About Kim Cunningham
Kim Cunningham, MS OTR has served as a Licensed Pediatric Occupational Therapist for over 20 years, with a focus on early childhood development. As an educator, she's concerned in a holistic and comprehensive approach to the care of her young patients, even when they are learning from home. She is the founder and creator of the Hands on Fun OT kit, making occupational therapy fun and easy for parents and children.
Hands on Fun OT provides resources, tools, and activities geared toward the healthy development of kids. Based on functional and occupation-centered activities, the ideas shared on this site promote the underlying skills needed for action and performance in kids. As an occupational therapist with many years in the field, I am here to promote the healthy development of kids through play, movement in order to make a positive impact on kids today.
Our mission is to help you do that—to provide you with tools, solutions, and information you need to encourage the healthy development of kids.
What is OT?
When a school informs parents that it recommends occupational therapy for their child, parents tend to have a lot of questions. Their first question? What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy is a health profession in which trained therapists help children through play improve their school performance by looking at the whole child. The first three years of life affect all future learning, behavior, and health. Decades of research have shown that babies and toddlers thrive when they have environments that set children developing brain and bodies for success. An occupational therapist purpose for children is to develop their fine and sensory motor skills so they can grasp and release toys, clothes and belongings, develop good handwriting skills as well as pay attention and handle all activities in their classroom. The whole purpose of school-based occupational therapy is to help kids succeed.
Why is OT important for your child?
Gross Motor Skills
Gross motor skills involve movement of the larger muscle groups, like the arms and legs. These skills are the abilities usually acquired during childhood as part of a child's motor learning. By the time they reach two years of age, almost all children are able to stand up, walk and run. Gross motor abilities also form the basis for fine motor skills and relate to body awareness, reaction speed, balance and strength. If your child needs additional focus on this development, Hands on Fun Occupational Therapy programs will guide you in helping their growth and milestone achievement.
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills involve movement of the smaller muscle groups in your child's fingers, hands, and wrists. While many children don't have trouble with gross motor skills such as running or jumping, fine motor skills require more control and more precise movements of smaller muscles. Fine motor control is a very important skill to master for writing. For this reason, you'll want to make sure your child is continually improving these skills. Hand on Fun Occupational Therapy programs teach you skills and games to support your child's continued fine motor skill development.
