Editorial illustration for "School readiness - what it actually means".
The version of school readiness that's worth asking about
Can the child manage a school day's worth of sensory load? Can they ask for help? Can they navigate a toilet they haven't used before? Can they wait? Can they recover from a setback in under an hour?
Those are the questions teachers care about. Whether the child can already write their name barely registers.
Where OT fits
Where there are sensory, motor, or self-care concerns that would make any of the above harder than it needs to be.
A pre-prep OT block is usually short and focused. The aim is not to 'get the child ready' - it's to identify the few things that would otherwise become first-term problems.