How do I know if my child needs Occupational Therapy?
If your child displays one or more of the following, he/she may benefit from occupational therapy services:

• Poor fine and gross motor skills
• Has an awkward pencil grip
• Has difficulty handwriting, colouring or cutting
• Reverses letters such as b and d; can’t space letters on the lines
• Breaks pencils frequently or writes with heavy pressure
• Has difficulty copying from the board
• Has difficulty putting together puzzles
• Needs more practice than other children to learn new skills
• Is clumsy or uncoordinated

• Difficulty with jumping, skipping or running
• Avoids physical education or sports activities
• Extra sensitive to touch, taste, sounds and/or odours
• Difficulty paying attention or following instructions
• Inability to sit still in a chair
• Decreased attention span
• Difficulty with self help skills (buttoning, zipping, shoe-tying, feeding)
• Poor social skills or low self esteem

What can an OT offer my child?
Occupational Therapists would focus on various areas of treatment to help children maximize their potential. These may include:

• Fine motor and gross motor skill training
• Visual motor and visual perceptual training
• Printing and handwriting therapy 

• Strengthening exercises
• Activities of daily living training
• Social skills training

What is Physiotherapy?
Physiotherapists provide services to people who have impairments, disabilities or deceased functional ability resulting from injury, disease or other causes. A paediatric physiotherapist works with children and their parents to promote the development of gross motor and movement skills necessary for performing age appropriate tasks and activities of daily living.

How do I know if my child needs Physiotherapy?
Children are referred to a physiotherapist when they have:

• Poor gross motor skills
• Poor sensory motor skills
• Premature birth or low birth weight
• Neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, head injuries, brain tumors & developmental delays

• Orthopaedic conditions such as torticollis, fractures, joint deformities
• Genetic disorders such as down syndrome
• Medical conditions such as cardiac disease, respiratory conditions, cystic fibrosis

What can a PT offer my child?
Physiotherapists would focus on various areas of treatment to help children maximize their potential. These may include:

• Gross motor skill training
• Strengthening exercises
• Stretching and balance exercises

• Positioning and functional activities
• Fitting for Orthotics or braces and prescribing equipment such as walkers or wheelchairs

What is Speech and Language Pathology?
Speech language pathologists work with people who have speech and language disorders or communication delays. Speech language pathologists who specialize in paediatrics are trained to assist children with communication difficulties (such as articulation, voice, fluency, stuttering and understanding and use of language) and feeding and swallowing disorders.

How do I know if my child needs Speech and Language Pathology?
If your child displays one or more of the following, he/she may benefit from speech language and pathology services:

• Is not talking by age two
• Child's speech is difficult to understand after age three
• Substitutes easy sounds for difficult ones at age five (i.e. "do" for "go" and "tandy" for "candy")
• Sentences are not grammatically correct at age five (i.e. "Him eating pizza")
• Demonstrates signs of stuttering behaviour

• Parent thinks child speaks differently than other children his/her age
• Child has difficulty telling people what they want
• Has difficulty understanding what people are saying
• Has difficulty remembering or following verbal instructions
• Has difficulty with spelling or reading
• Has difficulty swallowing or feeding

What can a SLP offer my child?
Speech language pathologists would focus on various areas of treatment to help children maximize their potential. These may include:

• Improving oral motor skills
• Improve comprehension of spoken language
• Assist children who stutter to speak more fluently
• Assist children in utilizing age-appropriate grammatical skills
• Assist children to understand language and follow verbal directions

• Assist children in learning proper production of speech sounds
• Assist children in increasing their verbal vocabulary and combining these words more effectively
• Improve reading and written communication skills
• Improve child’s movements, positioning and/or strength during eating