School Visits

The purpose of a school visit is to assess and treat how your child is functioning within school. This includes a variety of aspects and is usually completed at the request of the parent, or school. The occupational therapist would analyse the following:

• Seating position
• Handwriting
• Distractions in the room
• Visual disturbances
• Playground safety
• Postural assessment

A poor learning environment can have a large impact on how your child learns at school and how the symptoms of any conditions may be influencing learning. Through analysing the child during school time, the occupational therapist can begin to form a picture of regular school life for your child, and offer any recommendations to improve their experience within school.

Occupational therapy treatment and advice following a school visit

The occupational therapist would work with the teaching staff and the pupil in providing a future treatment plan, some possible aspects of the therapy plan could include:

• Handwriting improvement
• Pencil grips
• Adaptive seating
• Education and advice on conditions and how they impact learning

Other Occupational Therapy treatment options are available. The aim of all of our Occupational Therapy treatment sessions is to improve function. Functional improvements can be made in a variety of ways, including adaptive aids and equipment (such as postural chairs or pencil grips), and therapy games such as finger football, Jenga and other games that involve improving the transferable skills needed during school based activities.

Problems that may require a school visit

Prior to the occupational therapist commencing a school visit, it is common for either teachers or parents to notice some difficulties. Examples of which are below:

• Poor handwriting
• Easily distracted
• Struggles to concentrate
• Poor posture
• Struggles to read things on the board from afar

The main aim of an occupational therapist entering your child's school is to determine how a condition/ set of difficulties are impacting upon your child's ability to function at school. Function is a term used to describe how well your child is able to complete school based tasks, such as writing, drawing, listening, concentrating, playing, and manipulating small objects and many more similar tasks.

Benefits of a school visit:

An occupational therapist can provide a wide array of benefits to your child during the school environment, some of which include:

• Improve learning
• Create a more individualised learning environment
• Provide advice and understanding on how conditions impact upon learning
• Equipment and aids advice and treatment
• Improve concentration
• Improve fine and gross motor skills

Summary

In summary, the purpose of a school visit is to assess and treat how your child is functioning within school. An occupational therapist can help your child, improve their handwriting, and provide advice on adaptive seating and equipment to improve function. Some of the common reasons for a school visit are poor handwriting, easily distracted and poor posture. If you think your child would be suitable for a visit at school, please email office@otforkids.co.uk or call 0330 223 0888

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