Occupational Therapy Evaluations
If you think your child might have any signs of sensory processing disorder, or even question if there are sensory concerns that may not warrant a full diagnosis, you might opt for an evaluation by an occupational therapist (OT). An OT can access the physical needs your child might have as well as which (if any) are related to difficulty processing sensory input. Read more about sensory concerns in my post here or about OT in general here.
To begin, you'll want to let your pediatrician know you have some concerns about your child's sensory processing. In most cases you'll need a physician's order to get a referral to OT, you cannot call and request an appointment from the OT directly. Many hospitals have good pediatric OT departments, but if yours does not your pediatrician should know other good referral options. Some physicians will require you come in for an appointment in order to get the referral, others will allow you to request it over the phone. Once you've got the referral to the OT provider, there may be a wait list until your initial assessment.
An OT evaluation usually consists of some background information about how the child is functioning in different areas, and may consist of parents or teachers filling out sensory questionnaires. I find the questionnaires helpful because we often don't realize that different behaviors could be connected or that they may be related to sensory concerns at all. Then the OT usually completes an assessment of the child. This consists of games and challenges that the OT will ask the child to complete while the OT either observes or participates with them. It could be games that allow the OT to evaluate fine motor skills (jenga) or gross motor skills (walking on all four like a bear), or physical challenges (how many jumps a child can do in a row, whether they can switch the focus from high jumps to long jumps, how much stamina they have for jumping) or even how they grip a crayon or bead. Most OTs will also assess how much tolerance a child has for a certain activity, and will not push a child to complete an activity they find distressing or they refuse to complete. It's okay if your child doesn't want to participate in a certain activity, that is additional information for the OT about what might be too much for their nervous system on that particular day.
An OT evaluation can be helpful because it can let you know which of the behaviors you're seeing may be the result of your child having a limited capacity to complete a certain task due to differences or difficulties processing sensory stimuli (example: having a meltdown around socks every single day). The reason I find this most helpful is that it gives parents an idea when to be flexible on something knowing their child has a physical limitation, and when to really hold a boundary because the child has the full capacity to complete a task. Imagine knowing that your child's refusal to try new foods is due to a physical sensitivity to various textures in their oral motor system and not just to toddler stubbornness, or that on most days they absolutely can be expected to put their coat on by themselves without significant support from an adult. This information can absolutely transform parenting by allowing us to feel confident about when to offer patience and flexibility and when to stick to our stated expectations.
For more on occupational therapy, see my previous post.
