Vranch House is an Independent Day School in Exeter for children with significant physical difficulties, a centre for the treatment of outpatients and a provider of various therapies in other schools in Devon.
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Occupational therapy addresses the three main areas of a child’s life:
These three areas incorporate aspects such as functional seating, eating and drinking, using wheelchairs, access to the physical environment, self-esteem, fine motor skills and sensory perception.
Two of our occupational therapists have input to Vranch House School. Catherine Courtier runs the termly NHS wheelchair clinic with Exeter Mobility Centre, and has input to Classes 2 and 3. She also advises on hand splints as required. The majority of Catherine’s time is spent running therapy groups for mainstream schoolchildren with developmental co-ordination disorder.
Clare Webber has a specific role (alongside Viktoria Pavlics, Inclusion Advisory Teacher) for setting up shared placements and supporting children and staff in their mainstream schools and pre-schools. Her involvement is mostly with Class 1 (Nursery to Y1). She also does joint assessments of potential new Vranch House School pupils, with a physiotherapist and a speech and language therapist.
Occupational therapists work closely with physiotherapists, teachers, teaching and mealtime assistants, speech and language therapists and other specialists (particularly parents!) to assess a child’s needs and abilities, and to set SMART goals (ie Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). These goals will then be incorporated into a child’s Individual Learning Plan, and reviewed regularly.