What is a functional capacity assessment (FCA)?

What is a Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA)?

A Functional Capacity Assessment (FCA) is an occupational therapy evaluation of performance and participation in meaningful activities. It looks at everyday tasks across self-care, work, study, play, and leisure to build a clear picture of your daily routine.

An FCA helps to:

• Identify your individual strengths and existing abilities.

• Map out your specific support needs and daily challenges.

• Look at environmental factors that impact your independence.

• Guide funding decisions and help plan targeted supports or interventions.

What Areas Does an FCA Cover?

Depending on your goals, an FCA can assess a broad range of everyday skills:

• Self-care and domestic skills

• Mobility, fine motor, and gross motor skills

• Communication and community participation

• Sensory needs and emotional regulation

• Attention, memory, problem-solving, and play skills

Our Approach at Fast Track Therapy

Our team takes a holistic, down-to-earth approach using methods tailored to each individual:

• Informal Assessments: We start with relaxed discussions with you, your family, carers, or support network. Your personal experiences and perspective shape the rest of the assessment.

• Observational Assessments: We observe you doing everyday activities, step by step, to highlight what’s working well and see where practical adaptations might help.

• Formal Assessments: We use evidence-based, standardised tools to collect accurate information about your functional abilities. Tools we use include the ICAN-v6, WHODAS 2.0, Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales 3, Sensory Profile 2 (SP2), Care and Needs Scale (CANS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Life Skills Profile (LSP-16).

Delivery, Timeframes, and Value

• Telehealth Options: If in-person observation isn't needed, an FCA can be completed via telehealth.

• Existing Clients: If you already receive occupational therapy services with us, the assessment may take less time since our team already knows you.

• Transparent Quoting: We quote a maximum of 15 hours. This covers complex participants needing multiple in-person assessments and detailed reporting. This consists of:

  • A 2 hour initial appointment and interview to understand how your disability affects you

  • Up to 3 follow up assessments/observations based on your support needs, so that we can analyse how you perform activities and better communicate this with the NDIS

  • Follow up correspondence with other health professionals and supports if required to corroborate information.

  • Up to 8 hours of report writing, to convert all of the assessment results to understandable suggestions and breakdown of support needs, that reference NDIS language, guidelines and legislation.

  *Reach out to us to get a precise quote on how much time we think an assessment will take based on your disability and support needs

• Honest Billing: We only bill for the exact hours used and always aim to deliver our services at the lowest possible cost to you without ever compromising on quality.

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