Occupational Therapy

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.

Please check that all the strategies relating to the difficulties your child or young peson is currently experiencing in the relevant sections in our Health and Development area. If you have tried these and you still have concerns please contact us as below.

• Does your child avoid important activities because of how it makes them feel?
• Does the child you work with find it difficuly to manage the demands of the classroom?
• Does your child become easily overwhelmed in busy or noisy places?
• Does the child you work with find it more difficult than others to focus or sit?
• Des your child move, push or 'crash' more than others?

Our Occupational Therapy team are pleased to introduce our online workshopsto help you.

These sessions are designed 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 be experiencing. It offers strategies, practical advice and tips on how you can enable a child or young person to manage their sensory needs on a daily basis.

Please see below for more information on the sessions and how to register.

Early Years sensory processing workshop

This sensory processing workshop focuses on how to support younger children (0-5 years). This session can be attended by parents/carers and early years staff/childminders in order to understand a child's needs and how these can be best supported.

School Years sensory processing workshop

This sensory processing workshop focuses on how to support school age children (5-11 years). This session can be attended by parents/carers and school staff supporting a child or young person in order to understand the young person's needs and how these can be best supported.

School Years + sensory processing workshop

This sensory processing workshop focuses on how to support young people (11-19 years). This session can be attended by young people themselves, parents/carers, siblings and educational staff in order to understand the young person's needs and how these can be best supported.

Important information about your personal data

When you visit the link for the training session, Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust will use the information you provide for service development purposes. Your email address will only be accessible to those Berkshire Healthcare staff involved in the delivery of the training. 

Personal data will be deleted after the webinar, your information will not be shared with any third party and you will not be contacted by Berkshire Healthcare as a result of this training, unless safeguarding concerns arise from the session around your own, or your child’s wellbeing. If this is the case, data will be used to escalate appropriately to the safeguarding team.

Cameras and microphones will remain disabled throughout the session, however, please note that if you do not select ‘Join as a guest’ at the time of the training, your name will be visible to other attendees. Please select ‘Join as a guest’ when you enter and choose a name unrelated to you.

Below are a series of videos around sensory processing. These videos are designed for young people, paretns and carers, and those working with children and young people.

The aim of the videos is to help you to understand the different sensory systems and give practical strategies tht you can try at home or school to help you manage yours or your child's sensory needs and differences on a daily basis. 

What is sensory processing?
Good sensory processing forms the baseline of all learning experiences. This video is an introduction to sensory processing and the different senses.

 The Tactile (touch) system 

This video talks about our sense of touch in more detail, including how to support the development of this sensory system.

Body awareness (proprioception)

This video talks about body awareness and why it is important to include heavy work activities as part of a child's day.

Movement and balance

This video talks about our postural stability, balance and alertness.

Alertness Levels

This video talks about how a child's alertness levels can affect their readiness to join in with activities and learning.

 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: 0118 9044803
• Newbury: 0300 3654000 (option 2)
• Reading: 0300 3654000 (option 1)
• Slough: 0118 9044802
• Windsor and Maidenhead: 0118 9044801
• Wokingham: 0300 3654000 (option 3)