Occupational Therapy (Children)

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Contact information

North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Telephone: 01782 427450
E-mail: ChildrensOT@mpft.nhs.uk

West and East Staffordshire

Telephone: 01785 221664
E-mail: ChildrensOTsouth@mpft.nhs.uk

The Children's Occupational Therapy service helps children to be able to do their everyday activities where a physical disability or impairment is making it hard for them.

We see children who have difficulties because of conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Arthritis, or a motor coordination problem.

We work with families in our therapy rooms, in schools, in the community, or in the places where children live and play.

We have three teams: North Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent, East Staffordshire, and West Staffordshire.

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About Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy enables people to participate in daily life to improve their health and wellbeing. Daily life is made up of many activities (or occupations).

Occupations for children or young people include:

self-care (getting ready to go out, eating a meal, using the toilet)
being productive (going to nursery or school, or volunteering)
leisure (playing with friends or doing hobbies)

The overall aim of the Children's Occupational Therapy service in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is to help children who have either a physical disability or a motor coordination difficulty to do the things they want and need to do in life.

This helps them to:

participate in their home life, school life, and in wider society
become as independent as possible in childhood and adulthood
reach their full potential
achieve a good quality of life

In order to do an activity well there are three factors:

the child
the task
the environment

An occupational therapist will analyse which factor needs to be addressed to enable a child to participate.

Child directed intervention

Advice or treatment which changes something about the way a child functions (e.g. better grip of a pen, better understanding of how to plan their movements, better ability to organise their workspace and body)

Environmental modification

Changing something about the people and the place where the child does the activity. Helping adults understand how best to help, altering seating or lighting or noise levels. (e.g. seating the child differently at mealtimes so they can cut up their food more easily)

Task adaptation

Making the task easier so the child can succeed, for example breaking the task into small steps, using different tools, or different materials. (e.g. special scissors, broader lines to cut along)

Compliments, Comments and Complaints

We want our service to meet your needs and hope you find us approachable. Do tell your therapist how your experience has been. We are happy to listen. If you have any concerns that you feel you cannot discuss with one of the team you can visit Complaints, Concerns and Compliments to help you resolve them.

We appreciate all feedback and below are some of the most recent comments received.

I must take the time to personally thank you, B didn't typically tick a box but you still took on board my concerns, validated them and made me feel understood. You could have dismissed all of this due to him scoring high on the assessment but you didn't, you looked at him holistically, took time to make extra visits to him in school and referred to paediatrics for a second opinion and because of this he will now get the support he deserves instead of just 'coping' and 'adapting' on his own and for that I will forever be grateful to you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. – Parent

Just to update you: My son E has been able to push off on his bike and ride totally unaided today. The look of pure joy on his face was priceless. Thank you so much for this course. I managed to get a video of him too. We are so appreciative. He really has gained so much confidence. – Parent

Thank you so much. I've been meaning to email you to say a huge thank you to you and your team for what you do. H absolutely LOVED it and has been on his bike everyday since the course. His confidence and ability grows with every ride but couldn't have done it without you guys so thank you.

I am the parent of M who was accepted on the Movement Wise Pathway. I have completed the autism and also the general motor difficulties workshops and I have found them both really informative and helpful and I will be applying the advice from the workshops to help M move forward with his development. Thank you so much for your advice.