Your occupational therapy journey with me
There isn’t one right way to begin Occupational Therapy.
Some families come to me knowing exactly what they are looking for. Others just now that something feels difficult and they aren’t quite sure where to start.
You might be noticing that your child is finding handwriting really difficult. Maybe their teacher has raised concerns about attention or regulation in school. You might be seeing overwhelm around everyday demands, sensory differences, big changes in capacity between home and school, or you’re simply trying to understand your child a little better.
You don’t need to have the answers before you contact me.
That’s what we can work out together.
Step 1: Get in touch
Start wherever you are.
Your first step can simply be an email.
Tell me a little about your child or teenager, their date of birth, what you’re noticing and what kind of support you’re looking for-if you know.
And if you don’t know, that’s completely okay too.
I’ll send you some background forms to help me understand your child’s strengths, needs, current supports and what everyday life looks like for them.
From there, we can decide togehter what the most useful next step might be.
Step 2: We might start with a parent consultation
Sometimes the first thing we need is time to talk.
If you’re not sure what your child needs, an Online Parent Consultation can be a really useful place to begin.
Before we meet, I’ll review your background information. Then we have an hour together online to talk properly about your child.
We can explore what’s happening at home and school, what support they’ve had so far, what you’re noticing around sensory regulation, demands, burnout or participation in everyday life, and what might be sitting underneath some of the things you’re seeing.
We can also talk through practical strategies and supports that may fit your child and family.
Afterwards, you may feel that you have what you need for now.
Or we might decide that an assessment or 1:1 Occupational Therapy would be helpful.
Not every family needs to move on to the next step.
There are two different assessment pathways, depending on what you and your child need.
Option One: Child-Led Sensory Assessment
When we want to understand your child more deeply.
This is the assessment I would usually recommend when a child or teenager doesn’t need formal standardised assessment for something such as Dyspraxia/DCD, but we want a much fuller understanding of their individual Occupational Therapy needs.
The assessment is child-led.
Option Two: Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Assessment
When we need more formal answers.
For some young people, we need to look more specifically at things like Dyspraxia/DCD, dysgraphia, handwriting, visual-motor skills, motor coordination or the need for Assistive Technology.
That’s when I would usually recommend a Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Asssessment.
If an assessment would be helpful..
Step four: 1:1 Occupational Therapy
Then we can put that understanding into practice.
If ongoing Occupational Therapy would be helpful, I work in six-week therapy blocks.
Sessions are 45 mintues, at the same time each week, giving your child or young person time to become familiar with me, the space and what therapy with me feels like.
Therapy is child-led and shaped around teh child’s interests, nervous system and individual needs.
Depending on the child, we might be supporting sensory processing, motor skills, participationi n everday activities, autonomy, emotional safety, connection and co-regulation.
Parents can stay for sessions, watch what I’m doing, see how I model support and co-regulation so that what happens in the therapy room can make sense in everyday life too.
Sometimes a grandparent or another important person in the child’s life might attend instead, which is lovely!
At the end of the six-week block, we can pause.
You might decide that another block would be useful. Your child might need some time away from therapy to consolidate things. Or you may feel that you now have strategies and understanding that you can continue using at home and school.
If you’d like some dedicated time to talk everything through, you can book another Parent Consultation.
You can also choose to use one of the six sessions within a therapy block as a dedicated Parent Discussion, either online or in person, so we have space to reflect on what we’re noticing and talk about support outside the therapy room.
Then we decide what makes sense next.
Step five: pause, reflect and decide what comes next
Not sure where you fit?
That’s completely okay.
You don’t need to choose the right assessment, know what terminology to use or work out what your child needs before you contact me.
Start by telling me what you’re noticing.
We can figure out the next step together.