As an Occupational Therapist with a passion for both therapy and education there are core beliefs that underpin my practise:
I believe in providing a developmental-led approach; using typical developmental stages and milestones, to guide skill acquisition and performance baselines. Without establishing developmental foundations we cannot expect a child to reach their full potential.
I believe in getting to the root cause of a presenting functional difficulty. Plastering over the difficulty will only provide temporary and one-dimensional benefits. My innate drive to get to the core of a presenting problem compels me to constantly ask ‘why?’, in order to identify the origin of the difficulty and to understand the context and functional implications of it.
I believe therapeutic intervention and goals have to be meaningful for the individual child in order to foster motivation, engagement and the best possible results.
I believe in working from a function-based perspective; including providing functional goals and outcome measures.
I believe an essential element, in maximizing the benefits of Occupational Therapy for a child, is educating and training the staff working with them. Having an understanding of the goals and therapeutic intervention elicits increased participation and enthusiasm from both the child and the staff.
I believe in providing accessible and practical advice that can be incorporated into the child’s everyday school routine as part of their daily curriculum, which can often be transferrable to home life.
I believe in working with school staff using therapeutic approaches to support their educational goals for the child. Ultimately, we are both working to support the child’s learning potential.
I believe in communicating closely with families and other professionals involved in the child’s care, in order to provide a holistic and unified approach.