What to Expect

• Write down any questions you have about your child’s condition or treatment and bring them with you.
• Learn more about what to do before your appointment.

Occupational Therapy sees babies, children, teens and young adults up to age 21 for a wide range of physical and developmental issues. We focus on building the skills your child needs to complete daily living tasks, such as eating, bathing, playing and writing and helping our patients to engage in life to their fullest ability.

For the first visit, your child will see an occupational therapist (OT). After the first visit, an OT may partner with an occupational therapy assistant (OTA) to provide your child’s care.

1. You and your child will meet with an OT to share your concerns about your child’s skills.
2. The OT will assess your child, which could mean
   •  Asking you and your child questions
   • Checking your child’s range of motion, strength and positioning
   • Watching how your child moves
   • Doing tests that tell us about your child’s function
   • Measuring your child for adaptive equipment
3. By the end of your visit, the OT will explain what they found and what they recommend.

Visits are 60 to 90 minutes. The scheduler will tell you what to expect when you make the appointment.  

• Have your child wear comfortable clothing that makes it easy for them to move — and easy for us to see how they move.
• Have your child wear shoes that provide good support for walking.
• If we are seeing your child for feeding therapy, make sure your child is hungry (if possible, do not feed your child for 2 hours before the visit). Bring from home 1 food your child usually will eat and 1 food they usually will not eat.
• If your child uses adaptive equipment, splints or other devices to support or position their body or help them move, bring these or bring pictures of them.
• If your child has challenges with specific tasks, please bring pictures, videos or examples of them attempting these tasks.
• If your child has challenges using the bathroom, bring pictures of your bathroom.
• If we are seeing your child for pain rehab, bring tennis shoes and a water bottle for your child.
• Bring copies of any reports from previous therapy and your child’s individual education plan (IEP), if they have one.

• Your OT will work with you to set specific goals for your child.
• We will do our best to meet your child’s needs and provide tools that can help you in taking care of your child.
• You know your child best, and it’s important for us to learn about your child from you. Be prepared to share details about your child’s function so we can work together to create a plan.
• We ask to have only 1 or 2 caregivers or family members come to the visit so we can focus on your child and make the most of their appointment.
• We provide short courses of therapy focused on your child’s goals, not long-term ongoing therapy.
• To help your child’s function improve, we may recommend things you can do at home with your child.
• OTs do not diagnose, but our assessments and findings do help your child’s medical team to diagnose.  

We will make sure you leave with a plan for what happens next, and we will try to answer all of your questions. MyChart is the most common way to reach your child’s therapist after you leave.

For some tests, the OT needs to score the test after your visit, interpret the results and write a report. MyChart is your quickest and easiest way to access reports once they are done. You can also submit a medical records request.

• If the OT recommends that you return to Seattle Children’s for treatment, we will help you set up more appointments before you leave, or you can call the clinic to schedule.
• If the OT recommends treatment with a therapist in the community, we can provide you with a list of community clinics in your area.  
• The OT might send a report to the doctor who referred you or call them to talk about your child’s care.

• Call the clinic you are scheduled to visit, or use the cancellation feature in MyChart. 
• Whenever possible, we ask that you cancel at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment.
• You will be unable to cancel your child’s appointment via MyChart if there is less than 24 hours to the time of their appointment and will need to call the clinic to cancel instead.
• If your child has more than 3 back-to-back missed therapy appointments or cancellations within 24 hours of the scheduled visit, we will need to cancel all but their next scheduled visit.  
• After these visits have been canceled, you will only be eligible to schedule 1 visit at a time for the remainder of your child’s plan of care.

• If there is anything specific you should do to prepare your child for the type of visit you are having, the scheduler will tell you when you make the appointment.
• Learn more about preparing your child for a clinic visit.

• Find your location in our map and directions section.
• Arrive 15 minutes before your appointment to allow time for registration.