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Addvanced 2025 – supporting neurodivergent children and young people, their families and the professionals that work with them

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We’re here to support you and your family to find the answers

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From May 1st

The Family Advice and Support Team (FAST) is the front door of our Early Help Service. We are the first people you will talk to if you think you or a family you work with or know could benefit from support from an Early Help Worker.

Call the FAST Team on 0151 934 4545

Opening Hours

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 9am-5.30pm

Wednesday: 10.30am-5.30pm

Friday 9am - 4pm

If the issue cannot wait until the next working day, please contact our Emergency Duty Team outside of the above hours, including weekends and bank holidays, on 0151 934 3555

Remember, if a child or young person is in immediate danger, please call 999.

How Can We Help?

We will have a discussion with you and see how we can help you across a range of different topics.

This could include help with:

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The Family Advice and Support Team (FAST) is the front door of our Early Help Service. We are the first people you will talk to if you think you or a family you work with or know could benefit from support from an Early Help Worker.

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Local Offer - Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

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The Local Offer provides clear and accessible information about the provision Sefton Council expects to be available locally for our children and young people from 0 to 25 who have special educational needs and/or disability (SEND). For more details click 'What is the Local Offer?'

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Sefton SEN and Inclusion Service | The Sefton Directory

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Sefton has a range of support services that work with early years settings and schools to help children or young people with special educational needs or disability to develop, be included and make good progress across the academic, social and emotional aspects of their life,…

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We are a team of community Occupational Therapists, assistant practitioners and therapy assistants who are based across two sites in Sefton, North Liverpool. We work with children from birth up to 19 years in a variety of settings including clinics, at home, in nurseries, mainstream and special schools.

There are several pathways within our service: Speech, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy (SPOT); Motor Skills; Sensory; Special Schools; and Equipment and Small Aids. Children may be referred to more than one of these pathways.

SPOT Pathway

The team is made up of Speech and Language Therapists, Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists. Children may be referred for a SPOT assessment if there are concerns about how their development is progressing.

Important advice:

During an assessment within a SPOT clinic, we may assess any or all of the following areas:

Developmental progress

Patterns and quality of movement

Joint range of movement, muscle tone and muscle strength

Posture and positioning

Hand function

Play skills

Communication (in combination with other difficulties)

Functional difficulties including feeding and dressing

The therapists who work in the SPOT team are specially trained and very experienced in treating babies and toddlers.

The SPOT Team works flexibly to support families to access the service, providing appointments in a relaxed and welcoming environment for children and parents/carers.

Motor Skills Pathway

We work with children and young people to find solutions to reduce the difficulties they face and help them to get the most from life. We support children who are having difficulties with everyday activities that can have an impact on daily life.

We will help to identify a child or young person's difficulties in their daily life by assessing their needs, using play and purposeful activities to help them achieve their goals and become as independent as possible. We may also assess for small aids/equipment and recommend minor adaptations to support children and young people's independence.

Important advice:

The Occupational Therapist may look at the following areas:

Fine motor skills

Coordination and organisational skills

Classroom skills e.g., pencil and scissors skills

Visual perception skills

Self-care and independence skills

Posture and positioning

Sensory Pathway

The aim of the Occupational Therapy sensory team is to raise awareness and understanding of the sensory needs in children and young people, so that their needs can be positively supported in the home, at school/nursery and in the community.

Parent/carer workshops

School staff training

Nursery staff training

Health professionals training

Bookable support consultations for parents/carers, teaching staff, nursery staff & health professionals following attendance at a workshop or training session

Email and telephone support and advice

Sensory resources loan library

Special Schools Pathway

We work with children and young people who have complex needs and attend special schools within Sefton.

We work closely with physiotherapy colleagues to provide 24-hour postural management programmes, assessing and recommending specialist equipment, at home and school, to support posture and address manual handling issues.

We assess and recommend support for your child to access everyday activities including eating, drinking, bathing, and sleeping. We also assess and recommend specialist seating to support access to education.

Equipment and Small Aids Service

We assess for specialist equipment for the home, nursery and school and may recommend equipment for seating, sleeping, bathing, toileting, or manual handling.

This equipment is supplied by social services, education and health via Sefton Community Equipment Stores, and is monitored regularly, checking for safety, suitability, and general maintenance by the team. Depending on the complexity of a child's needs, the amount of equipment will vary.

We may also recommend the use of small aids to support everyday activities.

Important advice:

These are recommended with the expectation that they will be purchased by home, nursery or school and include:

Sloped writing boards - used to support a child's posture when writing

Dynamic air cushions - to improve a child's sitting posture, to support with attention and concentration and for children who seek movement

Pencil grips - to encourage a more efficient pencil grasp, to alter the pressure applied when using a pencil

Specialist scissors - to improve grasp of scissors

Cutlery - to improve grasp of cutlery to encourage more efficient coordination of hands together

Dressing aids such as button hooks - to encourage independence when dressing

We also carry out environmental assessments for minor adaptations which can include grab rails, stair rails and ramps. If more extensive adaptations are required, we will liaise with local services as needed.

