Whether you are here as a concerned parent, a caregiver, or someone curious about Occupational Therapy, I'm so glad you have found me!

What is Occupational Therapy

First let's address what an occupation actually is.

An occupation is anything that we need or want to do during our day. They are usually categorised into three different types:

• Productivity which could be work, caring for someone or learning

• Self-care, which includes your washing, dressing, eating and of course sleeping!

• Leisure, so this would be the things that we do for fun and includes, hobbies and that things that contribute to our overall wellbeing.

Our occupations are the things that provide us with purpose, and engaging in them has an impact on our wellbeing. Unfortunately things can sometimes get in the way.

Enter: Me!

My job to to identify barriers to engaging in the occupations you find important and meaningful.

Of course everyone is different and the value an occupation has to a person will be different as well, along with the barriers they face. Once I've identified your particular barrier, I will propose different ways to overcome it to promote independence and engagement. This might involve skill development, compensatory strategy, or a combination of both. It very much depends on the person, the occupation and the environment they are in.

There are a wide range of occupations that as an Occupational Therapist I can help a child with.

• Washing

• Dressing

• Feeding

• Play

• Gross motor skills (Riding a bike, jumping, throwing and catching)

• Handwriting

• Fine motor skills (Fastening laces, buttons and manipulating items)

• Toileting

• Sleep

For example, I worked with a child who hated handwriting and would do anything to avoid it!

I was able to identify this child had difficulties relating to his posture, shoulder stability, hand strength and visual perceptual skills.

He played games with his parents to develop the foundation skills required and even became a where's Wally whizz! Development in these skills led to increasing his confidence and he received a star of the week certificate at school for his story writing!