What is the structure of the Initial Occupational Therapy Assessment?
1. Caregiver Developmental Questionnaire
The child’s caregiver will be required to fill in an online questionnaire prior to the initial consultation. The child’s teacher may also need to fill in a questionnaire if required.
2. Identifying Goals for Therapy & Assessment
Part A: Caregiver only initial consultation. The OT will gain an in-depth understanding of the child’s background, current level of function, needs and goals. This provides an opportunity for the caregiver to talk openly and honestly about their child’s needs.
Part B: Based on the needs discussed in Part A, the Occupational Therapist will perform both standardised and non-standardised assessments with the child. (Including but not limited to the Sensory Profile II, BOT- 2, MFUN, TVPS, Clinical Observations, ABAS, COPM and DASH).
3. Detailed Report
Once the assessment process is completed, all observations and recommendations will be compiled into a thorough report and shared with the caregiver during the feedback session. The report will detail each assessment carried out, analysis of results and provide recommendations to support any goals identified. We also provide a personalised home program to support caregivers in working towards identified goals at home.
Functional Capacity Assessment: Assessing an NDIS participant or NDIS applicant to identify areas they require support in, advise how much support is required and adequate funding to help achieve their goals. Functional Capacity Assessments are now required by NDIA and our assessment will include a face to face component and inclusion of or discussions with any other parties that can provide supporting evidence. A detailed report is compiled and this can then be submitted to the NDIA for consideration. Please allow a few weeks for our OT’s to prepare this report for you.
Motor Based Dysgraphia: Pre-diagnostic assessment to identify the underlying contributors to difficulty with written expression; pencil control, underlying fine motor skills, spelling, grammar, punctuation, cognitive loading and organisation of written tasks. Our OT’s use a combination of assessment tools to identify if the functional writing difficulties are indicative of Motor-Based Dysgraphia. A Caregiver only session may be initially conducted, followed by a minimum 90 minute assessment with the client. A report will then be prepared and an assessment feedback session will be booked in with the Caregiver where required. Please note, Motor Based Dysgraphia can only be diagnosed 9 years and older and requires 6 month of intervention post initial assessment to meet diagnostic criteria. Additionally, Year 11 and 12 students completing WACE will require an updated Dysgraphia assessment if requesting special considerations for examinations. Our OT’s can provide updated reports and support with application to SCSA. Please allow a few weeks for our OT’s to prepare this report for you.
Handwriting: Assessment to identify underlying conditions to handwriting legibility, pencil grip, fine motor skills and visual perception. The DASH assessment tool is applied and a client is provided a sample piece of writing to assess. Our OT’s will make clinical observations on pen grip, pen positioning and pressure, body positioning, fine motor control, formation of letters, hypermobility, spacing and sizing. A report will then be prepared and an assessment feedback session will be booked in with the Caregiver. Please allow a few weeks for our OT’s to prepare this report for you.
Have Questions?
We have answered as many questions as we can in our FAQ's, but feel free to reach out to us anytime.