Occupational Therapy North Somerset

Our Occupational Therapists support children who may be having difficulties with daily activities, such as:

Self care

Personal (washing, dressing, eating, going to the toilet, etc)
Domestic (making a drink, moving around, getting on and off seats)

School work

Drawing, recording lessons, doing craft/construction activities

Play and leisure

Playing games and sports, going to local clubs, etc.

The Occupational Therapist (OT) may then carry out assessments to find out why a child is having difficulties. The OT will consider the the child's abilities, the environment the activity is being carried out in and the activity itself.

The Occupational Therapist then tries to improve the child's performance in the activity by changing whatever it is that is stopping the child doing the activity.

How we can help

Areas that may be addressed include:

Changing the environment eg: adjusting the table height of a school desk to ensure a good seat to table height in order to make writing easier placing grab rails on the wall next to the toilet (for increased stability) and next to the bath (to assist with getting into and out of the bath).
Modifying activity eg: providing a manual handling belt for PE activities on apparatus
Helping the child learn new techniques or skills to boost his ability to do a task eg: fine motor skills game to help improve pencil grip and to enable a child to be independent in dressing
Providing or recommending special equipment which makes the activity easier eg: a special chair which gives more support posture pack to encourage a more upright sitting posture
Giving advice or training to people to help them support a child in school eg: using a posture pack to alleviate excessive bending over (when writing and reading)

By helping children and young people to do the activities in their lives that are meaningful to them, Occupational Therapy helps them gain the skills they need for later life in order to stay healthy and to develop to their potential.