Occupational therapy case

The child presents as a shy fourteen year old with a learning disability. They live at home with their family and four siblings. They attend mainstream school with some additional support. The child has been coming to Tiny Tim’s Children’s Centre for a couple of years. They first received massage therapy. They were then referred for occupational therapy to help them become more independent.

Parental and child’s concerns

• Over-reliance on parents for self care activities and organising themselves for school
• Difficulties with handwriting

Goals of therapy

The occupational therapist built a rapport with the child to help them feel at ease. Together with mum they talked about what the child would like to be able to do better. The therapist prompted the child to talk through a typical day to help identify specific tasks to work on. The main aim was for the child to become more independent with self-help activities. Four specific goals were agreed with the parents:

• For the child to dry their own back after a bath.
• For them to learn how to tie their own shoelaces.
• For the child to brush their teeth thoroughly for 2 minutes twice a day.
• For the child to write four sentences with neat handwriting and punctuation using the handwriting book.

Ideas for activities to reach the goals were suggested and tried out in therapy sessions and at home. Sessions were planned in the diary. Each week the parents and the child reported back to the occupational therapist so ideas could be adjusted and new goals set.

Evaluation

All four goals were achieved over four weeks. Occupational therapy continues once a month to review progress and change. New therapy goals are set regularly and the child suggests activities they would like to work on.