More on Occupational Therapy at BCLC

BCLC Occupational Therapists work with visually impaired children by assessing neuromuscular and sensory foundations as they relate to acquiring developmental, behavioral, and functional skills.

We identify levels of motor skills, adaptive/self-help skills, feeding, oral motor skills, social skills, play skills, and the child’s ability to process and respond appropriately to sensory information in their visually impaired environment.

This includes not only the five senses we commonly think of (sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste), but also our hidden senses like vestibular (sense that defines our bodies in space) and proprioceptive senses (judges our body parts in relation to each other). Each response provides us with crucial information on movement and feedback from our muscles and joints or out position sense.

These are important senses, especially for a child with visual impairment because they relate directly to a child’s ability to move through space and to know and sense where their bodies are in space. These are senses that tell us whether we’re standing up or how high we need to lift our foot up to walk up stairs.

Because visually impaired children develop differently, it is essential that they receive early intervention.

When a child has delays in the areas assessed, the Occupational Therapist evaluates and identifies factors attributing to their lack of development by establishing a specially designed, goal-specific treatment plan. By using therapeutic activities and exercises, which are done in the context of play, the child remains interested and challenged at just the right level to develop mastery of their senses.