The purpose of early intervention is to lessen the effects of the disability or delay. Services are designed to identify and meet a child’s needs in five developmental areas, including: physical development, cognitive development, communication, social or emotional development, and adaptive & communication Development
Early Childhood
- Play-based activities, rehearsal of social behaviors, modeling, and prompting to improve social behaviors
- Oral stimulation programs, skin-to-skin contact, and sensory-motor-oral interventions to reduce the length of hospital stay
- An early intervention program for preterm infants to improve cognitive outcomes in infancy and preschool
- Infant massage to improve sleep and relaxation, reduce crying, and reduce hormones affecting stress
- A caregiver-delivered home program for infants updated at 1, 2, and 3 months to improve motor performance
- Family-centered help-giving that incorporates support to strengthen the family to improve satisfaction, parenting behavior, personal and family well-being, social support, and child behavior
Mental Health
- Social and life skills programs for children with intellectual impairments and developmental delays to improve life skills, conversation turn-taking, initiation of social interaction, self-management, and compliance, and to decrease problem behaviors
- Parenting programs for teenage mothers and their children to improve mother-infant interaction and parental attitudes and knowledge, maternal mealtime communication, self-confidence, and identity
- Structured recreation and activity program for children with extreme shyness to increase extraversion and decrease timidity
Sensory Integration and Sensory Processing
- A cognitive and task-based approach to address participation in occupations for children with motor-deficits characteristic of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
- Sensory integration for gross motor and motor planning skills for children with learning disabilities
- Sensory integration to address maladaptive behaviors in children with problems in sensory processing
- Touch pressure/deep pressure and massage to address touch aversion and improved responsiveness to sound in children with autism
Gerontology
- Evidence Supports the Distinct Value of Occupational Therapy for Older Adults – pdf
- Client-centered occupational therapy to improve physical functioning and occupational performance related to health management in frail older adults, and older adults with osteoarthritis and macular degeneration
- Home modification and adaptive equipment provided by occupational therapy practitioners to reduce functional decline and improve safety
- Exercise involving functional activities for older adults
- Progressive resistance strength training to improve community mobility and meal preparation. Strengthening, balance retraining, and a walking plan to reduce falls and injuries for those older than 80 years
- Short-term classroom and on-road instruction to improve driving knowledge and skills
- Use of bioptics to improve simulated and on-road driving skills as well as outdoor mobility skill for older adults with visual impairments
Rehabilitation & Disability
- Inpatient rehabilitation for individuals with multiple sclerosis to reduce disease severity and improve ADL status
- Home-based, individualized, and computerized cognitive training to improve attention, memory, information processing, and executive functions for individuals with multiple sclerosis
- Multi-session, repetitive physical exercise tasks for individuals with Parkinson’s disease to improve diachronic motor and sensory-perceptual performance skills
- Client-preferred external cues during ADLs to improve motor control for individuals with Parkinson’s disease
- Multidisciplinary program to improve survival, increase the use of appropriate assistive devices, and facilitate a higher quality of life in social functioning and mental health
- Therapy based on personally meaningful tasks to increase therapeutic gains for individuals recovering from stroke
- Instructions that focus on task-related parameters rather than on specific movement-related parameters, to improve movement organization among stroke survivors
- Brief program of occupational therapy in home following discharge from hospital after stroke to improve recovery
- Occupational therapy in stroke survivors’ homes focusing on community mobility, to increase community participation
- Practice dressing for stroke survivors to improve independence in dressing and maintain improvements after therapy
Parents' Forum 