OT Assessments ​​

What are Assessments?

• Assessments are an integral part the therapy process. This provides us an opportunity to gather information for a deeper understanding of your child’s strengths and challenges, and guide clinical reasoning for intervention planning and recommendations.

 

What is the Purpose of an Assessment in OT intervention?

• OT assessments may focus on different skill areas like attention, motor skills, sensory processing, play and social skills.

• Information gathered from assessments provide a holistic picture of your child’s strengths and challenges and how these impact on your child’s participation in day-to-day life.

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What Assessments do we use? 

We have a combination of standardised and non-standardised assessments.

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Standardised Assessments 

Movement Assessment Battery for Children (ABC) - 2nd Edition 

• Understand your child’s motor development compared to same age peers.

• Provides an opportunity to measure change in motor skills over time. 

 

Detailed Assessment of Handwriting (DASH)

• To provide formal evidence of handwriting speed compared to same age peers.

• Helps understand a child’s handwriting skills across different writing tasks

 

Sensory Profile

• Designed to help you understand a child’s sensory processing patterns in everyday situations and how these impact on their everyday life.

 

Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS)

• Assess the functional skills necessary for daily living such as self-care, communication, self-management, community use

• This is particularly recommended when completing Functional Capacity Assessments

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PEDI-CAT 

 The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI-CAT) measures abilities in three functional domains: Daily Activities, Mobility and Social/Cognitive.  The PEDI-CAT’s Responsibility domain measures the extent to which the caregiver or child takes responsibility for managing complex, multi-step life tasks.  

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Developmental Test of Visual Perception

• Understand your child’s visual perceptual skills and how this impacts on their performance in different activities.

 

Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)

• Outcome measure designed to support an individual to identify and prioritize everyday issues that restrict their participation in everyday living.

 

Steps of the Assessment

• Initial session with parent / carer only: 60-minute session via phone, online or in-clinic

• Assessment session with the child

  • Duration depends on areas to be assessed

  • Generally, 60-90 minutes

• For Functional Capacity Assessment: 60–90-minute session with parents / carer to complete the ABAS or PEDI-CAT

• Report writing and recommendations: 90 - 120  minutes (which is invoiced at the hourly rate)

• Parent / Carer Feedback – to discuss assessment results, establish goals and plan intervention.

 

What is an OT’s role in diagnosis?

• OTs work in collaboration with other health professionals when exploring whether a child meets criteria for a diagnosis.  OTs provide assessments and information to the assessment team which often includes your paediatrician, speech therapist, and psychologist.

• OTs can contribute to assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Coordination Disorder and Dysgraphia. 

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