Occupational Therapy
We support children and young people to perform everyday activities, become as independent as possible, and interact with others and the world around them.
The children who use our service find things like dressing, feeding, handwriting, socialising and play difficult. This could be due to a problem with their fine motor skills, coordination skills, perception skills and/or sensory processing (the ability to make sense of the world around them). We also provide advice, and recommendations for equipment such as splints, sensory strategies, adapted cutlery, writing aids, specialist seating and switches.
Please visit our sensory processing pages for more information on how to support your child, including helpful short videos.
How was your care?
Please tell us about the care you received from us. All your comments are really important to us and will help us to improve the service you receive. Please visit the iWantGreatCare website and choose 'Children's Therapy Services'. Thank you.
We may be able to help by:
- Providing you and anyone else involved in supporting your child (eg education staff) with training and advice
- Providing recommendations, approaches and activities to support your child in a range of different environments
- Providing advice and recommendations for specialist equipment (such as splints, sensory strategies, adapted cutlery, writing aids, specialist seating, and switches)
- Contributing to Educational Healthcare plans and transition planning
- Providing direct therapy with your child individually or in a group when needed.
We work closely in partnership with you, your family, education staff and a range of professionals to help your child achieve the goals that we have agreed with you.
If you have concerns about a child or young person, there are several ways to access help and support. You can:
- Access our online workshops and presentations. These are run by Occupational Therapists to provide you with strategies to support sensory processing, handwriting and motor skills. Please click on the links to access.
- Look on our advice pages. Here you will find all sorts of advice and strategies to help with many different issues that may affect your child or young person’s access to daily activities.
If you have tried the above and still have concerns, please contact us.
East Berkshire - Slough, Windsor, Ascot, Maidenhead or Bracknell.
If your child or young person is aged 0-18 years, registered with an East Berkshire GP and/or living in East Berkshire, you can contact us via our Enquiries Advice and Support line and speak to an Occupational Therapist to discuss your child or young person’s needs.
Our phone lines are open from 9am-3.30pm on a Tuesday and Thursday. Many issues can be helped by talking, so please call us on: 0118 9043700. If you require additional support to make a phone call, please email: cypittriage2@berkshire.nhs.uk
As well as parents and carers, we are happy to speak to teachers/educational staff and other health care professionals. Please do not complete a referral form. Instead, please seek parental consent and call us on our Occupational Therapy Enquiries Line to discuss your concerns with an Occupational Therapist over the telephone. This will help us to better understand how the child’s needs are impacting on them and jointly agree next steps to meet their needs. This may include specific advice and strategies to try at home or in their educational setting, signposting to other services or a local clinic/school assessment. Please note that CYPIT Occupational Therapy do not make recommendations for equipment in the home environment.
Healthcare professionals in acute settings will use the online referral form request help.
West - Reading, Wokingham or Newbury
We will only accept referrals for children who are school aged and have an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP).
For children in the west who do not have an EHCP please refer to Dingley Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Please see the Royal Berkshire Hospital website (opens in new window) for details of their referral criteria and how to contact them.
Sensory processing workshops
Does your child:
- Avoid doing things because of how it makes them feel?
- Find the demands of the school classroom challenging?
- Get overwhelmed in busy or noisy places?
- Find it difficult to focus or sit still?
- Move, push or 'crash' more than others?
Our Occupational Therapy team are pleased to introduce our online workshops to help you.
They are for parents, carers and those working with children and young people. Our aim is to help you understand the sensory needs that a child or young person may have. We offer strategies, practical advice and tips on how you can help a child or young person to manage their sensory needs every day.
Please see this page for more information on when the sessions are running and how to join
Handwriting essentials workshop
- Does your child find it hard to hold a pencil?
- Do they use too much or too little pressure?
- Do they have difficulty forming their letters correctly?
- Do they struggle to keep their letters on the lines?
This online workshop offers strategies, practical advice and tips on how to support handwriting development in children and young people. These sessions are designed for parents and carers and those working within primary school age settings.
Please visit this page for more information on when the sessions are running and how to join
If your child/young person is already known to our service and you have a query, concern, or need advice, or you need to cancel/re-arrange a scheduled appointment, please call your local administration team:
- Bracknell, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead: 0300 365 0123 (option 2)
- Newbury: 0300 365 4000 (option 2)
- Reading: 0300 365 4000 (option 1)
- Wokingham: 0300 365 4000 (option 3)
