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Children's Occupational Therapy

We are a team of Occupational Therapists covering North Somerset, based at Drove Road Child Development Centre (CDC) in Weston-super-Mare.  

Children's Occupational Therapists address what activities a child is having difficulties with. These activities fall into 3 main groups:

Self care

  • Personal (washing, dressing, eating, going to the toilet, etc)
  • Domestic (making a drink, moving around, getting on and off seats)

School work

  • Drawing, recording lessons, doing craft/construction activities

Play and leisure

  • Playing games and sports, going to local clubs, etc.

The Occupational Therapist (OT) may then carry out assessments to find out why a child is having difficulties. The OT will consider the the child's abilities, the environment the activity is being carried out in and the activity itself.

The Occupational Therapist then tries to improve the child's performance in the activity by changing whatever it is that is stopping the child doing the activity.

Areas that may be addressed include

  • Changing the environment eg: adjusting the table height of a school desk to ensure a good seat to table height in order to make writing easier placing grab rails on the wall next to the toilet (for increased stability) and next to the bath (to assist with getting into and out of the bath).
  • Modifying activity eg: providing a manual handling belt for PE activities on apparatus
  • Helping the child learn new techniques or skills to boost his ability to do a task eg: fine motor skills game to help improve pencil grip and to enable a child to be independent in dressing
  • Providing or recommending special equipment which makes the activity easier eg: a special chair which gives more support posture pack to encourage a more upright sitting posture
  • Giving advice or training to people to help them support a child in school eg: using a posture pack to alleviate excessive bending over (when writing and reading)

By helping children and young people to do the activities in their lives that are meaningful to them, Occupational Therapy helps them gain the skills they need for later life in order to stay healthy and to develop to their potential.

Client Groups for service

We offer a service to children who require assistance to develop and improve their performance in:

  • gross and fine motor skills
  • pre-writing and handwriting skills
  • organisation skills
  • activities of daily living,

which are below the child's other areas of function and development.

For more information about the Children's Occupational Therapy Service, please contact Children's Services on 01934 426622

Who to contact

Telephone
01934 881 306
Website
Sirona's - Children's Occupational Therapy Service

Where to go

Name
Weston Area Health NHS Trust
Address
Specialist Community Children's Services
Drove Road
Weston-super-mare
Postcode
BS23 3NT

Other details

Availability

Referral required
Yes
Referral Details

Please see the referral guidelines for more information.

Use the referral form to access the service.

Local offer

Local Offer Age Bands
Secondary School
Primary School
Early Years
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