George’s story

George’s parents contacted Now, Next & Then for further support for their son who was experiencing challenges in school. George had recently completed an Occupational Therapy assessment through Now, Next & Then, which had identified that he had challenges with attention and concentration, as well as challenges with initiating and completing school work.

One of George’s biggest challenges was with his handwriting, which at nearly 7 years old, remained inconsistent. George had not consolidated the basics of handwriting and this meant that he was not keen to write and was clearly developing an awareness of how difficult this everyday task was for him. His self-esteem was suffering.

Fortnightly Occupational Therapy sessions were established and these took place in school. The Occupational Therapist initially presented multisensory, play-based mark-making games to George. In some sessions, the only mark-making George was prepared to participate in was drawing. So together rainbows and race tracks, people and pets were drawn, and this play-based activity helped George to engage for more extended periods of time in the adult-led activities. At the start, just five minutes was the maximum amount of time George could tolerate focused activity.

The sessions continued and as the relationship and trust blossomed, the Occupational Therapist noticed that George’s attention span started to increase. George started to share his sense of humour and enjoyed the playful approach of the Occupational Therapist. George also thrived on praise and this greatly supported his growing confidence.

Ongoing involvement has meant that in the most recent session, George completed 50 minutes of focused work! He has now mastered all the basics of letter formation and has extended this knowledge to more naturally join his letters to produce beautiful cursive writing. He knows how fantastic he is, as his progress and willingness to listen to feedback and in his own words “upgrade” his writing, is praised consistently and regularly by the Occupational Therapist, his parents and his class teacher. 

It has been a pleasure and a privilege for the Occupational Therapist to support George on this journey!