occupational therapy assessment

[FromAtoZ]

Dd1 has one on Monday next week. What should we expect? it says in the letter it is a minimum of 1 and a half hours but we are lucky to get her to focus for 15 minutes on homework or anything for that matter.

You don't say how old she is - which would be helpful.

Presumably, if she can't 'focus' on anything for 15 minutes, that is exactly why she has been referred to OT.

Relax, and let the professionals deal with her.

It is hard to say without knowing why she has been referred to OT but it is likely to be fairly relaxed. They will assess her through play probably and through talking to you about what she finds difficult. They have to allow plenty of time so they can observe what they need to with no pressure on your child. I agree with 'Relax'. If she is distractable and thet is the norm for her,that is exactly what they need to see and they will be well used to that. Hope she and you get the help you need.

Thank you both she is 5 and has Williams syndrome and ocular motor axpixia. She was delayed walking, talking, and can't read our write much. She is very easily distracted and finds it hard to follow anything except simple instructions. go get your shoes. For example. But if I said put your school bag on the table and take your shoes off she wouldn't understand I would have to do it one at a time. She also isn't fully toilet trained as she has an overactive bladder

They'll take a history and use play to assess her skill level compared to what is typical of her age. It may not all happen at one appointment and she probably won't realise she us being assessed as such, just trying a few structured activities with play in between.

My DS had one just before xmas. He was just turning 5. There were 2 staff members there. We were all in the one room and it was an hour long. One staff member took a detailed developmental history of him from me. She just kept asking questions and I answered. All very friendly. Speech wasn't his focus as he was at speech therapy already.

The other staff member did heaps of short activities with him and made notes eg. Tracing lines to show pencil grip, sorting colours, playing games to check coordination, jumping, throwing a bean bag at a target, walking along a painted line on the floor etc etc.
From both their notes they wrote a report and sent it to me before a follow up appointment.

Thank you fresh I just worry to much I think. She is my little girl and I lay awake at night sometimes worrying how she will cope with things and how she will find certain situations so it's nice to know before hand what's going to happen so I can try and reassure myself and explain to dd1 the best I can.

With young children I have found a lot can change in a short space of time. In dec DS (dc3) had no interest in letters, numbers or which hand to hold a pencil in. Now he has chosen a hand to write with (DH and I both lefties but he is right like his sisters), he worked out what letters and words mean, can read and write. OT has discharged him after 3 appointments as she thought he needed a lot of work on his pencil grip and writing but it wasn't needed. In the space of a few months he has made huge progress. Not all kids follow the "standard" line of progression. So keep working on small bits but stop if either of you is fustrated.

Thank you again fresh she hasn't decided on a hand yet and what makes she does make look the same with either. I can write with both hands but prefer my left for most things so she could follow me in that. I know no child is the same, and I try to make anything we do as fun as I can cos she does do better doing it that way. I spend hours sometimes doing work sheets for her or inventing a new 'game' for us to play. We had phonetics bingo today and number ladders with missing rungs. I've taken stuff to school that she does and they are amazed cos she doesn't do it there

FromAtoZ, just wondered how you both got on at your appt?

Got on great I think she did her assessment, games and such like you said, and she appears to be roughly 10 months behind in everything and a mild sensory processing disorder. So she will be have some help brought into school to help her. Thank you for asking

That is great that are going to put in resources to help her. One extra curricular thing that has really helped my son is a gymnastics class if there is one near you. He only went into it as his two older sisters were going and it was him go in or sit in the waiting area. It has really helped his co-ordination which I think has really helped everything else come together.

Thank you again fresh I'll look in to that I'm sure there is something she can go too.