Paediatric Occupational Therapy in Primary Care

What is Occupational Therapy for Children and Young People?

Occupational Therapy for Children and young people (0-18 years) supports and promotes the development of life skills. The focus is on improving the child’s performance in functional tasks required at home, in school and in the community.

This can include self care tasks (dressing, washing, toileting, feeding, grooming etc.) productive tasks (handwriting, organisational skills, attention and concentration, preparing a snack etc.) and leisure and play skills.

This often involves supporting children in developing the foundation skills in order to engage in their daily activities including supporting a child to develop their fine and gross motor skills, coordination and planning of movement. Occupational Therapy for children supports the child in developing their sensory processing skills for regulation and engagement in daily activities.

Who we see?

Children and young people 0-18 years old (or an older person who is still enrolled in a secondary school) who are experiencing difficulties performing their everyday functional tasks
Children living in the Carlow/Kilkenny Area. We are divided in to 3 network areas;
- Network 1 - Carlow Town and County (Excluding Borris and St. Mullins).
- Network 2 (Kilkenny South, Thomastown, Callan, Bennetsbridge, Gowran, Borris, St. Mullins, Graignamanagh
- Network 3 - Kilkenny City and Kilkenny North

How to Refer?

Please note in Primary Care we see children with non-complex needs. If a referral is received for a child and it is felt they have complex needs better suited to another service, the referrer will be contacted and notified.
Referrals are accepted from health and educational professionals, parents and guardians
Referral forms should include signed consent from parents/guardians.
Please send completed forms to the occupational therapy department, see below for details.
Please note that incomplete referrals will not be accepted and will be returned to the referral source.
We recommend including any previous assessment reports you may have from other services e.g. Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy or school reports or any other relevant supplementary information to support the referral.

You can also make a referral yourself using the Children's Services Referral Form (PDF, 101.36KB, 11pages) This can be completed electronically by typing into the document or alternatively it can be printed and completed by hand/writing into the form.

Please also complete one of the below Additional Information Forms corresponding to your child's age.

Referrals can be posted to the following locations for each network and you can call the numbers below if you have any queries

Network 1 - Carlow Town and County (Not including Borris and St. Mullins)

Primary Care Centre,
Shamrock Plaza,
Green Lane,
Carlow, R93 T8Y6.
Phone: 056 7732027

Network 2 - South Kilkenny and South Carlow (Borris and ST. Mullins)

Thomastown Primary Care Centre,
Lady’s well street,
Newtown,
Thomastown,
Co. Kilkenny,
R95 T3FW.
Phone: 056 7773900

Network 3 - Kilkenny City and North County

Newpark Primary Care Centre
Old Golf Links Road
Kilkenny
R95 X4EF
Phone: 056 77 16516

What to expect after referral?

When referral to OT is accepted, parents/guardians will receive notification in the post. If a referral is not accepted the referral will be returned to the referrer outlining the reason why. A referral can be resubmitted with additional information if appropriate.
The child will be placed on a waitlist for assessment. While waiting to be called for assessment please ensure to notify us of any changes to contact details.
When the child reaches the top of the list for Occupational Therapy parents/guardians will be notified by phone or post.
The Occupational Therapist will meet with the child and their parent to assess their strengths and challenges and how these impact on their ability to participate in everyday activities.
Together goals for therapy will be identified.
Intervention may include a variety of the following:
- 1:1 therapy in the clinic
- Group therapy
- Parent workshops and education
- Home and school visits and/or activity programme