Kids in Motion Mobile In-Home Pediatric Occupational Therapy provides a comprehensive glossary of common Occupational Therapy (OT) terms to help parents and caregivers understand the jargon used in the field. This glossary covers a range of terms, from basic concepts such as fine motor skills and gross motor skills to more specialized terminology like proprioception and vestibular processing.
By providing clear definitions and explanations for each term, the glossary helps parents and caregivers better understand their child’s therapy needs and progress. Additionally, the glossary serves as a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about pediatric occupational therapy and the various techniques and approaches used to support children’s development.
Overall, the glossary is an excellent tool for anyone looking to improve their understanding of the field of occupational therapy and its impact on children’s health and wellbeing.
| Term | Definition |
| Occupations | Occupations are tasks that people want and need to do each day. For children, this could include playing, drawing, completing school work, interacting with peers, dressing, grooming, eating and sleeping. | Evaluation | a collection of assessments, parent/child interviews and therapist observations that help OTs identify areas of delay in a child. | Re-Evaluation | an evaluation that occurs at a later date than the first evaluation that will allow the therapist to monitor and assess progress that has been made during the child's time in occupational therapy. | Referral and Script | Before an occupational therapist can evaluate a child, the child's primary care provider (pediatrician, family doctor, physician assistant, certified nurse practitioner) must send a prescription for occupational therapy to evaluate and treat your child as well as notes that support why the child needs therapy. | ADL | Activities of Daily Living which include eating, bathing/showering, grooming, walking, dressing/undressing, transfers and toileting. | IADL | Instrumental Activities of Daily Living which include using a telephone, shopping, preparing meals, using transportation, taking medications and managing finances. | Visual Motor Skills | the ability to process visual input (a letter, picture, pattern) and transfer it to a motor action (writing, drawing, movement) | Visual Perceptual Skills | the ability to give meaning and understanding to information that our eyes see. | Fine Motor Skills | completing tasks by using and controlling the small muscles of the hands and wrists. | Self-Care Skills | dressing and grooming tasks. | Sensory Integration | the ability to receive, process and organize input from our senses (sight, vision, hearing, touch, proprioception, proprioception and interoception) | Vestibular Processing | our body's ability to interpret its position in space, movement and orientation. | Proprioception | the ability to interpret movement and pressure on joints to determine movement, posture, equilibrium and balance. | Interoception | this sense allows a person to notice and differentiate between body feelings and emotions such as hunger, need to use the bathroom, a stomach ache, fatigue, anger and happiness. | Bilateral Coordination | the ability to use both hands together to complete activities. | Functional Grasp | a grasp pattern that we would expect to see for a child's age that allows him or her accurately copy shapes, figures, strokes, letters and/or numbers. | Dynamic Tripod Grasp | holding a writing instrument using the thumb, index finger and middle finger while only moving the fingers as opposed to the whole hand when writing (typically seen in 4-5 year olds) | Static Tripod Grasp | holding a writing instrument using the thumb, index finger and middle finger while also moving the whole hand and wrist when writing (typically seen in 3-4 year olds) | Quadruped Grasp | the writing instrument is held between the thumb, index finger, middle finger and ring finger with the pinky tucked in and toward the paper (typically seen in 3-4 year olds) | Digital Pronate Grasp | the writing instrument is held with the fingertips and the index finger is toward the paper (typically seen in 2-3 year olds) | Fisted/Palmar Grasp | the writing instrument is held in the palm with the pinky finger toward the paper (typically seen in 1-2 year olds) | In-Hand Translation | moving an object to and from the palm and fingertips. |