Individual Services FAQs
How do individual OT services work at OKOT?
Individual services start with an OT assessment to establish goals with you for your child. All individual services are offered in semester-long packages (fall or winter/spring). Each semester package includes weekly visits, monthly parent consultation calls, and progress report at the end of the semester.
Individual sessions will include the child, parent or caregiver, and therapist. Individual sessions focus on addressing the specific One of the things we love about our therapy model is that therapy at OKOT is all about PLAY and having fun outdoor adventures together. We meet at the trailhead, and hike to our play area to have a short check in and share the plan for the day. We then do the activity planned for that day, and end with free movement and supported play before hiking back to the trailhead. The OT embeds therapeutic intervention throughout these activities for each child, which is why we don’t set strict schedules or time limits on each activity.
What is the Individual Evaluation process? What if my child has an OT eval already?
OT assessment is a process in which the therapist analyzes your child’s unique developmental profile & strengths, their daily life contexts, and factors that may be contributing to challenges they are experiencing.
Assessment is a critical part of the occupational therapy process to ensure effective therapy services. We work with parents to determine which assessments are appropriate and necessary to provide the information needed for the therapist to best address your child’s needs in therapy sessions. Not all children require formal standardized assessments. Therapist’s observations and interactions with your child are always part of the assessment process.
For current assessment pricing please refer to our individual services application. Re-assessments are completed yearly, billed in the same manner.
If you have a current OT assessment we can build upon that in our assessment process, and you may receive a coupon code to discount assessment fees.
What assessments do we use for evals?
Our therapists are trained to use their clinical reasoning skills to select assessments specific to the needs of the child. We will work with families to determine what areas you think your child needs more support and what skills you would like assessed. Depending upon the child's needs we may conduct standardized assessments in the areas of gross motor, fine motor, visual motor, executive function, sensory processing, and social skills.
How are individual goals different from the goals in groups? Is there a specific number of goals?
All children who are receiving individual OT will have specific treatment goals established after the 2nd or 3rd visit. The OT will develop goals based on the assessments and information you shared about your child on your child’s application for services. The OT will collaborate with you to ensure the goals align with your family’s concerns at this time.
In individual sessions we are able to work together to establish an increased number of goals (should we put a finite number here?) to support therapy versus 1-2 goals per child in group sessions.
Logistics for Individual Services
Can siblings participate in individual services?
One of our core values at OKOT is Connection, relationship-building. We focus on supporting children’s connections with one another and helping them learn critical social skills needed for success at school, home, and in life. Having a peer/sibling to participate can be beneficial for some children. Let us know if you would like your child’s sibling to join the services, and we can determine together if they would be a good peer playmate for your child’s individual session and needs.
What safety measures are in place for individual sessions?
Our therapists use a relationship-based approach, including positive and natural consequences, as well as offering sensory strategies, when helping all children learn to regulate their behaviors. For individual services, your therapist will work specifically with you and your child to help your child learn self-regulation strategies for success in daily activities.
Do parents stay for individual sessions? Do they have to participate?
We value partnerships with families. For individual sessions, we encourage you or a caregiver to join the session with your child. This allows carry-over of skills learned in therapy to the home and other community settings where you or caregivers are with your child in daily life.
We do not staff individual sessions with staff members other than the therapist. If you choose not to join the session for any reason, please always ensure that your therapist knows exactly where to find you in case of an emergency. For safety, we require that parents or caregivers stay ON-SITE at the park in an easily accessible location nearby during your child’s therapy session.
How will we determine meeting spots?
Your therapist will communicate with you a meeting location prior to the start of individual sessions. The therapist will meet you at the predetermined location and then lead the child and parent into the woods to play and begin the session.
Communication devices?
At Outdoor Kids OT we welcome communication devices to be used in therapy. Our therapists have experience using AAC and other devices with children.
What equipment is used during therapy?
At Outdoor Kids OT one of our core values is that children need more time outdoors for their healthy development! During therapy we use the natural environment around us as therapy equipment, and may supplement with outdoor therapy swings, and everyday tools (ex. scissors, ropes, hammers, knives for cutting snacks or whittling) in our sessions.
Our Outdoor Kids individual sessions provide a safe space for them to explore their limits, challenge themselves and enjoy play in nature...with the just-right amount of support they may need to do these things successfully. Nature offers experiences that cannot be replicated in an indoor therapy clinic.
