Children and young people's occupational therapy

Borders Ref Help Toolkit
NHS Borders

What does an Occupational Therapist do?

Occupational Therapists work with children who have difficulties with the functional skills necessary for their everyday life. The Occupational Therapist will aim to enable the child to be independent as possible and will support children, their families and those closest to them to maximise their opportunities to develop in the following areas:

  • Functional abilities e.g. dressing, eating, toileting etc
  • School skills e.g. pencil control, access to the environment, attention and concentration
  • Play skills · Sensory regulation
  • Gross and fine motor skills
  • Routines

Ways an Occupational Therapist may support a child and those closest to them, may include one or more of the following:

  • Support and advice for parents, carers, teachers and other service providers
  • Provision of treatment programmes/strategies
  • Recommendation of specialist equipment to support functional skills, learning and sensory regulation (at home and school)
  • Direct therapy with the child either individually, or in a group
  • Occupational therapy intervention may involve joint working with others involved with the child
  • Referral to a parent group

The Children & Young People's Occupational Therapy Team is community based and provides a Borders wide service to children aged 0-18 years.

Who to refer, who not to refer, how to refer

Who to refer:

Children and young people aged 0-18, who have difficulties with the functional skills necessary for their everyday life.

Who Not to Refer:

There are no exclusion criteria to accessing the Children & Young Peoples Occupational Therapy Service, but there must be

a specific functional difficulty. However, we do expect that before making a request, parents/ carers and/ or ELCs/ School will have tried some of the strategies and advice both on our web page (see the tabs to the left) and on our Facebook Page, and only if these prove unsuccessful, consider contacting the service.

How to refer:

A request for assistance to the service can be made via the child's school, Healthcare Professional, Doctor, Health Visitor, Nurse, Physiotherapist or Speech Therapist or by parents/ carers contacting the service directly. Contact can be made via our enquiry line (01896 826033) or via our enquiry inbox (paediatricotenquiries@borders.scot.nhs.uk) where an initial discussion can be arranged with an Occupational Therapist.

Primary care management

We expect that before making a request, parents/ carers and/ or ELC’s/ School, will have tried some of the strategies and advice both on our web page (see the tabs to the left) and on our Facebook Page, and only if these prove unsuccessful, consider contacting the service.

Resources and links

Our website has a range of resources and information, but also a section which includes national websites to explore.

For example:

Local Resources

National Resources

Local service contact details

Children & Young Peoples Occupational Therapy Service Enquiry Line: 01896 826033

Children & Young Peoples Occupational Therapy Service Enquiry Inbox: paediatricotenquiries@borders.scot.nhs.uk

Editorial Information

Last reviewed: 01/02/2024

Next review date: 01/02/2026