OT Screening and School Support
Programme
the 'why'
The world our children are growing into demands more than academic knowledge. It demands the ability to plan, adapt, regulate, communicate, and persist — skills that are built in the body and the brain long before they show up in the classroom. When a child struggles to hold a pencil, manage their day, or stay regulated in a noisy environment, they are not failing — they are signalling that something foundational needs support. The earlier that signal is heard, the easier it is to answer. CGOT's school screening programme exists to make sure no child's signal goes unnoticed.
A professional occupational therapy screening service for schools — identifying developmental needs early, supporting children to thrive, and providing every family with clear, personalised feedback.
1
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Catching what matters
before school begins
Ages 3–6 are the most neuroplastic years of a child's life. Early childhood is key.
A CGOT screening at this stage identifies developmental differences at the moment intervention is most effective — protecting school readiness, confidence, and family understanding.
2
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Supporting learning
before difficulty becomes the story
The primary school years (6-12) are when motor difficulties, executive function challenges, and sensory differences begin to affect academic performance — often invisibly. A CGOT screening gives your school a professional picture of each child's functional profile and every family clear, actionable guidance.
3
HIGH SCHOOL
Bridging the gap between
potential and performance
High school demands self-directed, executive-function-driven learning. For students aged 13 - 18 whose executive functioning profile does not yet support those demands, the gap between what they are capable of and what they produce can be significant — and, with the right support, entirely bridgeable.
the opportunity
What
CGOT
brings
to your school
Dr Cole Goldberg Occupational Therapy offers a structured, evidence-informed screening service that gives schools a professional developmental snapshot of each child — and every family a personalised, written account of their child's strengths and needs. The programme requires minimal school administration, integrates naturally into the school day, and delivers meaningful outcomes for children, families, and educators.
Many of the difficulties that drive underachievement, school avoidance, and self-esteem problems in later schooling have their roots in primary school — and many are invisible without specialist observation. A child performing adequately academically may be working far harder than their peers to keep up. CGOT's screening programme surfaces these difficulties early, before they compound.
Many students referred to school counsellors for motivation, attitude, or underperformance are, in fact, struggling with identifiable functional difficulties — difficulties that occupational therapy can directly address. CGOT's high school screening gives your learning support team a professional, OT-informed picture of which students need intervention and what form that intervention should take.
how it works
The team will come in, conduct the screening and make notes while they observe the kids completing a selected number of activities. Parents will be given feedback and next steps, as well as recommendations will be outlined.
areas of observation
EARLY CHILDHOOD
At this age, children don't need to know they are being observed. The CGOT screening at early childhood level is woven entirely into natural play. We use purposeful activities — building, drawing, movement games, and simple interactions — that reveal developmental patterns without any sense of assessment or pressure. We screen for gross and fine motor skills, postural control, midline crossing and bilateral skills, sensory processing, and self help and social communication skills.
PRIMARY SCHOOL
Children complete activities that look and feel like normal classroom work — drawing, writing, building, movement tasks, and simple group activities. At this stage we are screening handwriting and fine motor output, sensory processing, self management, gross motor and postural control, as well as bilateral integration skills.
HIGH SCHOOL
High school students are not children, and the CGOT screening approach reflects this. Rather than play-based observation, the high school programme uses functional tasks and structured scenarios that mirror the real demands of secondary school — planning a piece of work, organising materials, managing time under a constraint, producing written output. At a high school level, we are screening for executive functioning and self management skills, processing skills and self regulation skills, as well as handwriting, written output, ability to follow instructions, organisation, time management and independence.
the big idea
The children in your school today are navigating a world that will ask everything of their executive function, their resilience, and their capacity to adapt. The skills that will carry them — the ability to organise their thinking, manage their time, regulate their emotions, and advocate for themselves — are not abstract qualities. They are neurological capacities, built incrementally, from early childhood onward. Partnering with CGOT means investing in that foundation early — giving every child in your school the best possible chance to grow into the version of themselves they are capable of becoming.