Occupational Therapists aim to make life easier and better for children by enabling them to meet their physical, developmental, social and emotional milestones. Our passion is to help children reach their best level of functioning in order to be happy and confident, regardless of diagnosis or difficulties. We also aim to respect the individual differences of each child. At the centre we are passionate about working closely with families, teachers and all those involved with the child. We use the main “job” of a child, PLAY, to impact a child’s;

• cognitive-perceptual development
• physical development, including gross motor and fine motor skills
• sensory development
• emotional development, including confidence and social skills

Children with the following areas of difficulty would benefit from OT;

• High risk infants. These include infants who are born prematurely and with admissions to NICU.
• Fussy babies. These include babies who struggle to regulate and have difficulties with sleeping.
• A child who does not seem to bond with parents or caregiver.
• Developmental delay regardless of the diagnosis.
• Difficulties with activities of daily living. These include feeding, dressing, grooming etc.
• Cortical Visual Impairment and other visual difficulties.
• Sensory Integration difficulties. This includes children who are sensory seeking, defensive and have difficulties with regulation.
• Low muscle tone (in conjunction with a Paediatric Physiotherapist).
• Bilateral integration and midline crossing difficulties.
• Gross motor skills, where the root of the difficulty for the child is due to sensory processing difficulties.
• Fine motor skills; including hand function (e.g. grasps and pinches), handwriting, cutting, etc.
• Perceptual difficulties – especially relevant to school readiness and any scholastic skills.
• Visual motor integration. This includes copying and spatial organisation.
• Executive functioning skills. These include planning, problem-solving, following instructions and self-organisation.
• Motor planning (also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder).
• Feeding difficulties – where the root involves sensory sensitivities. This is done alongside a Dietician, Speech Therapist and Psychologist as part of the MDT for children with Feeding Difficulties.

At the centre, we use the following treatment approaches;

• Sensory Integration
• Therapeutic Listening
• DIR Floortime