Occupational Therapy for Infants and Toddlers

Infant – A very young child or baby. A child in between birth to 12 months of age comes under the term “Infant”.

Toddler – A young child. A child in between 13 months to 36 months (up to 3 years). The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, motor, emotional, and social development.

Role of Occupational Therapy for Infants and Toddlers

At Pediatric Potentials, we offer occupational therapy services and early intervention for infants and toddlers. It is important to address developmental delays as soon as possible and provide quality early intervention to achieve best developmental outcomes.

Occupational therapy for infants and toddlers includes assessment and intervention for babies with premature birth, low birth weight, or babies born with some physical impairment, neurological disorder, birth trauma, feeding difficulty or chromosomal genetic disorder.

OT Assessment in Infants

Occupational therapy assessment evaluates for a variety of developmental delays. There are many types of delays in development and those may include:

• Vision
• Gross motor skills
• Reflexes
• Fine motor skills
• Social and emotional skills
• Thinking and cognitive skills
• Feeding
• Communication
• Sensory integration
• Play

To assess an infants’ skills, the occupational therapist takes a developmental history, medical history, caregiver interview, direct observation and uses standardized developmental assessments.

OT Intervention for Infants and Toddlers

Pediatric Potentials in Bozeman offers both in-clinic and in-home visits for our youngest patients. Together, we can decide what works best for your family and baby. We will partner with your pediatrician, specialist(s), other therapy providers and support services to provide the most comprehensive service possible.