Paediatric occupational therapists support children and young people (aged 0 - 18 years, or 19 years in full time education in special schools) to carry out activities (or occupations) they need, want, or are expected to do, but are prevented from doing due to impairments, injuries or developmental conditions.
Paediatric occupational therapists can suggest alternative ways of carrying out activities. provide advice on learning new approaches and help children and young people develop their independence skills within activities of daily living.
Examples of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs):
- Self-Care: washing, dressing, feeding/eating, toileting, sleep
- Productivity: school based activities; writing, scissor use
- Leisure: participating in out of school groups, play based skills
Click here to view the Royal College of Occupational Therapy Children and Young People leaflet.
Specialist: Families will require a referral to our service to access specialist support, this can be within the home, clinic or school setting.
Why would a referral be made?
Families and Education should have accessed and implemented universal strategies prior to a referral, these can be found in our ‘pre referral problem solving pack’ our ‘advice sheets on our webpage’ or through our ‘advice line’. Evidence of input of strategies used should be detailed clearly on the referral form.
Once the universal support or advice has been accessed and there are still ongoing difficulties for the child or young person, a referral can be completed. These difficulties will be impacting significantly on their performance skills in more than one area of daily activities.
If you are considering a re-referral into our service, please ensure you detail previous advice that has been implemented or if this is a new concern or difficulty for the child or young person.
Please visit our ‘referral button’ on our home page for further information around referring into the Community Paediatric Occupational Therapy Team, our referral form and pre referral problem solving pack.
Other ways to access paediatric occupational therapy in Birmingham
Within our service we also have a team of paediatric occupational therapists who support within the education setting.
SEND Therapy Team
Who are we?
We are a team of occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. We work closely with schools and nurseries in Birmingham to support children and young people with special educational needs by linking between health and education.
Please see our SEND section on the main homepage.
BCHC Plus Team
Who are we?
We are a team of occupational therapists providing additional services supplementing those currently available through locally commissioned NHS provision. BCHC+ enables schools and other settings to purchase occupational therapy to support their pupils need. We work mostly in mainstream and specialist schools within Birmingham, providing dedicated time and support.
How can we help?
- Provide universal support to school settings through the provision of workshops or training sessions to school staff
- Provide targeted support by screening and identifying children that would benefit from occupational therapy
- Recommend classroom strategies and equipment to support the pupil’s needs and engagement in learning.
- Design therapy programmes for an identified group of children and modelling to teaching staff/assistants
- Deliver parental workshops to provide strategies and support to the parents/carers of pupils.
- Provide specialist support to pupils in school by completing one to one assessments, such as sensory assessments
- Create individualised goals and treatment programmes/sensory diets for pupils within school and review therapy goals
- Complete detailed written reports following one to one assessments of pupils
- Attend individual EHCP annual review meetings and contribute towards advice and targets
Our occupational therapy training portfolio is continually expanding so please do not hesitate to contact us regarding your particular needs or requests.
To find out more about how BCHC+ can benefit your school, pupils, families and staff, please contact our BCHC+ team as follows:
Telephone: 0121 466 6266
Email: bchcnt.bchcplus@nhs.net
Website: www.bchcplus.co.uk
Address:
BCHC Plus Team
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Children and Families Division
Moseley Hall Hospital
Alcester Road
Moseley
Birmingham B13 8JL
