Children's Occupational Therapy
The Children’s Occupational Therapy service provides therapy, advice, equipment and adaptations for children who have disabilities or difficulties with everyday tasks. The service is based at the Crystal Children’s Development Centre and we also work in a variety of settings including nurseries or the child’s home.
Occupational therapists are specially trained to assess and provide advice and interventions for children with any disability and children who experience difficulties with everyday tasks this feels like a repetition of the above at home, school based skills and at play.
We support children with any of the difficulties above when it has an impact on their daily function.
Occupational therapists assist with:
- Co-ordination difficulties (particularly fine motor coordination), including developmental coordination disorder
- Complex handwriting difficulties
- Sensory processing difficulties impacting on day to day participation
- Self-care, such as feeding, toileting, toothbrushing, hair care and dressing
- Upper limb Splinting for chronic conditions
- Hand and Play Skills (handling objects or tool use (rulers and scissors)
- Independent living skills (Packing a bag or making a snack) this section is quite confusing as it mixes top down and bottom up, personally I would just focus on top down i.e. tasks and activities and not necessary highlight coordination and sensory processing
We can support in these areas through intervention in the form of programmes, therapy sessions, group sessions, parent coaching, parent workshops, equipment and adaptation provision, and working together with other relevant services to meet your child’s needs.
Please Click on Social Care OT link to the right for information on equipment , adaptations, housing and home safety advice.
Universal Health Occupational Therapy
Please see our available video workshops (on the right). These workshops guide you through how to development functional independence skills and support your understanding of sensory processing and strategies to increase your childs independence. Following these workshops, you are then able to access our telephone follow up service to discuss specific difficulties and we can support you to find solutions, this happens prior to referrals into the service and you do not need an allocated OT to access this service.
Please see our early years, primary school and secondary school advice sheets (on the right) which offer activity ideas and advice for schools/guardians/parents who are concerned about their child’s functional development. They are grouped in different stages for early years and school but individual ideas may be relevant to your child regardless of stage.
Referrals
Referrals can be made by parents or carers, schools and other professionals. Croydon Health Services do not currently provide input into the educational settings but can support any school based needs from clinic where appropriate. Please contact the Local Authority SEN Team for all school based or EHCP needs.
Please contact the service to obtain a referral form or find on the right hand side of this page, A questionnaire may be requested from the service in order to provide additional information prior to accepting referrals. Please contact the service if you require further advise/support on our referral criteria.
Appointments
What do I do if I haven’t received my appointment yet?
The waiting time for an initial appointment is 18 weeks. Should you wish to check on progress of your referral you can contact Children’s OT on 020 8274 6854 to enquire. When the child has been allocated to a member of the OT team, contact will be made to arrange an initial appointment.
What do I do if I want to change or cancel an appointment?
Please contact Children’s OT as soon as possible to reschedule any appointments.
What should I bring to my appointment?
You may be asked to bring clothing or self-care items that your child is struggling to complete independently at home. Copies of relevant school and medical reports may also be helpful.
What time should I arrive for my appointment?
It is essential that you arrive on time for your appointment in order to receive input for the full scheduled session. Treatment room sessions will not be able to overrun.
Contact Us
Croydon Children’s Occupational Therapy Service
Crystal Children’s Development Centre
Malling Close,
Addiscombe
Croydon, CR0 7YD
Telephone: 020 8274 6854/6850