Therapeutic Programmes

Our trained OT will assess your child, and once main difficulties are defined, a treatment is planned and delivered.

 

Individual 1:1 Sessions are usually around 45 to 60 minutes of treatment.

Group sessions focus on improving skills such as fine motor, gross motor and handwriting through sensory motor experiences and a multi-sensory approach.

 

Indirect OT: The Occupational Therapist will also work jointly with teachers and other therapists to provide and coordinate a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach.

 

This integrated approach gives a clear picture of the child´s needs and the most effective programmes to be offered to improve the individuals’ performance in all environments.

 

Families are provided with a specific, individualised program that can be carried out at home. These are often activities and games that develop, maintain and improve overall skills.

 

 

 

The role of speech and language at THSL is to promote the speech, language and communication development of our young people, ensuring that each student achieves their full communicative potential.

The ability to use language and communicate with others differs from individual to individual, and it is my remit to ensure that everyone here has an effective communication system. It is essential that children with difficulties are not left to struggle. Helping children communicate more effectively, in turn, helps them to progress, not only at school, but also in the wider world.

We also recognise that support in the home is essential for an holistic approach to communication, and so welcome contact with families.

 

Assessment is an integral aspect of therapy and helps guide teaching. Assessment is used (both formal and informal) to build a speech, language and communication profile. Evaluation of the assessment helps to identify each individual’s strengths and needs.

 

Programmes are written for each individual, each of whom may have specific targets for:

 The speech and language therapist works alongside the teachers in the classroom and provides one-to-one time with the students. The approaches used are integrated into the classroom, following regular planning and liaison time with every class teacher. Therapists work directly with the individual on specific targets for example, developing word-finding skills and these targets form part of each student’s IEP.

 

The class teacher also uses recommended activities to help the student generalise new skills, such as promoting word finding, developing semantic understanding, and encouraging the student to develop their own strategies to retrieve vocabulary.

All therapy is diagnostic, so there is a constant evaluation of progress and reassessment of  targets.

 

 

The Holmewood School, London works in partnership with the Hopscotch children’s therapy centre to deliver assessment and therapy to youngsters who experience difficulties with learning. Offering support to the family environment based on advanced research and current evidence-based treatment approaches. Students at the school can access the Hopscotch services during the school day as part of the integrated Occupational Therapy.

What is Sensory Integration? All of us are constantly managing sensory messages from the environment and from our own body. Sight, sound, touch, movement, taste, position of our body…. Most of us have the ability to receive sensory messages and organise them effortlessly in to the “right” behavioural and physical responses. However, some children display difficulties to process, integrate and/or modulate this information. Therefore, if sensory signals don´t get organized, the responses will not be appropriate, and a child´s daily routines and activities are disrupted as a result.

 

Sensory Processing difficulties may recur in multiple areas, such as motor planning, defensiveness to feelings such as sound and touch, difficulty to coordinate both sides of the body, poor muscle tone… Therefore, the child may find it very difficult dressing himself, maintaining the attention on a task for long periods, to judge the amount of force that he or she has to apply when grasping a pen or when giving a hug…consequently, these difficulties bring social and behavioural challenges, as the child feels different to others and does not have the same strategies than other children to understand, to respond and to learn from the environment. Low self-stem, rigidity, poor social and communication skills and inappropriate behaviours such as screaming, hitting or, the opposite, being slow and clumsy, are common observations in children with Sensory Processing difficulties.

 

An appropriate evaluation and treatment through Sensory Integration approach by a trained Occupational Therapist will help the child to normalise their Nervous System and therefore, responses to the environment will be more accurate. As a result, the child will begin to normalise behaviour and will become more independent in daily tasks.

The Hopscotch children’s therapy centre services are available at The Holmewood School to private clients for consultations and treatments outside of school hours 3pm – 6pm.

 

 

Through understanding of play and the gradual building up of an emotional relationship, there is an opportunity for children and young people to work through some of their difficulties. This can help them to understand themselves and their initial response to others and the world better.

 

Psychotherapy addresses learning inhibitions, anxiety, separation difficulties, confusion, sleep and food disturbances, and emotional tensions that often lead to unpredictable or rigid ways of relating. These are experienced by others as challenging behaviours, anger, inflexibility or a lack of empathy.

 

At Holmewood School, psychotherapy does not focus on the behaviour of the young person, but on what is causing the troubles experienced. I focus on understanding and working through the difficulties that are giving cause to behaviours that are upsetting, both to the young person and to others. Working within the emotional world of the young person can lead to inner and outer change in ways they relate to others and experience themselves.

 

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is an intensive form of therapy; usually when there are complex difficulties, a child is seen for one or several sessions per week for an extensive period of time. This gives the young person an opportunity to gradually discover what the troubles are about and gradually to discover a freedom to tackle them in alternative ways.

Sessions are offered to families and carers, as well as consultations and group work depending on the needs of the individual young person and their circumstances. This work can be short term, a one off, or long term.