Motor Skills Pathway
In this section you can find information about our Motor Skills Pathway for children and young people in Sefton Community.
If you are looking for information about our Sensory Pathway, please click here.
What is the Motor Skills Pathway?
The Motor Skills Pathway is one way in which we can support children who are experiencing difficulties with everyday activities that have an impact on their daily life. We work with children and young people to find solutions to reduce the difficulties they face and help them to get the most from life.
We help to identify a child or young person’s difficulties in their daily life by assessing their needs, using play and purposeful activities to help them achieve their goals and become as independent as possible. We may also assess for small aids and equipment and recommend adaptations to support children and young people’s independence.
The Occupational Therapist may look at the following areas:
- Fine motor skills
- Co-ordination & organisational skills
- Classroom skills e.g. Pencil & scissor skills
- Visual perception skills
- Self-care & independence skills
- Posture & positioning
The motor skills pathway is an ‘opt-in’ service. Parent/carers are required to opt into the service, once they have been informed that a referral has been received and accepted.
If we accept a referral for a motor skills assessment, the child will be placed on a waiting list to see an Occupational Therapist, and we will aim to offer an appointment within 18 weeks.
Your first appointment
Where will my appointment be held?
Dependent upon the reason for your child’s referral and the age of your child, an initial appointment may be held in clinic, at home, in nursery, or school.
If your child is asked to attend a clinic appointment these are held at two locations in Sefton (see below). Your home address will determine the location of your appointment.
Southport Centre for Health and Well-being (North Sefton)
44-46 Hoghton St
Southport
PR9 0PQ
Sefton Carers Centre (South Sefton)
27-37 South Road
Waterloo
L22 5PE
Who can bring the child to the first clinic appointment?
At the first appointment, we will need to gain written consent to OT assessment and treatment. It is therefore essential that a person with parental responsibility attends the appointment. If this is not possible, please contact the OT team before the appointment.
What should I expect?
At the first appointment, the Occupational Therapist will listen to your concerns and work to understand the functional difficulties the child is experiencing. This can be done through discussion, observation and assessment.
If your child is asked to attend an appointment at a clinic location, an assessment will take place to decide if any intervention is required. These assessments may be standardised, so that the Occupational Therapist can see how your child is performing in comparison to their peers.
The Occupational Therapist may look at the following areas:
- Fine motor skills
- Co-ordination & organisational skills
- Pencil skills
- Visual perception skills
- Self-care skills
- Posture
How long will the appointment be?
An initial assessment can take up to 1 ½ hours. However, this is dependent upon the needs of the child.
What if I cannot attend my appointment?
Due to the high demand for occupational therapy, if you need to cancel or change an appointment, as much notice as possible is preferred so that the appointment slot can be allocated to someone else.
Contact: North Sefton OT Team on 01704 395 895
South Sefton OT Team on 0151 252 5836
We do appreciate that at times this is not always possible in the case of an emergency.
Please note that cancellations on more than one occasion may result in discharge and a re-referral being required into the service.
Non-attendance
If you do not bring your child to an initial appointment and fail to let us know, your child will be discharged and a re-referral required.
What do I need to bring to the appointment?
Your child needs to attend the appointment with you for an initial motor skills assessment.
The sensory workshops are parent/carer only.
Ensure that your child is comfortable in the clothing that they are wearing, as they may be asked to complete a series of exercises during assessment.
If your child uses any additional aids such as glasses, hearing aids or splints please ensure that these are brought with them.
After the appointment – what happens next?
Following the initial appointment, the Occupational Therapist will analyse the results and decide if further action is required.
These actions may include:
- Advice and strategies or programmes to be carried out at home or school
- Discharge - if no further action is required from the occupational therapy service
- Referral/signposting to other services
- Further assessment/investigation of need
- Treatment/intervention by an OT or OT assistant
- Provision of equipment
- Recommendation for small aids/ adaptations
- To download a copy of our motor skills service information leaflet please click here.
- To download a copy of our motor skills referral form please click here.
- To find out more about how you can help your child develop their motor skills please click here to access our resources.
