occupational Therapy

Our Services

Occupational therapy (OT) is the use of assessment and treatment to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living and ‘occupation’ skills of children. OT can help kids with various needs improve their cognitive, physical, sensory, and motor skills and enhance their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment. Some people may think that occupational therapy is only for adults; kids, after all, do not have occupations. A child’s main occupation is playing, learning, and self-care.

Children need to develop certain skills to perform their daily life activities and become functional and independent adults. These skills include sensory discrimination and processing, development of gross and fine motor skills (coordination & balance, hand functions), social interaction, cognitive and perceptual skills, and self-care skills. We provide Occupational therapy (OT) treatment for the disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), Cerebral Palsy (CP), Genetic Disorders (Down Syndrome, Fragile-X Syndrome), Intellectual Disability, and any other Physical Impairments.

Helping Your Child Thrive Through Play and Purpose

Every child deserves the opportunity to grow, learn, and experience life with confidence. At Al Najma Center, we’re dedicated to nurturing your child’s unique potential through expert pediatric occupational therapy in a warm, supportive environment.

What is Pediatric Occupational Therapy?

Pediatric Occupational Therapy (OT) focuses on helping children overcome challenges that affect their ability to participate in everyday activities. Whether it’s dressing independently, using classroom tools, playing with peers, or managing sensory experiences, our therapy empowers children to navigate their world more effectively.

Through fun, goal-oriented activities, our occupational therapists at Al Najma Center help children strengthen their motor skills, regulate emotions, process sensory input, and build essential life skills.

Who Can Benefit from Pediatric OT?

Children who experience difficulties in any of the following areas may benefit from occupational therapy:

Processing sensory information (over- or under-responsiveness)
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Difficulty with focus, attention, or emotional regulation
Developmental delays or coordination difficulties (e.g., Dyspraxia)
Challenges with fine or gross motor skills
Feeding issues (oral motor coordination, sensory aversions)
Learning and handwriting difficulties
Poor balance, posture, or muscle strength

Our Approach to Pediatric Occupational Therapy

We begin with a comprehensive evaluation to identify a child's strengths and challenges. Based on this, we create a personalized therapy plan. Our approach may include:

Motor skills improvement: Engaging activities designed to enhance coordination, strength, and movement patterns, enabling children to excel in everyday tasks.
Hand-eye coordination exercises: Fun, targeted exercises aimed at improving skills like writing, drawing, and manipulating objects, enhancing precision and focus.
Sensory integration techniques: Innovative methods to help children process sensory input, transforming sensory challenges into opportunities for growth.
Adaptive tools and assistive devices: Expert recommendations for tools that empower children to gain independence in daily tasks, building confidence and autonomy.
Play-based learning: Dynamic activities such as games, arts, and crafts that make learning enjoyable while fostering cognitive, social, and emotional growth.
Parental guidance: Providing parents with the strategies and tools to support their child's progress at home and ensure continued development.

Core Focus Areas of Our Program

We focus on key developmental areas that help children build essential skills for life:

Sensory Integration – Helping children process and respond appropriately to sensory input like noise, touch, or movement.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills – Strengthening coordination, balance, and muscle control for tasks like writing, walking, and playing.
Self-Care Skills – Fostering independence in activities such as dressing, eating, hygiene, and toileting.
Social and Emotional Development – Building emotional awareness, cooperation, and flexibility through play and social interaction.
Cognitive and Academic Readiness – Enhancing attention, memory, organization, and problem-solving skills to prepare for learning and school activities.

Benefits of Occupational Therapy at Al Najma Center

Improved Independence: Helps your child perform daily activities, such as dressing, feeding, and learning, on their own.
Better Coordination and Sensory Processing: Enhances fine and gross motor skills, along with the ability to process sensory information effectively.
Emotional and Behavioral Regulation: Supports emotional well-being by helping children manage impulses and regulate their feelings.
Stronger Social Skills: Fosters positive interactions with peers and adults, improving communication and problem-solving abilities.
Adaptability and Confidence: Helps your child adapt to new environments, changes, and transitions with greater ease and confidence.
Increased Self-Esteem: Through successful therapy, children gain confidence in their abilities, leading to greater independence and enjoyment in daily activities.

