The "Jobs" of Children: Play, School, Social Skills, Self Regulation, Emotional, & Self Care

Occupational therapy for children is concerned about how they function in every day life skills.  Is the child happy and playful?  Do they enjoy playing with others or sports and games?  Can they dress themselves?  Is eating and feeding enjoyable?  Do they sleep well?  Can they listen and pay attention?  Can they constructively communicate their feelings?  What about the other "jobs" of children, such as school work?  Is the child able to initiate and complete such skills independently?  If children are having any difficulties in the occupations of children, an occupational therapy evaluation of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) may be helpful.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD, formerly known as Sensory Integration Disorder)  conservatvely affects about 5% of all children, over half of children with atttention deficit disorder and 80% of children with autism.   Many professionals may not be aware of the scope of sensory integration disorder thinking that only children that are sensory over responsive qualify for assessement and treatment.  Other sub-catergories of SPD include sensory under responsive, sensory seeking, discrimination, and sensory based motor disorders including postural control and motor planning.  Click here for a quick sensory integration checklist...

Sensory Systems Clinic has been providing services for children since 1982, and continues to be recognized as a leader in the Detroit Metropolitan area for innovative and effective therapy.  Our most potent philosophy is that everything you do for a child is something that you may not be allowing that child to do for himself, and is taking away the opportunity to not only learn, but to feel the elation of independence.   So many treatments direct the child and take away the ability to self direct.  As much as possible, we help the child take an active role.  In fact, the one outcome that we can guarantee from therapy is your child will obtain self confidence.

How  do I get started?  It's easy!  Just call us (586-293-1234) or email (sensorysystemsclinic@gmail.com) if you are interested in any of our programs from helping the child with attention deficit disorder to volunteering a possible expert player for our Integrated Play Groups.

  • Step 1 - Evaluation
  • Step 2 - Parent conference
  • Step 3 - Setting goals for results from therapy
  • Step 4 - Therapy
  • Step 5 - Retest and assess progress towards goals

Sensory Processing Disorder (Sensory Integration Disorder)

A child with SPD does not look any different from anyone else.  The problem is that they act different from other children but there doesn’t seem to be a reason.  Teachers and parents sometimes think that the child could just act “right” if they tried harder, but most often this is just not within their ability to do so.  Sometimes the children may have a diagnosis of autism or attention deficit hyperativity disorder, but still, this does not explain their behavior.  Click below for a better understanding of SPD. 

Parent Reading

  • Sensational Kids

Volunteer to be an Expert Player

We love Integrated Play Groups!  What better play environment can you think of for a child on the autism spectrum, than one where the expert players (typically developing children) are trained and guided how to play?  IPG's benefit our expert players, too.  We accept expert players from the community and provide disability awareness training at no cost or obligation on the part of the volunteers, ages 4-12.  Some of the greatest recipients of gains from Integrated Play Groups has been the empowerment of the special feelings siblings of autistic children get from learning about autism and helping someone like their brother or sister.  There is award winning research to support this program and it's benefits to the social skills of children with autism. 

How We Help/Programs



Diagnoses Treated That Freqeuntly Overlap with SPD

  • Anxiety disorder
  • Attachment disorder
  • ADH/D
  • Autism and autism spectrum disorders
  • Bi-polar
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Depression
  • Developmental Delay
  • Developmental Coordination Disorder
  • Down Syndrome
  • Feeding Disorders
  • Fragile X Syndrome
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Psychiatric Disorders (e.g., OCD, ODD, Bipolar, etc.)
  • Regulatory Disorders
  • Sensory Impairment (visual or hearing)
  • Sensory Processing Disorder
  • Speech & language disorders
  • Traumatic Brain Injury disorder
  • Multiple genetic disorders

Research Based Treatment

  • Manualized treatment 
  • Reserach links