The occupational therapist in the NICU provide the following:
- Screening the high-risk infant
- Improving the sensory and fine motor developmental of the high-risk infant
- Supporting the parent-infant relationship and ensuring a successful transition from hospital to home and community.
- Contributing to the provision and promotion of developmentally supportive care of high-risk infants.
- Minimizing the potential for harm of the neonatal unit environment (sometimes passive environment) on the infant’s developing brain.
- Supporting their growth and development in order to promote early engagement with their parents.
After discharge, ongoing outpatient services intervention and/or guidance provides continued opportunities to support the development of infant occupations around self-care, learning and play.
Through educating parents on strategies to support and engage their infant with appropriate sensory and motor experiences.
Conditions that can benefit from Occupational Therapy services include:
A. Neurological conditions:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)
- Hands and Nerves Injuries
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Memory Disorders
- Multiple Sclerosis
- All Other neurological condition that affects the performance of the client
B. After Orthotics surgery:
- Conditions related to the musculoskeletal system.
C. Pediatric-Neuro conditions, cognitive/ psychiatry conditions:
- Pediatric neuromuscular disorders including muscular dystrophy and congenital myopathies
- Developmental delay disorders
- Cerebral Palsy
- Brachial Plexus
- Childhood Stroke
- Epilepsy
- Global Developmental Delays
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder
- Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD)
- Other conditions that includes limp deformities
- ADD / ADHD
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Down Syndrome
- Fine Motor Delays
- Delayed Milestones
- Cognitive delay
- Learning difficulties (dyslexia dysgraphia and dyscalculia)