Why Families Trust Al Najma Center

Our therapy spaces are welcoming, sensory-aware, and designed specifically for children’s comfort and engagement. We offer:

Individualized Treatment Plans – Each child receives a customized approach based on their specific challenges and strengths.
Engaging Therapy Techniques – We use games, crafts, and obstacle courses to naturally build the skills your child needs while keeping them motivated and entertained.
Parental Involvement – We guide and empower parents to actively participate in therapy, providing tools and strategies to reinforce progress at home.
A Nurturing Environment – Our therapy spaces are carefully designed to be safe, supportive, and stimulating, encouraging your child’s development and well-being.

Begin Your Child’s Occupational Therapy Journey Today!

If your child is struggling with daily activities, social interactions, or school tasks, Al Najma Center is here to help. Our team of experts is dedicated to guiding your child through every step of their therapy journey.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation and take the first step toward supporting your child’s growth, confidence, and independence.

Many families have seen their children gain confidence, master new skills, and thrive in everyday moments through our engaging therapy sessions. We look forward to building that journey with you!

SERVICES PROVIDING:

Picky Eating Support

Is your child extremely selective about food, avoiding certain textures, tastes, or smells? At Al Najma Center, we understand how stressful mealtimes can be for families dealing with picky eating. Our occupational therapists specialize in helping children who struggle with sensory-based feeding difficulties. Whether your child avoids certain food groups or reacts strongly to new foods, our therapy sessions are designed to gently expand their tolerance and enjoyment of eating.

We use fun, play-based strategies to reduce anxiety around food while developing oral-motor and sensory processing skills. Sessions are personalized for each child and guided by a supportive therapist, with parents playing a key role in building healthy eating routines at home. By creating a calm, structured mealtime environment and introducing foods in a non-pressuring way, we help children build confidence and curiosity around food.

From learning to sit at the table to exploring new textures, our goal is to make mealtimes a more positive experience for both child and family. If you're concerned about your child’s eating habits, Al Najma Center is here to help. Let’s take the first step together toward happier, more enjoyable mealtimes.

Sensory Integration Therapy

At Al Najma Center, we offer Sensory Integration Therapy to support children who experience challenges processing everyday sensory input. These children may be overly sensitive to touch, sound, movement, or textures—or may constantly seek out sensory input to feel calm and regulated. Our occupational therapists use specialized, play-based activities to help children better understand and respond to the world around them.

Sensory Integration Therapy improves how the brain processes sensory messages from the body and environment. We focus on enhancing body awareness, attention, emotional regulation, and participation in daily activities. Each therapy plan is personalized and may include a sensory diet—a carefully selected set of activities to meet your child’s unique needs throughout the day.

Children engage in fun, purposeful tasks like swinging, climbing, bouncing, or exploring different textures, all within a safe, structured environment. These experiences help build stronger neural connections, leading to better behavior, focus, and learning outcomes.

Our team at Al Najma Center also guides parents on how to support sensory needs at home and in school settings. If your child struggles with sensitivity or sensory-seeking behavior, let us help them thrive by building the foundation for regulation, learning, and success through sensory integration.

Handwriting Development Program

Handwriting is more than just putting letters on paper—it’s a complex skill built on motor control, sensory processing, and cognitive coordination. At Al Najma Center, our occupational therapists offer a structured and engaging handwriting program for children aged 3 to 8 years who find writing tasks frustrating, slow, or unclear.

We begin with a thorough assessment to understand your child’s strengths and challenges, whether it's pencil grip, posture, hand strength, or visual-motor coordination. From there, we create a fun, individualized therapy plan that blends fine motor exercises, multisensory learning, and guided practice.

Through playful activities like tracing, drawing, sculpting with clay, or letter games, children develop better hand control, spacing, and confidence. We also work on posture, attention, and stamina to support longer writing tasks. Most importantly, we build your child’s belief in their own ability—reducing anxiety and making writing feel achievable and even enjoyable.

Our approach is gentle, supportive, and results-focused. At Al Najma Center, we turn handwriting struggles into handwriting success—preparing your child for smoother learning experiences both in school and at home. Reach out to learn how we can support your little one’s writing journey.

