Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapists see a range of children, including those with developmental delay, physical disabilities and children who have difficulties completing everyday tasks. We offer support to help children be as independent as possible in all areas of their lives.

We will work together with the child, their parents/carers, and their school to meet family-centred goals (goals which are set by the child, where possible, and their parents).

We can help with:

• Development of Play
• Activities of Daily Living: Dressing, School Activities, Personal Care Skills
• Coordination and Fine Motor Skills
• Upper Limb Splinting for chronic conditions
• Postural Management (Static Seating for Home/School)

Following an assessment to identify needs, appropriate support is given which could be either advice, therapy sessions, group sessions, guidance to schools or working together with other relevant services to meet the child's needs.

Specialist Children & Young People’s (YP) Services (SCYPS)

Occupational Therapy Service for Children

Service Criteria

Who Can Refer: Referrals are accepted from education, health and social care professionals using the SCYPS referral form and must provide sufficient information to meet the referral criteria. 

Parents/carers/young people can self-refer if they have previously been known to the service – using the same referral form.

Our Vision is to be able to empower children and families to be able to engage more purposefully in everyday tasks, at home, in school, and in our local community.

Our Aim is to listen to our families and children so that we are able and equipped to work in a holistic, child centred way.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 0 –18 years
• Is registered with a Newham GP.
• The child/Young Person is experiencing significant functional difficulties which limit their participation and engagement in everyday tasks in line with their cognitive age that would benefit from Occupational Therapy advice and input (ie: self-care, getting dressed, school activities, play activities).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Handwriting: Referrals made from schools for children with difficulties only with handwriting/scissor skills are not accepted – instead the school can access the MDT Education Resource Pack to provide support and ideas in these areas.
• Toileting: For children who are under 3 years, referrals will be signposted to their specialist heath visitor and the Health Visiting Team Service, and or children’s centres where they can access general advice in this area all of which can be found on the London Borough of Newham Local Offer (Please follow this link to view the London Borough of Newham Local Offer).
•  Sensory Processing Preferences: Sensory processing preferences that are not impacting the child’s ability to carry out daily tasks (e.g. does not like loud noises but is able to cope in environments with minimal help) and repetitive and stereotypical behaviours (e.g. hand flapping, spinning, etc.)
• Behavioural feeding in isolation: We currently are not commissioned to provide a service for children with isolated sensory, aversive and/or behavioural feeding difficulties.  For basic tips and pointers look out for our Fun with Food Video Series within our Resources section, which can help to give you some basic pointers that are simple and easy to try.    
• Emotional Behavioural Management: If the referral is from school, the school will be signposted to the Behavioural Support Services.  If the child has autism, advice can be sought from the Language Communication & Interaction Service (LCIS) who have specialist advisory teachers who specialise in autism. For families who require support around setting boundaries in the home families should contact/sign up for the Triple P Parenting Programme. Triple P is a parenting programme.  It's a toolbox of ideas specifically for families.

Housing Adaptions: For housing adaptations, bathing equipment, safety in the home – please contact the Occupational Therapists in Social Services.

Newham Dockside
1000 Dockside Road
London
E16 2QU
They can be contacted by telephone on: 020 8430 2000 (Please Select Option 2)
You can visit their website

Wheelchair & Buggy Provision: Please refer to Enabled Living Wheelchair & Specialist Seating.

What Happens Next:

If your referral meets the service criteria and is accepted, your child will be placed on our Waiting List (parents and referrer will receive an acknowledgement letter that the referral has been accepted). 

Your child will be seen depending on their level of need, their condition (ie: if this is a degenerative/palliative condition), if there is an urgent safeguarding need, as well as the level of OT input that your child has received in the past from our service. 

Model of Care:  We work in episodes of Care. This means that children who meet our service criteria (see above), will be offered individual or group therapy sessions (a maximum of 4 sessions will be offered).  Therapy sessions can take place in either one of our clinics, nursery/school or at home.  Following this, the episode of care will be closed and advice/strategies will be provided for the family/carers and school to follow and embed in their everyday tasks to ensure that progress is made.

Advice and Therapy: We have a range of ways that we offer advice and therapy input – this could include any of the following: 

• Workshops
• Problem solving sessions
• Individual therapy sessions
• Group therapy sessions
• Parent groups
• Extensive video resource library as well as resources for your child’s school

Re-Referrals: Re-referrals will only be considered for new areas of concerns.  For continued difficulties in the same areas, families and schools are advised to refer to the last OT report and recommendations.  Families/school need to be able to demonstrate they have worked on the previous advice and recommendations given before a new referral can be considered.