Services
Assessments
Occupational Therapy assessments are essential to understanding a person’s sensory processing and motor challenges, and how they impact life and are vital to forming strategies and treatment plans to support the development of these areas. A child or young person may require an assessment if they have challenges with…
Handwriting and Literacy
Concentration and Attention
Academia
Behaviours
Developmental Milestones- motor and sensory skills
I complete assessments which can be standardised or non-standardised in a pressure-free, play-based environment. These assessments help us to understand a child's gross and fine motor skills, visual perceptual strengths and weaknesses and identify any motor function impairment. Along with this, I also establish child's abilities around their engagement, motivation and mood. This helps me to draw a holistic picture of the child and his/her difficulties.
A standardised assessment can increase the cost of the assessment because standardised assessment toolkits and batteries are expensive to buy and needs specific training to expertise. However, they have their own merits such as standardised results which helps a therapist to design a tailored therapy plan for a child according to their needs.
Having said that a well trained occupational therapist can conclude very accurate results out of their functional assessments to support the needs of a child. This can be a cost-effective way to provide occupational therapy to children with long term needs.
Standardised assessment I can provide:
Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT™-2)
Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS-4)
Movement Assessment Battery for Children - (Movement ABC)
Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH)
Berry VMI
Treatments
Individual sessions: I believe that every child is different and their needs are different too. Hence, their therapy goals and treatment would be different too. I tailor therapy sessions for children which are a mix of motor and sensory activities specifically designed for them.
Group sessions: It is a well-established fact in the world of children that they learn and develop with each other. From parallel to associative to cooperative play, a child should have direct and indirect opportunity to develop holistically. Therefore, I plan out play sessions for children as well.
School based therapy: We all understand the importance of school and teachers in the learning journey of a child. So, the school has to be an important part of their therapy as well. I can go out to see a child in his/her school and plan therapy needs with their class teacher. My therapy plans are developed for children and young people on an individual basis; focussing on their specific needs. It is essential that programmes are practical to be delivered in the education setting and so, during development, therapists consider the curriculum, environment, resources and staff/timing restrictions.
I deliver a thorough handover of every programme to ensure individualised programmes are carried out safely, effectively and with confidence. A child’s school programme will outline activities to be completed, the duration of each activity, the therapeutic effect on the body and the expected response.
Home based programme: It is proven that home involvement in between clinic sessions will increase an individual’s progression. Home Programmes are devised and tailored around an individual’s needs and areas of development and include a variety of therapeutic activities and everyday activities. Every programme is designed to be easily completed at home without the need for specialised equipment and instead, uses resources such as pillows, blankets and space hoppers or items in the community such as shopping trolleys and playground equipment.
Inside the Home Programmes is a structured timetable of activities, information resources, suggested reading lists, a progress tracker and much more.
Report Writing
Our initial assessment comes with a short occupational therapy report which consists of the main findings from the assessment and evaluation of your child. It also contains child-specific therapy ideas for parents to deal with identified difficulties. This report can be useful for school and teaching staff to take ideas to support your child's development and learning. However, this report might not be sufficient for an EHC plan or Tribunal/Medico-legal purposes.
We can provide you with a detailed report of the assessment which will contain detailed findings of the assessment. This report follows the EHC plan pattern which clearly elaborates the child's needs and actions that are required to achieve measurable outcomes.
Equipment assessment
I have worked with children in schools and homes to address their seating difficulties. Seating assessment helps to identify the areas of difficulty with seating and accordingly a suitable adaptation or equipment can be recommended. I have experience working with different specialist seating providers, therefore, I can help you to identify the most appropriate equipment. A good seating posture is significant in improving fine motor and cognitive skills in children for academic tasks such as Handwriting and learning.
Adaptation Assessment
The adaptation assessment would involve a recommendation for minor and major adaptation within the house of the child. These recommendations are very specific to the needs of the child/ young person which are not limited to safe access, toileting, bathing and kitchen, wheelchair access, transfers, and many more. The scope of adaptation assessment is very wide and recommendations are always client centered.
Occupational Therapy Consultancy service
We provide consultancy service to care homes, housing with support, residential homes and supported livings in the region. The service is bespoke and based on the needs of the clients and service users the establishments support. Get in contact with us to discuss the needs.