Play Skill Development

Play is at the heart of every child’s growth. At Al Najma Center, we harness the power of play to help children develop essential life skills in a joyful and meaningful way. Our occupational therapists design therapy sessions that use play as a tool to build motor coordination, emotional regulation, social communication, and cognitive development.

Every child is unique, and so is their play. Whether your child finds it hard to join in with others, struggles with movement or attention, or has difficulty expressing emotions, we meet them where they are—with playful, engaging, goal-driven activities tailored just for them.

Through pretend games, obstacle courses, sensory exploration, art, and movement-based activities, children build the foundation for independence, learning, and social success. We also involve parents, helping you carry over playful learning into everyday life at home.

Early play-based intervention not only boosts confidence and skill development—it helps children connect with their world in richer, more fulfilling ways. At Al Najma Center, we believe play is powerful. It’s where learning begins, emotions unfold, and children shine. Let us guide your child toward brighter development—one joyful play session at a time.

Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Training

At Al Najma Center, we support children in gaining independence through our specialized Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Training program. ADLs include essential self-care tasks like dressing, grooming, brushing teeth, using utensils, feeding, toileting, and more—skills that build confidence and enable children to participate meaningfully in their daily routines.

Some children struggle with these tasks due to sensory sensitivities, motor coordination issues, cognitive delays, or attention challenges. Our occupational therapists carefully assess your child’s abilities and create an individualized plan that focuses on small, achievable goals. We use playful, structured techniques to teach each step of a task, helping your child feel successful and motivated.

Through repetition, modeling, and the right environmental supports, children gradually learn to manage these everyday skills more independently. We also work closely with parents and caregivers to carry over these skills into the home environment—because what happens outside the therapy room matters just as much.

Whether it’s learning to button a shirt, hold a toothbrush, or sit on the toilet with ease, we meet your child where they are and guide them forward. At Al Najma Center, we believe every child deserves the dignity and freedom that comes with independence.

Developmental Delay Intervention

If your child is not meeting expected developmental milestones, early support can make all the difference. At Al Najma Center, our Developmental Delay Intervention program is designed to help children who show delays in areas such as motor skills, language, play, attention, or self-care abilities.

Our occupational therapists begin with a comprehensive assessment to understand your child’s strengths and areas of need. From there, we create a personalized intervention plan that uses play-based, engaging activities to promote development in a safe, encouraging environment.

We work on foundational skills like sitting, crawling, grasping, responding to others, or using both hands together—depending on your child’s age and developmental profile. Our therapists also focus on improving cognitive skills, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and early social interaction, preparing children for smoother transitions into preschool or school environments.

Parent involvement is a key part of success. We provide coaching and home activity ideas to support continued growth outside of therapy sessions.

At Al Najma Center, we are here to support your child’s developmental journey—step by step, with warmth, expertise, and hope. If you’re concerned about your child’s progress, let’s take the next step together.

Social Skills Training Groups

At Al Najma Center, our Social Skills Training Groups are designed to help children build meaningful connections, communicate confidently, and navigate the world around them with ease. These small-group sessions are guided by experienced therapists who create a safe and structured space where children can learn, practice, and grow together.

Many children—especially those with autism, ADHD, or social delays—struggle with understanding social cues, making friends, or managing emotions in group settings. Through fun and interactive play, role-playing, storytelling, and games, children learn essential skills such as:

Initiating conversations and maintaining interactions
Taking turns and sharing
Understanding emotions—both their own and others’
Reading body language and facial expressions
Problem-solving and conflict resolution

Our groups are tailored by age and ability to ensure that each child feels comfortable and supported. With consistent participation, children gain confidence, develop empathy, and learn to engage more positively at school, home, and in the community.

Parents are kept involved throughout the process, with guidance and strategies to support social growth at home and in everyday life.

At Al Najma Center, we believe that social success starts with small, guided steps—and we’re here to walk those steps with your child.

Picky Eater: Understanding & Supporting Your Child

When a child is highly selective about food, it can often be linked to sensory processing difficulties. Children who are picky eaters may experience hypersensitivity to certain sensory inputs, such as taste (gustatory), smell (olfactory), and texture (tactile). This means that their brain is receiving an overwhelming amount of information from these senses, which can make eating certain foods feel uncomfortable, and lead to avoidance behaviors or strong reactions, such as crying, refusal to eat, or even aggression. In these cases, the child’s brain may be responding with a fight-or-flight reaction, making mealtime challenging.

