Occupational therapy assessment: prepare goals and useful evidence
Occupational Therapy Assessment: What You Need to Know
By Lucy Mirfin · Originally published 23 August 2022
Deeper review: 6 October 2026. The deeper review adds article-specific decisions and audience guidance. Historical passages and their adjacent corrections remain preserved.
Ask which decision the assessment will inform
Clarify whether the appointment is for therapy planning, assistive technology, changed support needs or evidence for an NDIS decision. Ask what information is already available and which gap the proposed assessment addresses. An OT report can describe function and recommend support; it does not decide eligibility or approve funding. Read the official guidance
Describe everyday tasks in your own terms and say which observations you are comfortable with. Ask for an accessible explanation of the findings and how you can correct a factual error before the report is shared.
Ask which activities may be observed and what choices you have about the setting and communication.
Lucy Mirfin has over 14 years of experience working as an Occupational Therapist. She is currently a Clinical Team Leader at Vivir Healthcare.
If you have been accepted into the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and have recently been provided with a new NDIS plan, or you wish to access the NDIS for the first time, it is likely you may require an “Occupational Therapy Assessment”.
Today I will break down for you what this may involve at Vivir Healthcare…
NDIS Assessments
As an Occupational Therapist completing NDIS assessments, we can conduct an in-depth, holistic, and functional capacity evaluation of a person’s life.
This involves our Occupational Therapist working with you to:
Outline your goals and hopes are for your future
Identify how you are managing day-to-day
Address any challenges or difficulties you currently experience
At Vivir Healthcare, we understand that each individual is unique and has differing abilities and limitations; therefore, we work with you to identity the best solution to address your goals and wants.
What does an OT Assessment involve?
Firstly, your Occupational Therapist will contact you to determine the most suitable date and time to complete your assessment. This can be a meeting with you face-to-face, online or over the phone via our telehealth services. Your assessment will be completed at a location most suitable for you, this could be your home environment, the location within the community or even at your school or office (location is dependant on your circumstances and the needs you have identified).
Assessing Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s)
This initial part of the assessment will explore how you are managing your ADLs including self-care tasks such as showering, dressing, toileting, your sleep routine, diet etc. This is to ascertain if you experience any difficulties or challenges with your daily tasks and how your condition(s) may impact your ability to manage these independently. An example of this is chronic back pain which might make tasks such as getting washed and dressed each day increasingly difficult.
Assessing Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
Your OT will explore how your condition(s) impact your ability to manage your Instrumental Activities of Daily Living such as meal preparation, shopping, domestic activities in the home including cleaning, laundry, and financial management. This will include discussions around your living situation, any supports you may already have in place and help identify any challenges you experience in these areas. For example, for child tasks, an OT might assess play, sensory assessments, behaviour and emotional regulation, and tailor their assessments accordingly.
It is not only tasks at home that will be explored with your OT; being able to access the local community is important and knowing how your health conditions may be impacting your ability to engage in employment, voluntary work and/or study as well as being able to participate in any leisure and social activities.
Goals and Challenges
We explore how you are managing this at present and will work with you to identify any challenges you experience, help identify any short or long term goals you may wish to address and help identify ways to achieve these goals.
If particular areas are identified as challenging for you, your OT may request to observe you completing certain tasks to gather further insight into the challenges you face and to assist in making recommendations regarding ongoing support, help develop a therapy plan or possibly provision of equipment (Assistive Technology) that can increase your independence.
Report and recommendations
Once your OT has established the challenges you are experiencing and helped identify your goals, they will formulate a report which will include a summary of your current function and recommendations for future therapy, identify suitable supports, and assistive technology.
They may also suggest suitability and eligibility for Supported Independent Living (SIL), Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) and/or Independent Living Options (ILO) etc. that they feel would assist you to optimise your independence and achieve your goals.
[Clickability update, October 2026: The therapist can make recommendations and provide evidence; the NDIA makes relevant funding decisions. A recommendation is not approval of SIL, SDA, ILO or a device.]
As part of the assessment process, our OTs within Vivir Healthcare will include the use of evidence-based assessments and outcome measures to support recommendations made. This includes the use of the NDIS preferred outcome measures such as the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0, VINELAND 3, Care and Needs Scale (CANs) and Sensory Processing Measure. This is to ensure you receive the support you require to achieve your short, medium and long term goals.
[Clickability update, October 2026: This is the provider’s historical instrument list, not a universal current NDIA requirement. Tools must suit the assessment purpose and person. Read current functional-capacity assessment information.]
This report will then be forwarded to the appropriate person(s) and can be used to identify and support any ongoing needs for your plan review.
If you have any questions regarding an Occupational Therapy assessment and how the OT’s at Vivir Healthcare can best support you please don’t hesitate to discuss further with our friendly team at ndisenquiries@vivirhealthcare.com.au.
Agree the assessment question before paying for a report
Provide specific context with the participant’s consent
Explain the assistance actually given, what happens without it and how needs vary across settings. Avoid assuming that a task completed with substantial help proves the person needs no support. Bring relevant existing reports rather than paying to recreate information without a clear reason.
Agree who contributes, receives the report and follows up questions. A provider’s historical list of assessment tools is not a universal compulsory testing list. Ask the assessor why each tool or observation is relevant to this person.
Distinguish your observations from the participant’s account and ask for factual errors in the report to be corrected.
Quote assessment time and report work separately
Set out appointments, observations, liaison, report writing and any permitted travel. Explain what is included, how additional work is agreed and whether the proposed funding can be used for that purpose. A keyword about assessment cost is answered by a transparent scope, not an invented universal price.
Keep a current OT functional assessment distinct from the future new-framework support-needs assessment. The published reform timetable has its own commencement and purpose; it is not authority to tell every participant to buy a new OT report now. Read the official guidance
Questions readers ask
Must everyone buy an FCA before applying to the NDIS?
No. Current NDIA guidance says an FCA is not required for every access application. Official guidance
Does an OT recommendation itself approve an NDIS support?
No. It can provide evidence and recommendations. The NDIA makes the relevant eligibility or funding decision. Official guidance
Find an occupational therapist for the assessment you need
Describe the activities and assessment purpose through Clickability. Compare profiles and reviews, then confirm scope, fees and report requirements before booking.
