playing is their occupation. It is what enables them to learn, interact and explore their surroundings. As a parent, you need to be aware that some children might have trouble mastering specific skills. Though unfortunate if you note this in your child, the problem must be investigated. Children may sometimes struggle with fine or gross motor skills, sensory processing, and sometimes even visual perception skills. In such cases, you need to note children's occupation therapy can do wonders. 

Let us see 4 basic signs that indicate your child might require pediatric occupational therapy:

1. If a child is facing development-related growth milestones

Occupational therapy can help children if they show signs of delay in development. For example, let us say if your child is 1 year old and still not crawling around. Apart from this, if the child is a 2-year-old and cannot walk steadily. In such cases, you need to watch these issues and consult a reliable occupational therapist closely.

2. Avoiding Eye Contact: Looking at mother's face and eyes is the first social development in growing kids. Reading mother's facial expression helps in developing reciprocal emotion and mother child bond. for some reason, if child is unable to maintain eye contact even by three months, it can be a matter of concern. if your baby is not making and maintaining eye conact consistently even by six months, it is recommended to consult an occupational therapist. 

3. Delay in Speech Development: Speech and language development is crucial and very remarkable in social world. Child starts babbling by 7 to 12 months, one or two words by 1 to 2 years, while they start making sentences and questions between 2 to 3 years. by age 3 onward, child's speech should be understandable to familiar persons. any inconssitency in speech development can be a matter of concern. The problems can vary from simple delayed speech to autism spectrum disorder. sensory processing disoder might to some extent be the reason in speech develpoment. Therefore, apart from speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist play great role in treating such conditions at basic level.

4. Hyperactivity, Restlessness, and Low Span of Attention: Children often keeps roaming here and there, difficult to make him sit, difficulty in giving attention even in basic routine tasks, and poor academic performance. You might find such child to be overreacting to touch, taste, sounds, or smells, then there is a possibility that the child is suffering from sensory processing disorders. In such cases, occupational therapy can help.

5. Fine Motor & Gross Motor Skills:

You need to note that in some instances, some children might face challenges carrying out some simple tasks which might require strength, control, and also dexterity of some muscles. So, children suffering from these fine motor skills find it difficult to carry out simple jobs like using scissors or even drawing, using utensils, etc. If these conditions are not noted and treated, the same children might later face difficulties writing or using computers at school. These need to be identified, and you need to consult an occupational therapist for the problem. Sometimes some children may have severe problems like difficulty balancing ability to climb stairs, walk, hop and play. Gross motor problems could be the reason why this might happen. Here again, the role of an expert occupational therapist is vital for treatment. For the best results of occupational therapy, it is crucial that the problem is detected early and treated.

4. Conclusion

To conclude, we can say children with motor skill-related problems have become rampant. Because of this, if you check any abnormalities, you need to consult an eminent pediatric occupational therapist to investigate and treat the problem. If you are based in Kolkata, Sensational Child Clinic is the leading provider of children’s occupational therapy.