THE FOLLOWING ARE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY RED FLAGS FOR REFERRAL:
Delayed Fine Motor Skills (skills requiring use of small muscles in the hand) – has difficulty playing with age-appropriate toys with multiple or small pieces; may have poor handwriting; may have difficulty self-‐feeding with a utensil; has poor eye-hand coordination
Delayed Gross Motor Skills (skills requiring large-muscle coordination) – is delayed, or has skipped developmental milestones, such as rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, running, jumping, or climbing stairs; has decreased balance (trips easily or is unable to stand on one foot); has difficulty catching or kicking a ball
Lack of Attention – has difficulty maintaining attention in class or to a conversation; is fidgety or has difficulty staying seated for any length of time; has difficulty remembering things mentioned to him/her
Hyperactivity – is impulsive and always seems to be in “turbo speed”; difficulty keeping hands off of nearby people and things (impulsive)
Visual Scanning Problems – has difficulty reading a line of text without skipping to another line; has difficulty copying information from the board at school; slow to find hidden objects in a picture or words in a word search
Visual-Perception Problems – has difficulty judging spatial distances between self and objects; may not take note of details or distinguishing features of an object; has difficulty with puzzles or copying shape designs
Sensory Concerns – seems to be somewhat excessive in the response (responds too much or too little) to sounds, movement, heights, touching and being touched, types of clothing, food textures, etc (could strongly desire the input or resist it); difficulty following multiple-step instructions
Poor Body Awareness – may be seen as “clumsy”; may run into things often or break things; may appear disheveled with shoes untied, clothing not adjusted properly, food on face or shirt, etc.
Feeding problems – difficulty chewing or swallowing; holds food in cheeks; picky or messy eater; has poor postural control and/or difficulty holding and using eating utensils
Delayed Self-care Skills – has difficulty with age-appropriate dressing, feeding, personal hygiene, or toileting
Poor Social Skills – difficulty making or keeping friends, poor play skills or sportsmanship, aggressive, low frustration tolerance, low self-esteem, has difficulty reading social cues or others’ body language
