Children's Occupational Therapy Service - Isle of Wight

About the service

Every referral is screened to ensure that they meet the referral criteria and are appropriately placed on the waiting list. We may even contact you to gain further information. When a therapist has capacity, they will then pick up the referral and make the first appointment. The therapist will then complete the necessary assessments to identify your child’s goals and complete interventions to help your child to meet these goals. Once this has been met, the therapist will discharge your child from our service and the child can be re-referred at any time.

Paediatric Occupational Therapists within the NHS are registered with the Health Professions Council and have specialist knowledge and experience of child development and paediatric conditions/disabilities. Paediatric Occupational Therapists attend post-graduate specialist training courses in working with children to promote their development and independence in the occupations of childhood including everyday activities across the areas of self care, play/leisure and education.

Paediatric Occupational Therapists work closely with parents, teachers, teaching assistants, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, the early support team, and paediatricians.

What we do

The role of Community Occupational Therapy is to provide intervention, support and/or advice to children and young people and their families, where there is disability or impairment which impacts on their performance and participation in everyday activities of life.

Treatment and intervention approaches are developed with the aim of enabling children and their carers to maximise independence and support effective self-management.

Occupational Therapy is offered to children/young people who are having difficulty joining in with the activities they need and want to do every day e.g. dressing, using cutlery, completing jigsaws, or writing.  These difficulties may be due to poor gross and fine motor co-ordination, poor core stability, poor motor planning skills, visual perceptual difficulties or sensory difficulties.

This is done in a variety of ways;

• One-to-one sessions are offered in clinics, at home, in schools and nurseries.
• Group sessions are held in the Child Centres or in other community venues; these give children the opportunity to mix with others who have similar difficulties.
• Advice and strategies are offered to children/young people, families, education staff and other professionals working closely with the child/young person; this provides them with the information they need to improve the child/young person's wellbeing.

Paediatric Occupational Therapists within the NHS are registered with the Health Professions Council and have specialist knowledge and experience of child development and paediatric conditions/disabilities. Paediatric Occupational Therapists attend post-graduate specialist training courses in working with children to promote their development and independence in the occupations of childhood including everyday activities across the areas of self care, play/leisure and education.

Paediatric Occupational Therapists work closely with parents, teachers, teaching assistants, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, the early support team, and paediatricians.

Accessing the service

The Children’s Occupational Therapy service currently accepts referrals (including re-referrals) via our referral form from GPs, Paediatricians, other health or social care professionals, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) and parents/carers. The referral form can be found on the link below.

Referral form