What an occupational therapist does for an NDIS participant

Occupational therapy under the NDIS is mostly about two questions: what a person can do now, and what would have to change for them to do more of what matters to them. Everything an OT writes is aimed at one of those.

Where OT sits in a plan

Occupational therapy is usually funded under Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living. The assessment work it produces then supports requests in other parts of the plan: assistive technology, home modifications, and the level of assistance funded under Core.

• A functional capacity assessment describes function across daily living, mobility, communication, cognition and social participation.
• An assistive technology assessment specifies equipment and evidences why.
• A home modifications assessment scopes and evidences changes to the home.

Timing against the plan cycle

The most common avoidable problem is a request submitted close to a plan end date. Assessment, report, quotes and a decision each take time, and custom equipment then has to be built. Starting in the last few weeks of a plan is where most of the frustration comes from.

What the report has to survive

A delegate is reading for the link between a functional difficulty and the support being asked for. Describing someone on their best day does not do that, which is why function is described across good days and bad ones.