The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary, qualitative review of a therapeutic pro-
gramme for preschool children and their parents in severely under-resourced contexts to aid
the development of the underlying skills required to be ready for formal school. A team of two
pairs, each comprising an occupational therapist and a community worker, responded to
teachers’ requests to assist struggling children in their classes. This led to the development of
a programme focusing on Grade R classes, by firstly helping teachers to develop their
capability and confidence in assessing and assisting children to develop the abilities underlying
vital school-readiness skills during whole-class, therapeutic group sessions. Secondly, parent
group sessions were added to empower parents to understand and support their children’s
development needs at home and so to complement the work done by teachers in the classroom.
This second aspect, of working with the parents, developed owing to observations of the
children’s irregular school attendance, scant parent-school contact, and teachers’ reports in-
dicating that parents were not aware of, nor equipped to deal with, the challenges faced by their
children. Implications for practice, for planning and for further research are discussed.

doi: 10.15700/201412171334