Some children, however, may actively seek proprioceptive input, which is sensory feedback from muscles, ligaments, and joints. These children may prefer harder, more textured foods that require extra chewing. This helps them self-regulate by stimulating areas of the brain involved in calming emotions and energy levels, such as the reticular formation. For these children, eating can serve as a way to soothe themselves.

Other children might avoid specific food textures altogether or refuse to mix different types of food. This is often due to heightened tactile sensitivity in the mouth, making certain textures feel overwhelming or unpleasant.

How Can an Occupational Therapist Help?

An occupational therapist (OT) specializes in helping children with sensory processing challenges. They can assess how your child’s sensory system is responding to different food textures and tastes. By using a sensory-based approach, OTs can help reduce sensitivities and support children in expanding their food preferences.

Here’s how an OT can assist your child with picky eating:

Sensory Integration: OTs work on helping the child gradually adapt to different sensory experiences, reducing hypersensitivity and making food textures less overwhelming.
Oral Motor Skills: For children who struggle with chewing, swallowing, or coordinating their mouth movements, the OT can develop strategies to improve their oral motor skills, making it easier for them to eat different types of foods.
Self-Regulation: OTs teach children how to manage their emotional and physiological responses to food, helping them stay calm and open to new experiences during mealtime.

How Can You Support Your Child at Home?

As a parent, your involvement in your child’s journey toward becoming a more adventurous eater is key. A positive, supportive, and structured environment can significantly reduce stress and anxiety around food. Here are some helpful strategies to try at home:

Create a Consistent Mealtime Routine: A predictable daily schedule for meals can help your child feel more secure. Consistency reduces anxiety and gives them a clear sense of what to expect, which can make eating a more relaxed experience.
Introduce New Foods Slowly: Instead of overwhelming your child with a variety of new foods at once, start with small changes. Introduce one new food at a time alongside their preferred foods. This can help ease them into trying something different without triggering a strong negative reaction.
Encourage Exploration: Encourage your child to touch, smell, and play with food, even before trying to eat it. This helps desensitize them to the texture and smell, making it easier for them to accept it later.
Use Positive Reinforcement: Celebrate small successes, such as trying a new food or taking a bite. Positive reinforcement can increase their confidence and motivation to try again next time.
Minimize Mealtime Stress: Try to keep mealtimes calm and free from pressure. Avoid forcing your child to eat or making mealtime a stressful experience. The goal is to create a positive and nurturing environment where they feel comfortable trying new foods.
Posture and Seating: Proper seating can make a significant difference in your child’s ability to focus on the meal. Ensure they are seated comfortably at a table that encourages good posture, which can help improve their engagement with food.

What Happens During Therapy?

The first step is an initial assessment by the occupational therapist to identify your child’s specific needs and challenges. The OT will observe how your child responds to different sensory experiences and food textures, as well as assess their overall development and motor skills.

Once the assessment is complete, the therapist will develop a personalized therapy plan. Initially, therapy might focus on foundational skills like improving posture or learning to sit at the table for longer periods. The therapist will work with your child to gradually increase their comfort level with mealtimes and help them build skills needed to engage with food.

Over time, the OT will introduce techniques to help your child overcome their sensory sensitivities and develop a more varied diet. With consistent support and a structured home routine, your child can begin to enjoy a wider range of foods in a way that feels comfortable and enjoyable for them.

Sensory Integration Therapy: Helping Your Child Process Sensory Information

For children who struggle to process and respond to external stimuli—such as sights, sounds, textures, smells, and tastes—Sensory Integration Therapy can make a big difference. At Al Najma Center, our therapists often recommend one-on-one therapeutic play sessions, designed to help children develop appropriate adaptive responses and improve their sensory processing skills.

What is Sensory Integration?

