Occupational therapy and SID

For those of you who are still a little fuzzy on what occupational therapy actually is…

Here is the latest definition from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists

“Occupational therapy is a profession concerned with promoting health and well being through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by enabling people to do things that will enhance their ability to participate or by modifying the environment to better support participation.”

(Retrieved from www.wfot.com/office_files/final%20definitioncm20042.pdf)


So in a very small nutshell the role of an occupational therapist is to facilitate engagement in meaningful occupation and for children this occupation is play.

But arent children just entertaining themselves when they play?
No way!!

Children do a lot of their learning and development in response to exploring their environment, their main means of doing this is through play. Play stimulates a child’s brain development and facilitates learning. While a child with incorrect sensory processing may have limited ability to participate in occupation.Therefore occupational therapists work with children with SID facilitating the regulation of sensory input providing opportunities to experience and develop adaptive responses and self modulation thus enabling them to participate in play.