We help you to improve any tasks you find difficult throughout your day. From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed at night. There are many tasks which you do either because you have to or because you want to. Occupational Therapist’s can help you when you find particular tasks difficult. For example:
- Doing your school work
- Looking after yourself
- Doing your hobbies
Our nickname is OT’s short for Occupational Therapist. When you see us, you can talk about things you find easy and things that are trickier. The OT will ask you to show them how you do things so they can think of some ideas to help you. It may be that there is an easier way of completing the same task or you may be given a piece of equipment to help you achieve the task.
Here are some ideas of what you can do
- Complete activities and games which involve using two hands together.
- Practice the activity you are finding difficult for a short time but on a regular basis.
- Take your time and think about the activity you are about to do before you start.
- If you are going to be seen by an Occupational Therapist, work hard in your session and complete the activities they suggest, as these will help.
- Use any equipment recommended by your Occupational Therapist.
Have a look at the resources on this website for some ideas.
We work with you by finding games and activities that you enjoy that aim to help you. We might need to see how you move therefore wear comfortable clothing e.g. t-shirt and shorts or tracksuit bottoms. We will probably need to feel your joints and muscles. We will demonstrate activities and ask you to join in for example crawling, jumping, balancing and running.
Here are some ideas of what you can do:
- Keep as active as possible, play outside with your friends, go to the park, kick a ball and join after school clubs. Find an activity or sport that you enjoy such as walking your dog, horse riding, cycling, martial arts, wall climbing or sailing.
- Play on your Wii or X Box. (Three times a week for 15 – 20 minutes at a time. Concentrate on games that develop movement and coordination such as Wii Fit or Sports Resort.)
- Watch and copy Tree Fu Tom (this is a Children’s TV Programme which was designed with the help of an Occupational Therapist. It encourages the children to copy patterns of movement designed to develop movement and coordination skills).
We look at ways you communicate: your talking, listening, thinking and looking skills. We are sometimes called SLTs or SALTs.
We can help you with different skills including:
- Listening
- Understanding and remembering what people are saying to you
- Thinking of the right words to say and putting words together in to sentences
- Making your talking easier for people to understand
- Talking to people
- Making and keeping friends
- Eating and drinking
Here are some ideas of what you can do:
- Try hard in your therapy sessions and practice at home.
- If someone doesn’t understand you, try saying it again in a different way or slow down.
- If you don’t understand something, ask for help.
- If you can’t remember what someone has said, tell them the bit you can remember and ask them to say it again.
As well as meeting you we we also like to meet and talk to your parents and teachers. This helps us understand how to help you better.