How long does therapy last?
All individual services are offered in packages that provide your child with weekly 50-minute OT visits and monthly 30 minute consult calls with the therapist for the duration of the semester. (Fall is Sept-December; Winter/Spring is January-May; Summer is June-August.)
Our therapists will work with you to discuss progress and determine continuation of services/best fit for services each year.
What kind of kids do we accept for individual services?
We work with children who may have diagnoses of ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, motor skill challenges, or have no diagnosis at all but just need work on developmental skills.
For individual services we accept children who may need more individual support as the OT is 1:1 with the child and parent. Individual services are a great fit for a child who may not be ready to function with the 1:2 adult-to-child ratio and level of independence we require to be in our group sessions.
My kid "does better" when I'm not there.
This is a wonderful reason to come to individual sessions, we partner with you. YOU are the most important influence in your own child’s growth and progress. We value parents as partners in the therapy process and will always include you to help support carryover of the skills and experiences we have each session.
Nature based therapy offers a wonderful opportunity for our connection & relationship-building. We focus on supporting children’s connections with one another and helping them learn critical social skills needed for success at school, home, and in life.
We can support you in using a developmental approach to managing behaviors that may arise during our session.
Do you cancel individual sessions in rainy or cold weather?
Nope! We prepare for the weather and play outdoors. In the case of rain, we would only cancel if the weather conditions posed a hazard to the children (for example, strong winds, or hail). The only time we’ve canceled groups was for very poor air quality when there were nearby forest fires in California.
Do you offer individual occupational therapy services or assessments?
Yes! You can read all about our individual services here.
My child is gender non-conforming and I’d like to enroll them in OT. How do staff at OKOT support children who are gender non-conforming?
Since the start of our practice in 2016, families have found OKOT to be an inclusive and safe space for their children who are gender non-conforming / non-binary. We honor that gender non-conformity will have a unique presentation in each child.
Occupational therapists are specifically trained to support the holistic development of body, mind, and spirit of the whole child. One of our foundational values at OKOT is CONNECTION. Our work at OKOT is grounded in connection with families. We believe building relationships with each child and parent is critical to creating a safe, inclusive space for therapy.
After enrollment in services, our personalized assessment process will allow 1:1 discussion with your therapist about your child to individualize our approach to OT intervention based on your values, needs, & preferences. We want to ensure your child feels safe, supported, & accepted in our services.
While our groups and services are play-based, not “curriculum” based, we do teach social-emotional skills and self-regulation skills, always with a focus on inclusion, equity, & honoring neurodiversity. Our staff attends regular training for supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as training on current best practices for supporting children’s mental health, self-regulation, and relationship-based intervention.
Application Questions
I’m not sure my child needs OT or if I should apply for them as a peer playmate. What if I register them and then the assessment results indicate OT is not needed?
In this case, we ask you enroll for OT services and we’ll do the pre-group OT assessment. If the assessment results indicate the level of need is not significant enough to warrant therapy, we change the child to a peer playmate role in the group. The non-refundable registration fee for the OT service covers the cost of assessment, and the account is then switched to the peer playmate rate. We only provide OT services for children who need OT, as it would be unethical to charge families for a service they don’t need.
What happens after I apply for my child to join a group?
Our application process allows you to submit an application for all locations and times that would work for your family. After the application deadline in May, our therapists review applications as a team. We form groups based on ages and needs of children who applied for each available group.
After review of applications, you will be notified if your child is offered a spot in a group. You will then have 48 hours to pay your deposit to confirm your child’s spot. If you do not reply, we will move to the next child on the waitlist. We generally have about 10-15 applications for 4 spots in each group. If your child is not placed, they will remain on the waitlist for upcoming openings in groups.
Your OT will contact you via email one week prior to the group’s start date to send you our Welcome Packet with all the information you’ll need. Your child’s goals will be established after the 1st or 2nd group. Group activities will address goals and you’ll receive a written progress report on goals in December and June.
(As explained above, peer playmates are not receiving OT services and do not receive assessments, goals, or progress reports.)
Do you offer trial visits? Can my child try out a group before we sign-up?
Due to the therapeutic nature of our services and HIPAA privacy laws, we cannot offer trial visits. Our application process has been carefully crafted to assess goodness-of-fit before your child joins a group.