Initial Referral
Once you have contacted us via phone or email, we will discuss and note down some information such as your details, your therapy preferences, any previous intervention, and any difficulties your child may be experiencing. We can then decide whether having an occupational therapy assessment is required and if so what type of assessment is most appropriate. From there, your child’s name will be added to our waitlist. When an appointment time becomes available we will book in an agreed time for the assessment session. We will send you a questionnaire and may ask you to send your child’s teacher a questionnaire to gather information from the contexts in which your child is having difficulty participating.
Assessment
There are many types of assessments we can do, depending on your child’s difficulties and the purpose of the assessment. Assessments range from 30 minutes to 2 hours. During the assessment we will assess your child’s skills to identify their strengths and any difficulties they may be experiencing. We will assess the reasons for your child’s difficulties by looking at their underlying abilities, for example: mechanical (e.g. posture and pencil grip); sensory (e.g. sensory processing and hand eye co-ordination; cognition (e.g. attention, recall, planning and motor execution); and social/emotional (e.g. enjoyment, motivation and joining in) . After the assessment, we will discuss with you our initial findings and provide a report if required.
Assessment types:
- Preschooler assessment: assesses school readiness skills in the lead up to commencing Kindergarten.
- Social emotional assessment: assesses social skills and underlying emotional regulation difficulties. In this assessment we review a child’s sensory profile, attention, and problem solving skills that may be impacting on social skills and peer interactions.
- Handwriting assessment: assesses handwriting legibility, speed and written expression and underlying abilities that can impact handwriting.
- Feeding/eating assessment: an initial parent consultation to discuss feeding goals and the current feeding situation. During this, the completed parent questionnaire and sensory profile will be reviewed and some initial strategies can be provided to trial in the home environment.
- Comprehensive assessment: a thorough and extensive assessment of a broad range of skills including school readiness, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, social skills, play skills and self care skills.
- Special provisions assessment (for current clients only): to gain in-depth information about areas of difficulty. These findings and report can be used when applying for special provisions in an educational setting.
Intervention
After the assessment, we may suggest that ongoing intervention would be appropriate. We will discuss with you priority goals for intervention and we will endeavour to achieve strong relationships between parents/caregivers, teachers and other health professionals to ensure a “just right” fit for your child. Intervention takes place at the therapy clinic and one-off observation sessions can occur at the child’s school/preschool. We will also suggest the duration and frequency of intervention. Typically, intervention is weekly or fortnightly, 30 or 45 minutes, depending on your child’s difficulties.