Sensory integration is the way we process, organize, and respond to sensory information from our bodies and the environment. In simple terms, it’s how we experience, interpret, and react to (or sometimes ignore) the information coming from our senses. Sensory integration plays a crucial role in everything we do daily, such as:

Daily living activities (e.g., getting dressed, brushing teeth)
Moving around (e.g., walking, running)
Socializing (e.g., interacting with others)
Learning (e.g., listening, focusing)
Working (e.g., completing tasks)

Sensory integration is a natural process that develops as we engage in everyday activities. However, for some children, sensory integration doesn’t develop as efficiently, which can affect their ability to participate in daily tasks, impact their behavior, or make learning and social interactions more difficult. At Al Najma Center, we specialize in helping children overcome these challenges through targeted therapy.

Understanding Sensory Processing

We receive sensory information through the following senses:

Vision
Auditory (hearing)
Tactile (touch)
Gustatory (taste)
Olfactory (smell)
Proprioception (sense of body position)
Vestibular (sense of movement and balance)
Interoception (sense of internal body states, like hunger or heart rate)

When children face sensory integration challenges, they may have difficulty processing and responding to sensory inputs in a way that allows them to engage fully in everyday activities. This can interfere with learning, behavior, and social participation. At Al Najma Center, our therapists work closely with families to tailor therapy plans to each child’s unique needs.

What is a Sensory Diet?

A sensory diet is one effective strategy for managing sensory processing challenges. It’s a personalized plan of physical activities and accommodations tailored to meet your child’s specific sensory needs. The goal is to help your child regulate their sensory experiences, promoting a calm and organized state that supports learning, attention, and appropriate behavior.

A sensory diet consists of various activities designed to target different sensory systems. The types of activities and the frequency, intensity, and duration of sensory input vary depending on your child’s unique needs and responses. These activities can include things like deep pressure exercises, swinging, or engaging in activities that help with balance and coordination.

How Does the Sensory Diet Work?

The sensory diet is designed to help your child achieve an optimal sensory state—a balanced level of alertness and calmness that allows them to focus and behave appropriately. Over time, as your child’s sensory needs change or their environment shifts, the sensory diet is adjusted to continue supporting their development.

It’s important to remember that what works for one child may not work for another. A sensory diet needs to be developed in collaboration with both parents and therapists, ensuring that it aligns with the child’s specific sensory needs and personal preferences. At Al Najma Center, we work closely with parents to create a tailored sensory plan that fits your child’s unique requirements.

Self-Regulation and the Role of Sensory Diets

Through the sensory diet, children learn how to self-regulate their energy levels, behavior, emotions, and attention. As a result, skills such as concentrating, taking turns, and sharing can improve, enabling your child to better manage tasks and navigate social situations independently.

To be most effective, the sensory activities in the sensory diet should be integrated into play and daily life. Making them a natural part of everyday routines helps your child build the necessary skills in a consistent, supportive environment. At Al Najma Center, we help ensure these strategies become part of your child’s daily routine for the best outcomes.

Why Sensory Integration Therapy Works

Sensory integration therapy is designed to be flexible, adapting to your child’s changing needs and sensory processing patterns. It provides a safe space where children can explore sensory experiences in a controlled and therapeutic way, helping them build resilience and improve their overall functioning.

If you’d like to learn more or get started with sensory integration therapy, please contact Al Najma Center for further details and to schedule an assessment. Our therapists are here to support you and your child every step of the way.

Handwriting Program by Occupational Therapists at Al Najma Center

A child’s ability to write clearly and comfortably plays a significant role in their academic success and overall confidence. At Al Najma Center, our handwriting program—developed and delivered by skilled occupational therapists—is designed to support children who face challenges with writing. Through personalized, engaging, and goal-oriented sessions, we help children build the essential skills needed to write with ease and confidence.

Every child is different, and so are their handwriting difficulties. That’s why our program begins with a thorough assessment by an occupational therapist. This helps us identify your child’s strengths and specific challenges, whether it’s related to poor pencil grip, inconsistent letter formation, slow writing speed, or trouble with spacing and alignment. Based on this evaluation, we create an individualized plan tailored to your child’s unique needs.

Before focusing on writing letters and words, we concentrate on strengthening the foundational skills that support good handwriting. These include fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, pencil grasp, appropriate pressure, posture, and body awareness. By building a solid base, children are better equipped to write clearly and comfortably without fatigue or frustration.

