Occupational Therapists can support you to join in (participate in) every day activities (occupations) to help you lead a full and happy life, reach your goals and learn the skills you will need during your life to be an active member of your community.
We aim to support you to do the things that you want and need to do. We do this by thinking about you, the occupation and the environment. If these three things are not working together then it can be hard to take part in what you need and want to do. We can help you to make changes to improve your input and enjoyment in everyday life.
Occupations are the activities that you need and want to do everyday. They can be broken down into three types.
The role of Occupational Therapists working with children and young people is to provide intervention, support and/or advice to children and young people (0-18 years) and their families, where there is disability or impairment which impacts on their performance and participation in everyday activities of life.
An initial consultation will be offered to discuss the child/young person's identified needs and plan next steps.
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.
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, riding a bike, 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.
The Occupational Therapy team also offer advice and information to nurseries and schools to develop the staff's knowledge of some of the difficulties the children/young people may have and how they can support them to join in these environments.
This video explains the role of Occupational Therapy for children with additional support needs. This will give you an idea of what to expect if your child has been referred to Occupational Therapy.
There will be a local version available shortly however in the meantime watch this video for more information.
Occupational Therapy can transform lives.
The core purpose of Occupational Therapy for Children is to empower and enable children, young people and their families to live their lives as independently and easily as possible. We collaborate with the individual, their family and the wider team around the child to identify their strengths and explore how they can overcome their challenges to achieve their full potential.
Here is a video of Alistair's story.
The Community Occupational Therapy Support Workers are part of the Community Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service providing support to the Occupational Therapists and delivering direct intervention to children and young people.
Their duties include planning and implementing programmes in clinics, nurseries, schools, or at home. Support Workers feedback and discuss observations with therapists to ensure interventions are appropriate for each child.
Children and young people who are eligible for referral for Occupational Therapy assessment must be:
Aged 0-19 yrs (if still receiving secondary or special education input) and have a significant difficulty impacting on daily living activities in one or more of the following areas:
Accessing their environment – home, nursery/school and community.
Supportive seating/equipment.
Positions for daily tasks such as play and sleep.
Development of hand function.
Feeding.
Dressing.
Toileting.
Bathing/showering.
Organisational skills including moving from task to task; class to class; and organising personal items.
Organisational skills for school transitions, e.g. nursery to primary; primary to secondary.
Fine motor skills, e.g. development of hand function; use of scissors; development of pencil control; fine manipulative activities, e.g. playing with bricks, puzzles and beads.
Visual perceptual skills, e.g. tracking across pages of work, and formation of shapes and letters.
Modulation issues which impact on concentration and attention.
Tactile issues that impact on the acquisition and development of fine motor skills.
Vestibular and proprioceptive difficulties which impact on co-ordination & balance.
Specialist Children Services (SCS) Community Occupational Therapy Team have an advice line where parents/carers, education staff, social care staff, voluntary organisations or other health professionals can seek advice and support for children and young people who are having difficulty joining in with the activities that they need and want to do every day.
Areas that we can help with include:
An Occupational Therapist is available to answer your questions between 9.30 am and 12 noon on Tuesday's and Friday's. The advice line number is 0141 531 6536
There are a number of posters you can use to share this information, click on the link below that is relevant to you:
There are 4 sectors within GG&C for Paediatric Occupational Therapy:
• North West Sector which includes West Dunbartonshire and parts of East Dunbartonshire
• North East Sector which includes parts of East Dunbartonshire
• South Sector which includes East Renfrewshire
• Inverclyde and Renfrewshire Sector
Please find below all OT addresses and telephone numbers for your specific area within GG&C:
Child Health Corridor
3rd Floor, Maternity Building
Vale of Leven Hospital
Main Street
Alexandria
G83 0UA
Telephone Number: 01389 817284
60 Kinfauns Drive
Glasgow
G15 7TS
Telephone Number: 0141 207 7150
Aranthrue Centre
103 Paisley Road
Renfrew
PA4 8LH
Telephone Number: 0141 314 8989
Skylark Centre
L North
Inverclyde Royal Hospital
Greenock
PA16 0XN
Telephone 01475 504630
201 Abercromby Street
Glasgow
G40 2DA
Telephone Number: 0141 531 6566
891 Garscube Road
Glasgow
G20 7ER
Telephone Number: 0141 201 5685/5718
Gorbals Health & Care Centre
2 Sandiefield Road
Glasgow
G5 9AB
Telephone number: 0141 201 5198
There are a number of interventions and programmes for children to use at home and school.
In this section you can find information on equipment provided by NHS staff on a regular basis. If your child has a more specialised piece of equipment your therapist will ensure you are provided with this information. There are links to manufacturers handbooks and videos showing how to care for your equipment. We recycle all of our equipment therefore it is important that these videos are followed.
We aim to provide you with high quality learning experiences that develop your clinical skills as appropriate to your profession and stage of training, and extend your enthusiasm for your profession. We believe that students should be treated as adult learners who are capable of taking responsibility for their own learning, and developing colleagues who are able to contribute to professional discussions. All of our departments are working departments and the needs of the services must be the priority. In view of this your programme could change at short notice and will require flexibility if this happens.