Occupational Therapists believe that joining in (participating in) every day activities (occupations) improves wellbeing. Taking part in occupations helps you to live a safe, healthy and happy life.
We understand that there is a connection between 'the person', 'the occupation' and 'the environment' and that by making changes to any of these areas you can improve participation and wellbeing.
That is how we as a profession think and talk about occupational therapy but what does this mean for children, young people, their families and other professionals that are part of the team around the child?
Occupations are the activities that you need and want to do everyday. They can be broken down into three types.
Self Care - Learning to wash, dress, eat and toilet independently are important milestones in a child's development.
The role of Community Occupational Therapy 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.
Treatment and intervention approaches are developed with the aim of enabling children and their carers to maximise independence and support effective self-management. This is done in a variety of ways; one-to-one sessions are offered at the Child Centres, 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.
Occupational Therapy is offered to children/young people who are have difficult 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.
Click on the leaflets below for more information.
Click on the leaflets below for more information.
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.
Support Workers are responsible for completing a session evaluation form after each session as well as an intervention summary at the end of each block and keeping EMIS records up to date meeting Occupational Therapy professional standards.
The core PURPOSE of the Occupational Therapy Service 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.
As Occupational Therapists we are trained to use a holistic approach that enables us to analyse the physical, psychological, social, and emotional barriers that impact on the child’s ability to participate in self-care, play and education. Keeping the child’s wishes at the centre of the decision making process we facilitate them, and those around them, to set meaningful goals to address these functional difficulties.
We enable the child to gain and maintain life skills through the use of meaningful graded activities, and empower their carers and professionals working with them to find alternative/adaptive ways of maximising the child’s involvement in daily life; thus breaking through the barriers that prevent participation.
Parents/Guardians
Medical Practitioners e.g. Paediatricians, GPs
Allied Health Professionals e.g. Speech & Language Therapists (SLT), Dieticians, Physiotherapists
Nursing staff e.g. Community Children Nurses (CCNs)/Health Visitors/Looked After and Accommodated (LAAC) Nurse
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) team & Clinical Psychologists
Social Workers
Educational Psychologists
Education Staff (including Private/Partnership Nurseries & Schools)
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.
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
Glasgow
G3 8UR
Telephone Number: 0141 314 6290
Gorbals Health & Care Centre
2 Sandiefield Road
Glasgow
G5 9AB
Telephone number: 0141 201 5030
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.