Leandri Ferreira 

I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2009 when I obtained my degree in South Africa from the University of the Free State. Becoming an OT allowed me to use my creativity and medical knowledge to help children and families overcome the challenges they face in daily life.

As a wider society we are often aware of the visible challenges people may face. However, for some people, the challenges they face are less visible, and as a result, often go unrecognised. I have always been passionate about supporting neurodivergent individuals who face daily challenges and are too often misunderstood or mislabelled. Throughout my career, I have been committed to and continue to support children and adults who face challenges due to dyspraxia, autism, ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions.

Two approaches that strongly influence my practice are Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI) and the Developmental Individual Differences model (DIR-Floortime), both of which I have pursued further training in. My workplaces, during my 16+ years of practicing OT, included government hospitals, mainstream and special need schools, private practices as well as neurodivergent assessment centres. I have specialist training in assessing Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD/Dyspraxia) and use a range of assessment tools to provide a comprehensive assessment that will not only provide a diagnostic outcome, but also a better understanding of an individual’s strengths and needs in order to put a treatment and/or support plan in place. I am trained in diagnostic assessment tools used to assess autism and ADHD, including the ADOS-2, ADI-R and QB-check.

When I am not doing assessments for Dyspraxia UK, I am currently working at my own company providing a range of services to children, young people, parents, supervising younger therapists, and in-service training for nurseries and schools.

I am registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), as well as a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapy (RCOT) and the British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT). Internationally, I collaborate with The Wired Collective, a group of paediatric physical and occupational therapists dedicated to embedding innovative clinical practice into everyday clinical work.