We've Had Four OTs. We're Not Using One Right Now. Here's Why.

My son is seven. He's autistic and non-verbal. He has significant sensory processing difficulties.

We've had four occupational therapists in four years. Right now, we're not using one.

I want to be careful how I say this — because occupational therapy as a profession matters, and there are OTs out there doing genuinely transformative work with kids like mine. I want to find one of them.

But four OTs in, I've learned that filling the diary just because the funding exists isn't a strategy. It's how families end up further behind.

Here's what I wish someone had told me before we started.

The Cost Of A Bad OT Is Not Zero

When you first get into the NDIS the logic feels obvious. You've got funding. You've got access. Use it.

Any therapy is better than no therapy. That's what I thought.

I don't believe that anymore.

A bad OT session isn't neutral. For a non-verbal child especially, every appointment teaches them something about therapy. If the session feels confusing or pressuring or unpleasant, you're not just losing an hour.

You're building an association in your child's head that therapy is a thing to dread. And once that's built, the next OT — even a brilliant one — has to climb out of that hole before they can do any real work.

That cost is invisible at the time. You only see it later, when your child resists the door of the next clinic.

What to ask before you start:

• How will you introduce yourself to my child in the first session?
• What do you do if my child shuts down or refuses to engage?
• What does a first session look like — what are you trying to achieve?

The Reaction-Chasing Problem

One of our early OTs was mobile — she came to our house, which sounded great. Therapy in a familiar space, no clinic to drag him into.

What she did, repeatedly, was take things off my son to provoke a response. She'd take something he was holding, watch his face, say something like "oh, that makes me feel sad." She was trying to elicit communication.

As his parents, we know how he works. He doesn't engage when he's destabilised — he shuts down. Trying to drag a reaction out of him by removing things he wants is the opposite of how you make progress with him.

We had to step in several times and say this isn't working, this is becoming a negative thing.

She wouldn't shift. I'm sure she'd been trained in that approach and it had worked for other kids. But she couldn't — or wouldn't — adapt for ours.

You are the world expert on your child. If a therapist doesn't treat you that way, that's information.

What to ask before you start:

• How do you adapt your approach when something isn't working for a specific child?
• What do you do when a parent tells you something isn't working?
• How do you build trust with a non-verbal child before doing any therapy work?

The Clinic Room Problem

Another OT we tried was at an allied health practice. She might have been excellent — I'll never really know, because the setup made it almost impossible to tell.

The therapy room was small. Four walls, a closed door, two adults and my son inside.

For a child with sensory processing difficulties, that environment is already a problem before anyone has said a word. It feels like he's been brought somewhere to be fixed. Not to play, not to explore — to comply.

If you're considering a clinic-based OT for a child with sensory needs, ask to see the space before you commit. Walk in with your child. If your gut says this is going to feel like a punishment to him every week, trust your gut.

What to ask before you start:

• Where will sessions take place — can we visit the space before we start?
• Do you offer mobile or community-based sessions if my child struggles in clinic spaces?
• How do you adapt the environment for a child who finds enclosed spaces difficult?

The No-Plan Problem

This is the one that took me the longest to name, but it's probably the most important.

Across multiple OTs, we never got a clear answer to: what are we working towards, and how will we know if it's working?

There was rarely homework — nothing specific to practise between sessions. There was rarely a written plan with goals you could actually measure. There was rarely a sit-down review of what was working and what wasn't.

If a tradesman came to your house and started work without telling you what they were going to do, when they'd be done, or how you'd know it was finished — you'd think something was off.

With OT, somehow, we accept it. I'd urge you not to.

The right OT will set goals with you, give you things to do at home between sessions, and review progress out loud, regularly. Without those three things, you're not doing therapy. You're paying for company.

What to ask before you start:

• What goals will we set in the first month and how will we measure them?
• Will you give us things to practise between sessions?
• How often will we sit down and review what's working and what isn't?

The "Play-Based" Problem

Almost every OT website mentions "play-based therapy." It sounds wonderful. Kids learn through play, of course they do.

Here's what I've learned: play-based therapy only works if the play is tailored to this child. What he enjoys. What he finds regulating. What he will actually engage with.

Most of the time, what we got was a generic play-based approach the OT ran for every kid regardless of who was in front of them. The toys came out of the same box. The activities followed the same sequence.

My son's specific interests — the things that actually light him up — barely featured.

"Play-based" should mean led by your child's play. It doesn't always.

What to ask before you start:

• How do you find out what my child specifically enjoys before designing sessions?
• Can you describe a child whose interests were very different from your usual approach — and how you adapted?
• What does success look like for play-based therapy in the first three months?

What The Right OT Looks Like

After four OTs here is what I can tell you.

You can see it in the first session. Not from their qualifications or their clinic's website. You can see it from watching them with your child.

The right OT:

• Has specific experience with sensory processing difficulties and non-verbal autism — not just paediatric OT, specifically these
• Gets on the floor and meets your child where they are
• Asks you a lot of questions about your child specifically — not just developmental milestones, but what your child likes
• Notices things about your child you didn't expect them to notice
• Adapts when something isn't working — and tells you they're adapting
• Sets goals you can measure and reviews them with you
• Welcomes parents in the room, not just in the waiting area

The right OT for your child is very individual. What works for one sensory-seeking child won't work for another.

But those qualities above — adaptability, curiosity, plan-making, parent partnership — those are universal.

How To Search For One

When you search for occupational therapists on FindLocalNDIS you can:

• Filter by location to find someone near you
• Read reviews from other parents — including parents of children with sensory processing difficulties who can tell you specifically what their experience was
• Check disability experience tags to find OTs who have explicitly listed autism, sensory processing, or non-verbal autism experience

A review from a parent who says "this OT has genuine experience with sensory processing and adapted her approach when our son wasn't responding" is worth more than any credential on a website.

That's exactly why the review system exists.

Search occupational therapists near you →

We're Taking A Break

My son is seven. We're not using an OT right now.

We will go back when we find the right one. But I'm no longer willing to fill the diary just because the funding exists.

You are allowed to be picky. You are allowed to leave one provider for another. You are allowed to pause therapy if it isn't working.

The NDIS funding is there to serve your child. Your child is not there to fill the funding.

I wrote this because I know we're not alone. And because the families who find this post and ask better questions before their first OT session — that matters.

If you've found an OT who genuinely gets sensory processing and non-verbal autism, please leave them a review. Your experience could save another family months of searching.

We're still looking for ours.