Frequently Asked Questions

Paediatric occupational therapy aims to support children to participate and engage in their daily occupations as independently as possible. This includes all things meaningful and necessary across the areas of play/leisure, self-care and productivity, both at home and while at school. 

If you have identified that your child is having difficulty participating in their meaningful and necessary activities of daily living, and that this is impacting negatively on them and or the family unit, OT could be a helpful support.

Before you commit to any therapy sessions, you can enquire via phone or email to discuss whether engaging in therapy with OT for Kids is right for you. 

Your first appointment will take 1 hour (face to face) and will focus on information gathering about your child’s strengths, challenges, and goal areas. You will receive an intake summary report (30 minutes non-face to face) detailing our discussion, our therapy plan and family centred goals. During this session, your OT will have the opportunity to engage with your child and see some of the resources you have readily available in your home, but this session will mostly consist of parent – therapist discussion. 

Following on from our first initial session, therapy sessions will go for a duration of 50 minutes. These sessions will consist of parent/carer and therapist collaboration, parent/carer education, and direct service provision with your child. All sessions will be followed up with a written therapy summary and recommendations. Your therapist will allocate an additional 10 minutes of non-face to face time for each therapy session booked. Your child’s engagement and progress towards their goals will regularly be reviewed to ensure that your family is getting the most out of their therapy visits.

Your child’s teacher, paediatrician or other health professional may recommend that your child sees an occupational therapist. You, however, do not need a referral to book in therapy sessions with OT for kids.

There are many formal and standardised occupational therapy assessments (e.g. handwriting assessment, sensory profile, motor skills assessment, etc.) however, when families are recommended to get an OT assessment, this is often referring to having an initial OT session. During your initial and ongoing OT sessions, your OT will be informally assessing your child to determine their skills and develop an appropriate therapy plan. Your OT may recommend that a formal or standardised assessment is completed at some point throughout your therapy journey.