Therapy Needs of Children in Mainstream Education

The physiotherapy and occupational therapy needs of physically handicapped children attending mainstream schools were evaluated by the use of a parent's and a teacher's questionnaire and associated with random assessment as a tool to identify and assess therapy needs. The questionnaire has been found useful in updating information about these pupils' functional difficulties and in identifying areas in which quality of life and education could be improved by the increased input from therapists to mainstream schools. The results suggest that one occupational therapist and one physiotherapist will be required to provide this service in an urban population of 180,000 people. This finding has major resource implications.