Occupational therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement.

(World Federation of Occupational Therapy 2012)

A Paediatric Occupational therapist can help babies, infants, children, young people or adults grow, learn, have fun, socialise and play so they can develop, thrive and reach their full potential both at home, school and the wider community. This is often achieved through the medium of play. A child’s main occupation is play, this is how they learn, explore and makes sense of the world around them. Play is an essential part of development and informs learning and progress.

A paediatric occupational therapist will need to identify and understand a child’s, young person’s or adult’s usual occupations (things they do every day) to discover what difficulties they currently face. They will support the child or young person, their family and other relevant people such as teachers, to evaluate challenges and strengths in their ability to participate. The occupational therapist may suggest hands on therapy, alternative ways of doing things, provide advice on learning new approaches and techniques, or make changes to the environment, for example, through using equipment or adaptations.