Summary: Occupational Engagement

Unit 5: Occupational Engagement of the Young Child
Engagement in occupations begins as soon as a child is born. Throughout infancy, the child continually learns new skills and engages in new occupations. Advances in childhood development has profound implications for the child’s ability to engage in occupations that are meaningful for their quality of life. As a child develops, it is important to recognize the potential barriers standing in the way to mastery of childhood occupations. Occupational therapy intervention can provide service for those children who face challenges in occupational engagement. Occupational therapists who work with children provide interventions “that incorporate individual learning opportunities for children within
As a child engages in occupations there are specific client factors that “influence the client’s performance in occupations” (AOTA, 2014, p. S22). For a child, the client factors influencing their engagement in health management include factors needed for nutrition, such as, swallowing, chewing and taste (AOTA, 2014). Also, an understanding of body functions, such as proprioception, serves important as a child learns to self-dress and self-feed (AOTA, 2014). Toileting and hygiene are also significant components of health management. These health routines require voluntary movement controls and the higher cognitive function to realize when the bathroom is needed and the natural routine for self-toileting (AOTA, 2014). Per Cronin and Mandich (2016), “typically developing children entering school at the age of five will be toilet trained and self-sufficient in eating and simple hygiene” (p. 290). By understanding the client factors that lie within a child aged zero to five, as well as the developmental specifics to their age, we can identify a child’s capacity for engagement in health
S27). Establishing a pattern in infancy is essential because patterns are continually used throughout the lifespan in accomplishing activities of daily living. In childhood, daily routines are important to promote structure and maximize functional outcomes for the development of a child in acquiring self-help skills specific to health management occupation. (Hwang, Chao, & Liu, 2013). In addition to routine as part of health management, habits help establish childhood engagement in health management. For example, it is key to introduce a child to the habit of washing his or her hands after toileting and before eating. Also, it is important for a child to get into the habit of putting dirty dishes in the sink and cleaning up after eating. Developing these self-help skills and habits early in childhood aid in the habitual routine of health management skills throughout the