Children's OT DCD Team

What services does the Children's Occupational therapy (OT) DCD team offer?

• DCD Pathway - standardised motor skills testing, motor skills group treatment programme.
• Sensory Education session pathway - 2-3 hours education session for parents/ guardian.

The team work in Cherry Tree House, Clatterbridge Hospital.

DCD (Developmental Co-ordination Disorder) Pathway

The DCD Pathway is for the assessment of children who have motor skills difficulties and meet the criteria for a potential diagnosis of Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD).

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts Children's OT DCD team provides standardised motor skills assessment of children in mainstream primary and secondary school, for children and young people aged 5-16 years 11 months old.

Children’s Occupational Therapists are experienced clinicians who work with children and their families to help develop and maximise motor skills and function for children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). We work closely with families to give them the skills and confidence to help their child’s development at home.

Occupational Therapists will use a combination of approaches to develop gross and fine motor skills and provide an intervention programme.

For some children, they can access a motor skills group treatment sessions run for 9 weeks, 5 weeks for gross motor skills and 4 weeks for fine motor skills, each session lasting 45 minutes at Cherry tree House, Clatterbridge Hospital.

Each child is given homework to be completed daily between sessions in order to consolidate skills learnt in the sessions.

For more information about how to access this service and how we test motor skills please click page links below.

Sensory Education Session Pathway

For children and young people aged 5 – 17 years 11 months who experience difficulty regulating their sensory systems which impacts on their functional ability, we provide a 2-3 hours education session for parents/ guardian to attend to learn how to use specific exercises to help regulate their child’s nervous system. Please note that this education session is not for children/ young persons.

The session included:

• Introduction to sensory processing, sensory systems and how they work
• Sensory modulation
• Is it sensory or could it be something else?
• Sensory thresholds (“Big cup or Little Cup”)
• Sensory strategies, why they may be helpful and when to use them
• Introduction to self-regulation
• Strategies children can use to label regulation levels

For more information on how to access the service, resources to support your child at home or in the education setting as well as useful links to services we work closely with; please explore the links below.