To make learning fun and effective, we use a variety of multisensory and play-based techniques. Activities such as tracing letters in textured materials like sand or foam help build muscle memory, while interactive games strengthen finger and hand muscles. Visual-motor tasks improve coordination and focus, and we also encourage goal setting and self-reflection to keep children motivated and proud of their progress.

This program is ideal for children aged 3 to 8 years who may be struggling with messy or slow handwriting, difficulty forming letters, or who show signs of frustration during writing activities. It is also suitable for children with fine motor delays, coordination difficulties, or those diagnosed with dysgraphia.

With consistent participation in our handwriting program, children often experience noticeable improvements in legibility, writing speed, and endurance. More importantly, they gain greater self-confidence and are able to participate more fully in classroom tasks and learning activities.

At Al Najma Center, we believe that handwriting should be a positive experience, not a stressful one. Our dedicated occupational therapists work closely with each child and their family to ensure steady progress in a warm and encouraging environment.

For more information or to schedule an assessment, contact Al Najma Center today. We’re here to help your child succeed—one letter at a time.

Role of Occupational Therapists in Play Skill Development at Al Najma Center

At Al Najma Center, we recognize that play is not just fun for children—it’s essential to their development. Occupational therapists (OTs) use play as a powerful therapeutic tool to support growth across multiple areas, including physical, emotional, cognitive, and social skills. Since play is considered a child’s primary occupation, it becomes a natural and effective way to help them learn, explore, and connect with the world around them.

Occupational therapy enhances a child’s play skills by tailoring play-based interventions to meet individual developmental needs. These interventions are carefully designed to improve motor skills, cognitive functions, emotional regulation, and social abilities. For example, activities such as climbing, drawing, or manipulating small toys can significantly boost fine and gross motor coordination. Problem-solving games and strategy-based play promote thinking skills and executive functioning, while cooperative games and pretend play help children learn how to take turns, share, express themselves, and navigate social interactions. Through guided play, therapists also help children develop emotional awareness and resilience in a safe, supportive environment.

Different types of play are used in therapy depending on the child’s goals. Free play encourages creativity and gives children the freedom to lead, helping build confidence and imagination. Structured play, on the other hand, introduces rules and tasks, teaching children how to follow instructions and work with others. Sensory play—such as touching textured materials, swinging,

The Benefits of Play-Based Occupational Therapy

The benefits of play-based occupational therapy are far-reaching. It strengthens the physical coordination children need for everyday tasks like dressing, eating, and writing. It enhances cognitive skills such as attention, memory, and problem-solving, while also supporting emotional development through positive expression and self-regulation. Over time, these improvements lead to greater independence and self-esteem, especially in daily routines at home and in school.

Early Intervention: The Key to Success

Early intervention is key. At Al Najma Center, we emphasize the importance of addressing developmental delays through play as early as possible. Children learn best during their early years, and guided play during this time builds strong foundations for future academic and social success. We also believe that therapy is most effective when parents are actively involved. Our therapists work closely with families, offering practical strategies for encouraging both structured and unstructured play at home. This teamwork ensures that children continue to progress even outside therapy sessions.

Play-Based Activities for Specific Goals

Our occupational therapists use a wide variety of play-based activities during sessions to keep children engaged while working on specific goals. Here are some examples of the activities:

Sensory bins filled with rice or sand help improve tactile processing.
Finger painting, playdough sculpting, and bead stringing enhance fine motor skills and hand strength.
Obstacle courses and animal walks like crawling or hopping build balance and coordination.
Pretend play scenarios, such as hosting a tea party or visiting a make-believe doctor’s clinic, support imagination, social skills, and emotional expression.
Simple board games teach important concepts like turn-taking, patience, and teamwork.

Commitment to Your Child’s Growth

At Al Najma Center, we are dedicated to helping children grow through play in a fun, meaningful, and developmentally supportive way. Whether your child needs help with motor skills, sensory regulation, attention, or social interaction, our occupational therapy team is here to guide them through every step—one playful moment at a time.

Contact Us

For more details or to schedule an assessment, please contact Al Najma Center. Let’s help your child thrive through the power of play.

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