Occupational Therapy

An Occupational Therapist helps people who may be having difficulties with participating in everyday activities. For example: getting dressed, brushing their teeth, using cutlery (self-care and personal care tasks), getting organised, remembering what to do and how to do it, cooking, writing, accessing school and play activities, accessing leisure activities, accessing community facilities, going to work and shopping. An Occupational Therapist can help a child to get the most from play, school and social situations, learning to be as independent as possible. Occupational Therapists can help a young person make the transition between home and school, class to class and from school to college, advising on adaptations to the environment and the level of support that is needed. They are solution focussed – finding different ways of doing things or tweaking the environment so it helps a young person succeed.

At Brooke school we have several Occupational Therapists who work with us – some are from the NHS and they support pupils with things like specialist seating, equipment and adaptations and splinting. We also have a school based Occupational Therapist, Becky, who works closely with Claire (HLTA Sensory) and Allison (HLTA Engaging with Technology) to help pupils get ready to learn.

Occupational Therapy can involve:

• Exercises and games - for example, learning an alternative technique for getting dressed or developing a functional hand grip, a sensory diet with activities to wake up and also to calm (getting ready to learn).
• Looking at specialised equipment - for example, helping with sitting posture, equipment to help sensory regulation to get ready to learn.
• Working out strategies to help, and ways they be incorporated into daily life, without it looking like therapy.
• Support, education and training for school staff and parents in ways to help.
• Supporting curriculum development to improve access to learning.