The purpose of a behavioral assessment is to identify the baseline level of a child's/student's skills. If an intervention program is warranted, the data from the assessment should provide important information for determining the instructional program, such as which skills need to be the focus for intervention; what level of the skill should the program begin with and barriers that need to be addressed to facilitate learning , for example, maladaptive behaviors. Through obtaining a representative of the child’s/ student's existing skills and identifying barriers to learning, the behavior consultant can develop specific intervention strategies to help overcome these problems, which can lead to more effective learning.

Occupational Therapy (OT);

helps people with injuries or disabilities increase their independence and participate in daily routines through participation in therapeutic activities. A child has several “occupations”, including school, play, and taking care of daily living skills such as bathing, dressing, feeding, etc.

Occupational therapists work with children diagnosed with a variety of conditions, such as
cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, developmental delays, and autism. In therapy, the OT works on a variety of skills, depending on the area of need.
Here is a list of difficulties that an occupational therapist might address.
· Poor fine-motor skills (grasping, cutting, shoe-tying, utensil use)
· Poor playground skills (fear of climbing, low muscle tone, core weakness)
· Visual Perceptual problems
· Poor handwriting skills
· Problems with eye-hand coordination
· Poor sensory processing
· Dependence with Daily living Skills (bathing, tooth-brushing, dressing, self-feeding)

Speech-language Therapy (SLTs),

often informally known as speech therapists, are professionals educated in the study of human communication, its development, and its disorders. SLPs assess speech, language, cognitive-communication, and oral/feeding/swallowing skills to identify types of communication problems (articulation; fluency; voice; receptive and expressive language disorders, etc.) and the best way to treat them.

Here is a list of difficulties a Speech and language pathologists might address:

. identify children's developmental speech and communication difficulties/disorders;

. assess and treat swallowing and communication difficulties arising from a variety of causes, e.g. congenital problems (such as cleft palate) or acquired disorders after a stroke or injury;

. devise, implement and revise relevant treatment programmes;

. advise carers on implementing treatment programmes and

. training other professionals in therapy delivery; assess communication environments.

For more information, please call us at (250) 999 0908