Management Team

Kathryn Cunliffe - Head of Service, Community Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy

Helen Crosdale - Deputy to Head of Service

Bex Winnard - Deputy to Head of Service

Administration

Pam Usher - Personal Assistant and Administrator (North and South Sefton)

Heather Campbell - Secretary (North Sefton)

Patricia Doran - Secretary (North Sefton)

Cathy McGrane - Secretary (South Sefton)

Specialist Children's Occupational Therapists

Helen Murphy - Mainstream and Sensory (North Sefton)

Jenny Benge - SPOT and Early Years (North Sefton)

Phillipa Turner - Special schools (North Sefton)

Jenny Banks - Mainstream (North Sefton)

Tracey Bickley - SPOT and Early Years (North Sefton)

Frances Jones - Special schools (South Sefton)

Cathy Peers - Sensory

Lindsey Mutch - Mainstream (South Sefton)

Melanie Harvey - SPOT and Early Years (South Sefton)

Andrea Kilroy - Mainstream (South Sefton)

Nina Lamont - Mainstream (South Sefton)

Assistant Practitioners

Angela Larsen (North Sefton)

Lizi Hogan (South Sefton)

Rachel Edwards - Special schools (North Sefton)

Elaine Coughlan - Special schools (South Sefton)

Occupational Therapy Assistants

Jo Mather (South Sefton)

Julia Mulrooney - Sensory

All Occupational Therapy services are 'opt in' and require completion of a referral form and consent gained from a person with parental/legal responsibility of the child.

All referrals into the service will be triaged and a decision made in relation to occupational therapy clinical need and priority. We currently operate a waiting list for initial assessments.

Speech, Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy (SPOT) Pathway

We accept referrals from health and educational professionals, including health visitors, community paediatricians, GP, hospital consultants and other therapists

To refer a child for assessment by the SPOT service, you will need to complete a referral form

A child can be referred for a SPOT assessment up until their 3rd birthday. Two or more therapy assessments (Speech, Physio, OT) are required for a referral to SPOT. If only one therapy assessment is needed, please refer directly to that service

SPOT referral form
Motor Skills Pathway

We accept referrals from health and educational professionals, and parents/carers

To refer a child for assessment of their motor skills you will need to complete a referral form

An information leaflet about the OT service is provided with this form which must be read before completing the form. This is to make sure that the referral is appropriate for our service

Please provide as much information as possible on the referral form and check that it is fully completed before sending it to us. If we receive an incomplete referral form, it may not be accepted

If you are a health or educational professional, please provide a copy of the information leaflet to the parent/carer of the child you are referring

You must gain parental consent before completing the referral form

Motor skills referral

Sensory Pathway

We accept referrals from health and educational professionals, and parents/carers for sensory workshops

We request that parents/ carers attend a Sensory Workshop to gain baseline knowledge prior to requesting a support consultation session

An information leaflet is also available for parents/carers and referrers to read if completing a referral form, which provides more detail about sensory processing and what is provided by Occupational Therapy service

Once we have received your completed referral form, the team will confirm whether a sensory workshop is appropriate, and parents will be provided details of the workshops available and how to confirm a place on the workshop

For access to the parent/carer workshops, a formal referral must be made to the sensory team.

Training for Schools and Nurseries and Professionals are offered throughout the year, please contact the service to discuss the training requirements

For access to school, nursery and professional training, an electronic request form can be accessed by emailing the sensory mailbox: [email protected]

Support consultations for parents/carers, schools, nurseries and other professionals can be arranged by contacting the service on: [email protected] . Support consultations can be face to face or virtual

All referral forms are available to download online and can be printed and completed, or completed electronically and sent via email to the following address: [email protected]

Sensory referral form

Our office hours are Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5pm (not including Bank Holidays). Depending on where you live, you can contact the Occupational Therapy Service in your area.

North Sefton Team:
(Areas covered - L37, PR8, PR9)

Children's Occupational Therapy Service,
Ainsdale Centre for Health and Wellbeing
174 Sandbrook Road
Ainsdale
PR8 3RW

South Sefton Team
(Areas covered - L20, L21, L22, L23, L30, L31, L38, Sefton parts of L10)

Children's Occupational Therapy Service
2nd floor, Sefton Carers Centre
27-37 South Road
Waterloo
L22 5PE

Tel: 0151 252 5836

Where are we?

Our team is located across two main sites in Sefton covering North Sefton community (Formby to Southport area) and South Sefton community (Hightown to Bootle to Lydiate).

The North Sefton team office is based at Ainsdale Centre for Health and Wellbeing (174 Sandbrook Road, Ainsdale, PR8 3RW). Clinics are run in Southport Centre for Health and Wellbeing (44-46 Houghton Street, Southport, PR9 0PQ)

The South Sefton team office is based at Sefton Carers Centre (27-37 South Road, Waterloo, L22 5PE) where we also run our clinics from

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Sefton occupational therapy - Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust

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Find out about the Sefton Occupational Therapy team here at Alder Hey. Find out what the team do, how to contact them and more.

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Kids SENDIASS offers high quality information, advice and support on all aspects of special educational needs and disabilities.

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Special Needs Jungle provides parent-centred information, news, resources and informed opinion about SEN, disability, children’s health and SEN politics

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I am slowly making changes to my life with the support of Venus. If they had not come to visit me at home, I know that my mental health would be in a really bad place and my days would be spent at home in bed which would stop me from achieving any of