How Can Dudley Children's Occupational Therapy Help?

 

We provide a community based service in a range of settings such as homes, schools, nurseries or The Sunflower Centre. Our service offers specialist assessment and intervention to enable and maximise the potential for children to engage in their occupations (daily living activities) such as:

 

Self-care:

 

• Eating and drinking
• Dressing
• Toileting
• Bathing and personal hygiene
• Making snacks

 

School and nursery activities:

 

• Handwriting/pre-writing
• Using school equipment e.g. scissors, rulers
• Organisational skills
• Getting around school

 

Play and leisure:

 

• Sports e.g. bike riding
• Hobbies
• Play skills

 

Intervention may include:

 

• Individual therapy sessions focussing on the child’s identified needs and goals
• Group therapy sessions e.g. baby group, ‘Bikeability’
• Parent workshops
• Information and advice on equipment or strategies to enable participation in daily activities at home or school
• Supporting schools and nurseries with the ‘Get Moving’ programme
• Assessment and provision of hand splints
• Upper limb monitoring and review clinics
• Liaison with parents, teachers and other professionals
• Training for other professionals

You can access the information leaflet for Dudley Children's Occupational Therapy here: OT_leaflet.pdf

 

Universal, Targeted and Specialist Support

 

What is Universal, Targeted and Specialist Support?

 

Universal Support

 

Universal interventions are those that benefit everyone, for example, all children attending a school. From an occupational therapy perspective, universal interventions help to ensure that all children have appropriate opportunities to move, learn and develop greater participation and independence in personal care, school and leisure occupations (activities).

For example, our service has provided schools with a Motor Coordination Toolkit, which explains the kinds of difficulties that children with coordination difficulties may have and provides resources and ideas to help. Our team has also developed a Sensory Toolkit to help schools and nurseries meet children’s sensory needs. We also provide further sources of information to help with a wide range of daily occupations (activities) on our website and via our Facebook page.

 

Targeted Support

 

Targeted interventions are those that are provided in partnership with others for young people who need support to develop their daily occupations (activities) and reach their potential. It includes specific training and advice to train those implementing therapy programmes (e.g. parents and school staff).

For example, our service provides training to schools and nurseries on a programme to help children who have motor coordination difficulties called the Get Moving Programme. There is also a more in-depth programme of advice within the Sensory Toolkit which can be personalised for an individual child. Targeted interventions may be enough to meet a child’s needs, while children with more persistent difficulties may need referral to our service for specialist intervention.

 

Specialist Support

 

The needs of many children traditionally referred to the occupational therapy service can be addressed by universal or targeted interventions. However, where needs cannot be met through universal and targeted interventions, some children may require more specialist interventions to meet their individual needs. In this case the occupational therapy service will provide direct therapy, assessing the child’s needs and working to meet their goals where appropriate needs are identified.

For example, this may involve individual sessions to work on improving the legibility of handwriting, fastening buttons, cutting food or, for younger children, participation in play. Therapy may also be may be provided in a group setting, for example, working on bike riding or readiness for secondary school.

 

Going to see your Occupational Therapist

 

What is Occupational Therapy?

 

Occupational Therapy or OT, helps you with everyday tasks, also known as occupations, that you might be finding hard. These may include things like getting yourself dressed, doing your handwriting, or brushing your teeth.

 

Why am I seeing an OT?

 

Someone who cares for you may have noticed that a task has been a bit tricky for you to learn or do, so they want to get some advice on how to help you. This might have been your parent/carer or somebody in school.

 

What happens next?

 

Your OT (Occupational Therapist) will speak to your parent/carer (usually over the phone) about the things you might be finding hard.

To start with, you may meet your OT at The Sunflower Centre with your parent/carer (take a look at the photos and video of the Sunflower Centre so you know what it looks like!). Your OT may come to your school or they may visit your home. They will talk to you about how you feel about your daily occupations and whether you find things easy, okay or hard. You will have the chance to set goals around the tasks that are most important to you, like “I would like to ride my bike in the park without stabilisers”, or “I would like to be able to dress myself into school uniform every morning by myself”. Sometimes these questions might feel strange or uncomfortable, but it’s important that the OT finds out what is important to you and your parent/carer.

Your OT will also need to figure out the best way to help you. They may ask you to do some of things you are finding tricky like handwriting, using scissors, fastening your zip or using a knife and fork. Sometimes, they may need to see how you are doing in the classroom, or during a P.E. lesson, or in the dining hall eating your lunch. They will also speak to your teacher or teaching assistant to gain more information on the best way to help you. It’s important not to be worried and to try your best!

 

How does the OT help?

 

If you have goals to work on, the OT will continue to see you at school, at home or at The Sunflower Centre. This can sometimes be once a week, once a fortnight, or every few weeks. Your OT has an assistant OT who may come and visit you as well, but you will meet her and will know if you are seeing somebody new. They will work with you to help you make progress with your goals.

With time and lots of practice, you will start to find activities easier. Some activities or exercises may seem strange to you, but they all have a purpose! The OT might also trip some equipment or tools to help you. Sometimes these can take time to get used to but it will be worth it in the end. The OT will give tips and advice to your parent/carer to do with you at home, or to your teacher to do at school.

 

How long will I keep seeing the OT?

 

Everybody learns at their own speed and has different things going on in life, so the time you spend in OT can vary, but it won’t be forever! If you still find things hard in the future you can come back to see OT by asking your parents/carer or teacher to contact our team.