The candidate card
Setting
Paediatric occupational therapy clinic
Candidate
You are an occupational therapist. Ms Sinead Zheng's 6-year-old son was referred by his school because of difficulty with handwriting. Your assessment last week found poor fine motor control, a weak pencil grip and difficulty forming letters. His teacher has described him as 'not trying'. Ms Zheng has come to discuss the results.
Task (interlocutor: parent)
- Find out about Ms Zheng's concerns and how homework is going at home (her views, plans for homework)
- Explain the assessment findings in simple terms (fine motor and coordination difficulty, not laziness)
- Persuade Ms Zheng not to punish her son for messy work (effect on confidence, effort versus ability)
- Advise on practical ways to support him at home (short practice, play-based activities, praise for effort)
- Agree a plan, including therapy sessions and liaison with the school
In the test you get 3 minutes to read the card and plan, then about 5 minutes to talk. This card is original, written for this site; the interlocutor's card is not shown.
How to approach this card
- Ask open questions before giving any results: what has she noticed, and what happens when he sits down to homework? Also ask how she responds to messy work. Her answer shows whether punishment is already happening, and she may be carrying the teacher's 'not trying' comment.
- Give the findings in two or three plain sentences, led by the headline that the difficulty is in how his hands and body are working, not in his attitude. Skip test detail, and check she has understood before you move on.
- When persuading, avoid blame: acknowledge that she was responding to what looked like poor effort. Then link punishment to confidence: a child who is trying hard and still gets told off may start to avoid writing. Keep effort and ability clearly separate.
- Offer only two or three home actions she can start tonight. If time is short, prioritise short practice and praise for effort. The usual error is handing over a long list of exercises that becomes another homework battle.
- Close by stating the plan for therapy sessions and for contact with the school, and offer to explain the findings to his teacher. Ask what might get in the way at home, then ask her to summarise the plan in her own words.
Phrases to adapt
Use your own words; these show the register, not lines to memorise.
- Many parents hear 'not trying' and feel worried or torn. What has it been like at home?
- His results tell us he is working hard at something that is genuinely difficult for him.
- What do you usually do when the homework comes out messy? I'd like to understand your evenings.
- Let me check I explained that clearly. How would you describe it to his dad or his teacher?
Medical words in plain English
| Term | How you might say it to the patient |
|---|---|
| fine motor control | the small, careful hand movements needed to hold and move a pencil |
| coordination difficulty | some of his movements find it hard to work together smoothly |
| pencil grip | the way he holds the pencil, which is currently making writing harder for him |
How this card is marked
Two assessors mark the recording on nine criteria: intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language and resources of grammar and expression (each 0–6), then relationship building, understanding and incorporating the patient's perspective, providing structure, information gathering and information giving (each 0–3). Grade B usually means 5 on each language criterion and 2 on each clinical one. See the AI Speaking practice guide for what each criterion looks for.
More Occupational Therapy role-play cards
- Refusing a shower chair before discharge after hip replacement Orthopaedic hospital ward
- Child will not wear her hand splint after a burn Hand therapy outpatient clinic
- Making the kitchen safe for a mother with dementia Home visit
All sets: nurses, doctors, other professions. Your profession's guide: OET Occupational Therapy.
Questions about this role-play
What if Ms Zheng says the teacher insists he is not trying?
Do not criticise the teacher. Say that from what you saw, his results point to a physical difficulty with the movements, and that you will share this with the school. This gives her something concrete to say, and it leads naturally into the liaison part of the plan.
What if she asks whether he will grow out of it?
The card gives no outlook, so do not promise one. Say honestly that you cannot predict how he will progress, but that therapy and support at home and school are aimed at helping his hand control and his confidence, and that you will review progress with her.
What if she admits she has already punished him?
Stay non-judgemental. Thank her for being open, and acknowledge that she acted on what she could see. Ask how he reacted, then explain that praise for effort and short, playful practice are more likely to protect his confidence than consequences for untidy work.
Sources
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