Pediatric Occupational Therapy › Assessments
An assessment helps us understand how your child is doing across the skills that daily life asks of them — moving, playing, learning, and managing their own feelings. We use a mix of conversation with you, standardized testing, and watching your child at play to build a full picture.
Fine motor skills
How your child uses their hands for small, precise tasks — holding a pencil, doing up buttons, using scissors,
managing cutlery. We look at grip, control, and hand strength.
Bilateral coordination
How well the two sides of the body work together — steadying paper while writing, cutting with one hand
while turning with the other, riding a bike. Difficulty here shows up in many everyday tasks at once.
Balance and coordination
Steadiness while standing, moving, and changing direction. We look at how your child manages uneven
ground, playground equipment, and staying upright while doing something else.
Sensory processing and sensory integration
How your child takes in and responds to sound, touch, movement, taste, and visual information. We look at
what they seek out, what they avoid, and how that affects daily routines.
Visual perception and visual-motor integration
How your child interprets what they see and coordinates it with movement — copying shapes, judging
spacing, keeping their place on a page.
Attention, executive functioning, and organization
Staying with a task, following multi-step instructions, planning ahead, and keeping track of belongings. These
skills shape how a child copes with the structure of school.
Feeding and oral motor skills
Chewing, swallowing, managing different textures, and mealtime behaviour. Useful when eating is limited,
stressful, or slow.
Gross motor coordination
How your child moves their whole body: running, jumping, climbing, catching a ball. We look at how smoothly
and confidently they manage the physical demands of play and PE.
Motor planning (praxis)
Your child's ability to think through an unfamiliar movement and carry it out. Children who struggle here often
know what they want to do but can't work out how to make their body do it.
Strength, endurance, and postural control
Core strength and stamina for sitting upright at a desk, holding a position, and lasting through a school day
without fatigue.
Emotional regulation and self-regulation
How your child manages frustration, excitement, and transitions between activities. We look at what triggers
difficulty and what already helps them settle.
Handwriting and school readiness
Letter formation, spacing, speed, and the endurance to write for as long as class requires. We also look at
the underlying skills that handwriting depends on.
Self-care skills
Dressing, feeding, toileting, and hygiene — the everyday independence that matters at home and at school.
We look at what your child can manage alone and where they need support.
Social participation and play skills
How your child joins in with others, shares, takes turns, and plays. Play is a child's main occupation, so
difficulty here affects almost everything else.
Functional independence at home, school, and in the community
The overall picture: how well your child manages the real settings they spend their time in, and what would
make those settings easier.