• Daily living skills e.g. toilet training and dressing
• Fine motor skills for holding objects, handwriting
• Gross motor skills for walking, climbing stairs
• Sitting, posture or perceptual skills
• Awareness of his/her body and its relation to others
• Visual skills for reading and writing
• Social skills

At Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy, we are focused on providing effective and enjoyable occupational therapy for children.

The post How can an Occupational Therapist support individuals with Autism or developmental delays? appeared first on Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy | Mary Dionisatos.

A few of the common therapy techniques include:

• Signing
• Using picture boards with words e.g. picture exchange communication system (PECS)
• Using a tablet/iPad to utilise all icons that represent different things and communicate different messages e.g. LAMP program, Proloquo2Go

Ultimately, speech pathologists focus on improving your child’s articulation and language to improve communication.

At Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy, we love utilising speech pathology to help children gain confidence and form better relationships!

The post How can a Speech Pathologist support individuals with Autism or developmental delays? appeared first on Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy | Mary Dionisatos.

Some symptoms to pay attention to in your little one:

• Is slower to reach development milestones
• Diagnosed with a disability/disorder
• Appears clumsy/uncoordinated
• Appears to be ‘in a world of their own’
• Attachment issues
• Increased intensity/frequency of tantrums
• Challenge with daily tasks – dressing, bathing, grooming, toileting, sleeping, eating
• Academic difficulties – handwriting, spelling
• Difficulty attending/distracted
• Challenges with interacting with peers and/or adults
• Not always understood by those familiar with them
• Struggles to follow instructions
• Struggles to express themselves
• Stutters/disfluent
• Talks little or less than peers the same age
• If any of these seem familiar, the first step is to book an appointment with a GP, who will be able to refer you to a specialist like Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy.

If you have any questions about the process, you can always give our reception a call! We’ll be able to walk you through the steps.

The post Does my child need a speech pathologist or occupational therapist? appeared first on Castle Hill Speech & Occupational Therapy | Mary Dionisatos.