Initial Consultation
Initial Contact
Your journey with Leaps & Bounds Occupational Therapy begins with you contacting our office. We will ask some questions to ensure we are the right place and determine who would be best to support you.
Leaps & Bounds team work with individuals of ages between birth-18 years old, improving fine motor skills, gross motor skills, postural control, sensory processing skills, reflex integration, praxis, self-help skills, visual perceptual and visual motor skills, handwriting, social skills, coping skills, self-concept and behaviour in the clinic, at school or through home visits.
We provide completely individualised care for every child, placing a high value on parental collaboration. Clinicians work closely with parents and primary caregivers to create an evidence-based treatment plan that targets individualised goals.
Before attending the clinic, you will be asked to provide assessments and reports from other health stakeholders and to fill in a pre-screening form. This questionnaire will have questions about your child’s medical and social history and development, as well as questions about their strengths and weaknesses, and any goals you have for OT intervention.
1st SessionONLINE
The Occupational Therapist will discuss in a little more detail the information you provided in your pre-screening questionnaire – this helps to clarify any important sections, or to perhaps provide additional information for other areas. We prefer this first session parent interview to be held online/in clinic with just the Occupational Therapist and parent/guardian – without the child present.
This means the parent can talk freely about their concerns and queries, without little ears listening in. It also means that during the first child-based session, the Occupational Therapist can be fully focused on the child, undertaking activities together.
2nd SessionIN CLINIC
This session will support clinical reasoning for the development of a therapy plan. OT will observe how the child interacts with the environment, carer (their relationship), and toys having activities set up based on information shared on the first appointment.
You may be wondering why the OT seems to just be playing make-believe with your child, rather than assessing them. However, when the OT is down on the floor playing, they’re actually assessing your child’s development and play skills closely. They will be looking at different components of your child’s play, including their body positioning/posture, the play themes they use, how they use objects during play and the creation of play storylines.
3rd SessionIN CLINIC
Your child will attend this session independently in order for your OT to finalise observations and target skill areas that are affecting developmental growth. The therapist will also have the opportunity to establish a connection with the child, which is extremely important in order to implement effective strategies and activities.
The Occupational Therapist will be very interested in understanding how your child processes sensory information, which includes the five senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell, as well as two additional senses: proprioception (related to body awareness) and vestibular awareness (related to balance and position in space). Difficulties with sensory processing can often create difficult behaviours for children, which can impact their ability to participate in general activities.. You will likely be asked to fill in an online form, such as the Sensory Profile 2 in order to finalize clinical findings and create a therapy plan.