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Sunderland Children’s Occupational Therapy Service

Core Offer

 

The core purpose of the Sunderland Children’s Occupational Therapy Service is to provide a short term, high quality, needs led service to children/young people to maximise their participation and independence in daily life.

 

As Occupational Therapists we use a holistic approach to analyse the physical, psychological, social, and emotional barriers that impact on the child’s/young person’s ability to participate in self-care, play and education.

 

Our services

We are a specialist short term service, who work with children/young people aged from birth to 18 years, with significant functional difficulties that affect their independence and normal development of everyday activities.

 

We enable the child/young person to develop and maintain life skills through the use of graded meaningful activities and empower parents/carers to find alternative ways of maximising the child’s/young person’s involvement in daily life.

We work with the child and family to identify the child’s/young person’s strengths and weaknesses and set meaningful goals to address their functional difficulties and help them reach their full potential.

Our team consists of five Occupational Therapists; we are registered with the Health Professions Council, and abide by the codes of practise of our professional body, the British Association of Occupational Therapists.

 

What we offer

 

Assessment and diagnosis

 

Children/young people will be offered a telephone triage appointment once they reach the top of the waiting list.  The assessment will be based around the concerns highlighted in the referral and discussions with the family/child/young person.

 

Therapy

 

Therapy ranges from specialist advice linked to outcomes, to targeted blocks of therapy related to significant functional difficulties.

 

Home/ school visits

 

Home/ School visits are carried out based on clinical judgement that this is the most appropriate environment, considering the child’s and families’ needs and circumstances.

 

Joint Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) assessment with Paediatric Physiotherapy

 

As part of the diagnostic process children can be referred for a joint Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy assessment by their Sunderland Paediatrician.

 

Joint Helping Hand Programme with Paediatric Physiotherapy

 

The “Helping Hand Programme” is a service for children aged 18 months-18years who have unilateral upper limb difficulties, which are impacting on function.  Following assessment, the child may receive 2x weekly sessions for a maximum of 6 weeks, tailored to their needs.

Neuro hand splinting

 

Children with Neurological conditions can be referred for the assessment and provision of a thermoplastic hand splint.

 

Reports

 

Following either the assessment or block of therapy intervention, a report summary will be provided. This will be shared with the person who referred the child/young person to the service, relevant other health professionals and with permission from the child’s parents/carers, appropriate education or social care staff.

 

We will also provide Occupational Therapy advice to contribute towards an Education and Health care plan assessment, for children/young people as appropriate.   

 

Who can refer to our service?

Families can discuss their concerns with their South Tyneside & Sunderland Paediatricians or Sunderland GP (from September 2020 until September 2021) who can refer the child to the service identifying their functional difficulty.

Appropriate referrals are added to the waiting list and allocated to an Occupational Therapist as capacity arises.

Where is the service provided from?

Assessment and intervention are delivered in the clinic setting and if deemed appropriate the child’s/young person’s home/ nursery/school.

Who to contact

Telephone
0191 569 9123

Where to go

Name
The Children's Centre
Address
Durham Road
Sunderland
Postcode
SR3 4AD
Sunderland City Council and Together for Children Sunderland do not recommend or endorse any providers or services listed. Please read our full Disclaimer here.
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