Occupational Therapy for School Children

We offer occupational therapy for school children, supporting them with a range of physical, sensory and behavioural challenges, both at home and in school.

A graphic summarising the way our occupational therapists work with you and your child.

How does Occupational Therapy work for 5 to 16-year-olds?

Occupational therapy is a collaborative process between the therapist and the child, with input from their parents and school setting. Therapy is therefore uniquely shaped around each individual child. Our aim is to help your child thrive both at home and in any education setting they are part of.

We complete a detailed assessment first, with face-to-face sessions with the child. This assessment is completed at school or at home, depending on where the child’s biggest area of need is, but always includes input from parents. An EHCP assessment includes visits to both home and school settings.

Our assessment helps establish the needs of your child and shape our recommendations for further therapy.

After assessment, we will see your child in their education setting, often with a teacher or teaching assistant present. Alternatively, if they’re home schooled, we’ll see them at home with a parent. Older children will have some sessions on their own with the therapist, depending on their needs.

What do you do during sessions?

During your child’s assessment, we will have identified the key areas of need your child has. These might be things such as risky climbing activities, sensory regulation issues or behaviours such as biting non-food items.

Your child’s specific needs will determine what we do during sessions. We will spend time exploring sensory activities, finding ways to engage with your child. All of our work is play-based, as this is how your child learns and grows.

Throughout the session, our goal is to empower your child, you as parents and your child's teaching staff as you seek to overcome the difficulties your child faces. We will problem solve together around specific needs, exploring the possible triggers for different behaviours.

All of this will help you, your child's school staff and your child to think differently about the challenges they face, providing a toolbox of strategies to use.

Are you ready to book?

Yes please!

I have more questions

Children benefit from occupational therapy for a variety of reasons. Maybe your child or young person:

Has difficulties engaging with their everyday activities
Struggles with fine motor skills
Quickly becomes overstimulated or overwhelmed by their environment
Appears anxious, isolated or withdraws from activities and engaging with others
Doesn’t notice things around them, seeming detached from what’s happening

Occupational therapy can help your child or young person overcome challenges like this. If you’re not sure whether it’s right for your child or young person, fill in our referral form with as much detail as possible included.

An occupational therapy assessment is a detailed process to understand your child or young person’s world. Through the assessment, we formulate a broad picture of your child or young person and their strengths, as well as the barriers that need to be overcome so that they can fully participate in life.

This includes understanding: your child or young person’s history and the family’s history; your child or young person’s physical and emotional development; assessments around sensory processing and motor skills; and understanding your child or young person’s mental health.

At the end of the assessment, our report will provide strategies to help your child or young person at home and in education, as well as suggestions around further therapy.

You might find it useful to read the below FAQ about sensory processing, or read through the outline of our assessment process.

Sensory processing (also known as sensory integration) is about how we make sense of all the information coming from our senses throughout the day. How do we process the things happening around us and inside us? Everyone experiences the world differently, so we all have a unique response to what is happening.

There are many ways in which we receive information from our bodies and the world around us:

Sight
Hearing
Touch - including what we feel on our skin
Taste
Smell
Body awareness - where our body is and how it is moving
Balance and spatial orientation
What’s happening inside our bodies - our heart rate, hunger sensations, our temperature, pain, emotional sensations, etc.

Sensory processing is automatic and develops naturally during ordinary childhood activities. However, sometimes children and young people do not understand how to cope with their sensory experiences or struggle to recognise the information coming in.

These sensory regulation issues can affect daily living, academic achievement, behaviour or social participation.

Getting professional support to understand your child's sensory processing through therapies like occupational therapy can significantly improve their engagement in daily life and give them tools to regulate themselves.

All our occupational therapists are qualified Sensory Integration Practitioners. You can read more about sensory integration on the Sensory Integration Education website.