The OTvest™ Sensory Weighted Vest Helps Improve Fine Motor Skills

The OTvest™ is a denim sensory weighted vest that feels like a calming, stabilizing hug. This simple, non-invasive intervention can make a meaningful difference in everyday life. The deep pressure touch provided by the OTvest can help increase focus and attention, and stabilize the trunk and upper extremities to help improve fine skills.

Supporting Everyday Fine Motor Skills

Wearing the OTvest™ can help individuals who struggle with fine motor skills required for daily activities, including:

• Handwriting and drawing

• Keyboarding and typing

• Drinking from a cup or using utensils

  

• Brushing teeth or combing hair

• Buttoning, snapping, or fastening clothing

• Coloring and cutting with scissors

• Meal preparation

• Gardening or using tools

• Completing puzzles and tabletop tasks

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How the OTvest™ Works

The OTvest™ applies deep pressure therapy to the upper back and chest, directly stimulating the body’s sensory receptors. This deep pressure input can encourage the release of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, helping to increase calmness, focus, and overall well-being—while improving attention-to-task.

Unlike weighted blankets, compression vests, or traditional weighted vests, the OTvest™ is designed to be comfortably worn throughout the day. Its effectiveness lies in the strategic, patented placement of weight, rather than simply adding more weight ineffectively in pockets or hems of a garment without any deep pressure applied directly to the body.

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Trunk Stability for Better Hand Control

The patented weighted insert distributes weight across the upper chest and upper back, improving trunk and shoulder-girdle stability. When deep pressure is applied directly to the muscles of the upper back and shoulders, it helps reduce tremors and stabilize the trunk—leading to improved distal (hand) coordination and control.

This two-fold benefit—calming for focus and stabilizing for movement—is essential for successful fine motor performance.

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Supporting Individuals With Movement Disorders

Individuals with movement disorders such as:

• Parkinson’s disease

• Dystonia

• Cerebellar ataxia

• Multiple sclerosis

• Cerebral palsy

• Intention tremors

often experience improved fine motor and upper-extremity function while wearing the OTvest™. Pressure applied across the scapula and shoulder-girdle supports smoother arm movement and improved hand coordination. Reduced tremors can make everyday tasks such as self-feeding, drinking from a cup, and keyboarding significantly easier.

Occupational therapists have reported dramatic reductions—and in some cases near elimination—of tremors, with the greatest improvements seen in daily living skills like holding a cup without spilling, typing, and fastening clothing.

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Designed for Independence

Many weighted vests are difficult to put on due to buttons or zippers, which can be frustrating for individuals with fine motor challenges. The OTvest™ features easy-to-use snaps, allowing for greater independence and ease of use. It is not essential to snap these closures as the inner weight insert stays positioned. Compression vests, sometimes used for deep pressure, look therapeutic, therefore  typically needing another covering garment to look "normal"--and are difficult to put on/off without assistance.

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Fine Motor Skills, Attention, and ADHD, neurodiversity

Fine motor performance depends heavily on visual attention and motor planning. Difficulties with attention-to-task can impair accuracy, coordination, and productivity—commonly seen in individuals with ADHD,  sensory processing challenges or neurodiversity.

Handwriting, in particular, can be extremely demanding. Staying within lines, forming letters, and completing details like crossing t’s and dotting i’s requires sustained attention and precise motor control.

Wearing the OTvest™ provides deep pressure touch therapy and proprioceptive input, helping calm and organize the nervous system. This allows the wearer to better understand their body position -- where the arm, elbow, hand, and fingers should be to perform fine motor tasks-- and  better perform movement. Improved movement and body position sense support improved handwriting, cutting, drawing, and other fine motor tasks. For this reason, the OTvest™ can be a natural, non-pharmacological support option for individuals with ADHD when fine motor skills are an area of concern.

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Research-Based Design

Shown in her research published in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy,¹ occupational therapist Nancy VandenBerg, MS, OTR/L, found that children with ADHD demonstrated an 18–25% increase in attention-to-task during fine motor activities such as cutting, drawing, and writing when wearing a weighted vest within the classroom.

Following this research, Ms. VandenBerg recognized the need for an improved weight placement design. Using her extensive experience in sensory integration, Bobath and Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT) theory (trained directly by the Bobath team in Detroit), and central nervous system function, she designed and patented the OTvest™ in 2002. The OTvest™ has remained the weighted vest chosen by professionals because of the effective weight position and long-lasting quality of the entire garment.

Unlike other weighted vests that use loose sand or pellet-filled pockets or hems, the OTvest™ places thin, dense weights that lie directly on the body, making it more effective while requiring less overall weight.

The OTvest ™ also LOOKS GOOD and FEELS GOOD!

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A Classroom Success Story

After creating the OTvest™, a first-grade teacher shared a powerful moment. One of her students completed an entire assignment for the first time—coloring neatly within the lines of geometric shapes while wearing the OTvest™.

The child proudly told his teacher,
“I feel like a brand new boy.”

Previously disorganized and unfocused, with papers and pencils all over the floor around his desk, he was able to clearly see the improvement in his work. Beyond task success, the OTvest™ gave him something equally important: confidence and self-esteem.

This is just one example of the improvement in classroom work seen in the school district where Ms. VandenBerg provided occupational therapy treatment—and the testimonials provide more success stories from school districts and families across the country.

 

Supporting All Ages

Since 2002, occupational therapists, schools, and families nationwide have reported improved focus, motor stability, daily function, and self-confidence with the OTvest™. The OTvest™ is available to order in 7 sizes, and appropriate for all ages and gender.

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Experience increased attention, focus, and fine motor control—CLICK HERE TO ORDER the OTvest™ today.

👉 Look for the yellow “OTvest™” label on the chest pocket to ensure you are purchasing the genuine OTvest™.

Only the OTvest™ features the patented weighted insert that lies directly on the body. The WEIGHT POSITION is what makes the difference.

 

References:

¹VandenBerg, N.L. (2001). The use of a weighted vest to increase on-task behavior in children with attention difficulties. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 55, 621-628. November/December 2001.

This research is also in the book, Pediatric Issues in Occupational Therapy: A Compendium of Leading Scholarship (Royeen, 2004) published by AOTA (N. VandenBerg, Chapter 25.)