Occupational Therapy
Involve Health Hub Occupational Therapists support children and young adolescents with a range of needs. Services include individual therapy and assessment.
What is occupational therapy?
Occupational therapy is an allied health service that helps clients build skills to participate in activities that they find meaningful or that are required for daily life. This includes areas such as taking care of oneself, studying, working, volunteering, socialising and participating in hobbies and interests. The goal of occupational therapy is to increase independence, improve quality of life and reduce barriers to everyday functioning.
Occupational therapists (OTs) assess what clients can do, what they want to do, what limitations they are experiencing, then work with clients to help them develop new ways of doing things in order to achieve their goals.
Occupational therapists use everyday activities, exercises and therapies to help clients build skills (e.g. by developing routines, practicing tasks, using aids or devices). For children, this is usually play based and informal, including activities like board games, drama/play, arts and crafts, exercises (e.g. balance balls, beams or slides) etc.
What do occupational therapists help with?
Occupational therapists in general work with all types of clients across the lifespan, but Involve Health Hub’s Occupational Therapist is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist working with clients aged 3-17. Like all health professionals, practitioners work within their scope of practice (i.e. the areas that they have experience and knowledge in) in order to ensure that they are providing quality health services to clients.
Our Paediatric Occupational Therapists works with clients aged 3-17 years old who have difficulties with their day-to-day functioning, as well as helping the families and support people of clients to understand and assist the clients.
The type of clients that our Paediatric Occupational Therapist works with include children with diagnoses such as:
Autism
ADHD
Downs Syndrome
Learning disabilities
Sensory processing disorders
Mental health problems
Developmental delays
Chronic illnesses
The types of difficulties that our Paediatric Occupational Therapists assists clients with includes:
Fine motor skills (e.g. using cutlery, doing up buttons, grasping and releasing toys)
Gross motor skills (e.g. walking, using limbs)
Low muscle tone/’floppiness’ and core strength Balance
Hand/eye coordination
Dressing oneself
Self care (e.g. hygiene, toileting, brushing teeth, sleep routines etc)
Sensory needs and regulation (e.g. limited diet, sensitivities to sound, touch, smells etc)
Organisation, planning and time management
Attention, focus and directing behaviour
Problem solving
Inhibitory control (impulsiveness or self control) including emotion regulation
Coping with routines or concerns about school readiness (e.g. following directions, social skills, pre-writing skills) Social skills and relationships
Building independent living skills and transition to employment and adulthood.
Assessment
Involve Health Hub Paediatric Occupational Therapists offer a range of assessments to help determine fine and gross motor skills, functional capacity and sensory processing. These assessments allow for a greater understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses and the development of tailored programs to help children and young people address their unique challenges.
Initially, an assessment involves parent or guardian attendance at an intake session with the Occupational Therapist to obtain detailed information regarding the presenting issues and developmental history. Following the intake, your Occupational Therapist will determine appropriate assessment measures. After the completion of all assessments, a feedback session will be scheduled to provide the results and a report. This feedback session usually takes place between 2-4 weeks after the completion of assessment measures.