Gloucestershire Children'S Occupational Therapy

A huge congratulations to all of our young magicians that took part! Truly inspirational - big thanks to all those at Breathe Magic who worked so hard to create something so special ✨ and thanks for letting us come along to join in with the fun!

Some good ideas to try out over the half term 🚀🎨😊

What a great day it was! Lovely to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones 😊

Not long to go until our JIA annual family fun day at Cheltenham Racecourse! 🐴 All our families that have a child with JIA are invited to attend - more info can be found here -
https://www.facebook.com/events/299106144 084297/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A5%2C% 22action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22% 3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22main _list%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%5C%22[ ]%5C%22%22%7D]%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue %7D
Last year was a great success and many families found it really beneficial and a great opportunity to meet other families in similar situations. Look forward to seeing you there!

A great idea! We often suggest writing on a piece of paper with some foam or tin foil wrapped onto card underneath to help children learn about pressure and fluency - why not give these ideas a go this half term? 🖍️

Help spread awareness about Development Coordination Disorder (Dyspraxia) - an interesting article with two helpful video clips to help explain the condition. Being aware of the condition can help with early identification and getting support and advice in place to help with these difficulties

Some great ideas here to develop in-hand manipulation, hand strength and fine motor skills - these will all have a positive impact on improving pencil grasp! 🖍️🙌

Bilateral coordination is an important skill to have as it is the ability to use of both hands together in a coordinated manner. It is important as it helps enable us to complete activities such as feeding, writing, dressing, teeth-brushing and many more. These movements require both sides of the body and requires processing and integration of both hemispheres of the brain to enable both hands working together at the same time. 🙌
https://www.theottoolbox.com/…/winter-b ilateral-coordinatio…

Potty training can be a challenging time especially for children with attention and behavioural difficulties. Have a look at these tips to support you with potty training.
https://www.theottoolbox.com/…/potty-tr aining-with-behavior…

Look at this fab video by our Speech and Language colleagues!
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and you are all enjoying the break. Have a happy new year and we look forward to sharing more advice, tips and ideas with you in 2019! 🥳

A fun calming activity which could support with fine motor skills and pre-writing skills! 🖌️🖍️

A fun and colourful way to work on fine motor skills development and learning colours! 🌈
https://www.facebook.com/helloWonderful/v ideos/344661376267138/

Meet Tina, one of our Occupational Therapists!
Can you tell me what your role is as on Occupational Therapist is?
I support children with physical disabilities focusing on postural management, moving and handling and working with them and their families to increase their independence and support their families to care for them.
... Tell me about the children that you work with?
Lots of children I work with have neuromuscular conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy and other genetic conditions. I work with children from birth to 18 and love building relationships with the child and their families and watching them developing.
How would you describe Occupational Therapy to someone that has never heard of it?
We work with children and families to increase independence in activities of daily living; these are things that when you’re well you take for granted – such as toileting, dressing and sitting.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love the interaction with the children and their families and the feeling that I can make a difficult situation just a little bit easier.
#otweek2018 #occupationaltherapyweek #meettheOTteam
See More

Meet our Occupational Therapy Technician Team!!!
Our role as Occupational Therapy Technicians... We support the Occupational Therapists within Special Schools, Mainstream Schools and the community with equipment across the county. We also provide therapeutic intervention for individuals or in a group setting for fine/gross motor/ADL and organisational skills, as well as run wheelchair clinics.
... The types of children we work with... We work with children from 0-18 years with physical disabilities, co-ordination difficulties, complex needs and learning disabilities.
The things we enjoy about our job... It is an honour to meet children and their families to provide them with the services and provision that they need which can increase the child's independence and can be life changing. The role allows us to continue developing our skills as we work jointly with the Occupational Therapists with a lot of variety.
#otweek2018 #occupationaltherapyweek #meettheOTteam
See More

Meet Corinne, one of our Occupational Therapists!
Can you tell me what your role is as on Occupational Therapist is?
I work within Special Schools to help children with a physical disability to access the curriculum. This can include postural management assessments, specialist seating, toileting equipment and moving and handling advice. I am also responsible for delivering sensory education workshops for parents to improve knowledge and understanding of sensory process diffic...ulties.
How would you describe Occupational Therapy to someone that has never heard of it?
Whenever someone asks me this question I always explain it as; an Occupational Therapist considers the functional abilities and limitations of your body and adapts the task and the environment to improve function and participation.
Tell me about the children that you work with?
The children I work with have a very broad range of abilities and challenges. Some of the children that I work with have considerable challenges in many aspects of daily life but I know that my interventions has huge impacts on their experience of daily life.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy seeing the positive impact of my interventions on these children and families.
#otweek2018 #occupationaltherapyweek #meettheOTteam
See More

Meet Wendi, one of our Occupational Therapists...
Can you tell me about your role as a Children’s Occupational Therapist?
My role is primarily to assess children and young people with disabilities in relation to their long term housing needs. I also provide specialist 24 hour postural management advice, as well as provide equipment as required to support children and young people with their functional activities. I also provide moving and handling equipment and advice to meet... their needs as well as the needs of their carers.
Tell me about the children that you work with?
I mainly work with children with complex long term disabilities.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Every day is different. I particularly like working with the children and their families, problem solving in their homes to achieve a better environment for them to live and their families to care for them.
How would you describe Occupational Therapy to someone who has never heard of it before?
Occupational therapists will work with people, from babies to the elderly, we look at the activities they need to do in their daily life and help them to achieve these by trying to do things in a different way or by making the activity easier for them to do. This can be achieved by providing aids and equipment to help someone to manage a task or in certain cases we are able to make changes to someone’s environment to make activities easier for them.
#otweek2018 #occupationaltherapyweek #meettheOTteam
See More

Happy Occupational Therapy Week everyone!! Throughout the week we will be introducing you to some members of our service!