We are finally seeing some light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel. Lockdown restrictions are beginning to ease, promising a return to normal – eventually. In the meantime, maintaining regular therapy appointments is crucial to your child’s progress. Online occupational therapy is a highly effective way to continue your child’s therapy without risking their health, or yours, by going out in public and potentially coming into contact with an infected individual.
While safety is a great reason to give online OT a try, we’ve got a few more for you.
Online OT allows your child to maintain their schedule.
Schedules are important, especially for children. Making sure that your child maintains their schedule is vital to not only their progress, but it also helps alleviate anxiety brought on by the many changes happening in their world. They can still remain active in their therapy, but they can do the OT activities at home.
OT in a familiar environment.
Some children are averse to change and traveling to a facility for a therapy appointment can be incredibly stressful. A strange environment, strange therapist, strange sounds and odors can all be very overwhelming. Online OT allows your child to have their appointment in a familiar environment. It may also be a good way to ease your child into OT if you are just starting out.
Increased parental involvement.
Traditional OT involves the therapist working with the child. The parents may have some involvement, but typically they are somewhat removed. Online OT bridges that gap, bringing the parents or caregivers into more of a participatory role in the child’s therapy. This increased parental involvement is beneficial for the child on both an emotional and therapeutic level.
Improved integration of team.
The therapy team consists of the therapists, parents, caregivers, and teachers. In traditional therapeutic settings the team may communicate but is disconnected to a degree. Online OT brings them all together, providing a better integration of the team thus improving the child’s therapy experience.
Better carry over of therapeutic strategies.
Online OT brings the therapeutic strategies directly to the home, allowing them to be better carried over to the academic as well as home environments. It allows the child to work more consistently between appointments because they are learning how to practice the strategies at home as opposed to learning them at a facility and then trying to do them at home.
In an effort to keep our patients safe during this COVID-19 crisis, Write Steps has temporarily switched to online therapy. We will be working with our kids remotely in a supportive, save, familiar environment. Watch your child thrive! Schedule a session today.