Dr. Quiara Smith, OTD, OTR/L, CEIM

The occupational therapy process includes an OT evaluation before care starts. Here are the four steps your family can expect when starting occupational therapy:

1. Complete OT evaluation. An occupational therapist first identifies your strengths and needs through a thorough OT evaluation, also known as an OT assessment or screening. You’ll answer questions about you your skills, and you will most likely demonstrate these skills via hands-on activities with the therapist. Evaluations can last 30 minutes to a couple hours.
2. Approve OT plan. The therapist develops a care plan with individualized goals and customized interventions based on your needs. You can also share any specific goals or concerns before approving the OT plan.
3. Start therapy sessions. The therapist works directly with you, using various strategies and exercises to systematically improve areas of limitations and to build upon your strengths. If there are others part of your care team, the therapist may teach strategies for supporting your individualized needs at home and may recommend tools and techniques to use at home, in the community, or in the classroom to help you thrive.
4. Monitor your progress. You can expect ongoing progress monitoring and communication to ensure you're achieving your short and long-term goals.

Your doctor may recommend feeding therapy to help your child with their negative feelings and behaviors towards food. Feeding therapy can be a part of your existing speech and language, behavior, or occupational therapy. For example, a speech and language pathologist (SLPs) can help with chewing and swallowing related issues and an occupational therapist (OT) can help with fine motor skills related to eating. Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a type of behavior therapy that will aim to improve behaviors with mealtimes and increase dietary variety and decrease unwanted behaviors such as food refusal.