Individual Services

Assessments

As family and children’s needs differ immensely, we don’t offer a standard assessment package. Instead we offer a staged assessment process that can be catered to meet your specific needs. Once you make contact with us an occupational therapist will speak with you over the phone regarding your specific concerns and or priorities. We then advise you about the best course of action to address these concerns. This will often involve an initial consultation or assessment session. This session usually occurs in our West Burleigh Clinic where we spend time with your child and with you to gather information that will help us to address your concerns.

We may decide together that further assessment is not required and based on information at hand we can progress directly to providing intervention/support. Even where we make this decision an initial usually longer therapy session is conducted to allow for direct informal observation and goals to be set.

An initial session usually lasts from 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on the age of your child and your identified concerns. At the conclusion of this session we will provide you with our initial opinion and recommendations. This may then include some or all of the following:

• no further action or referral to another service
• further assessment/observation at the clinic or in other specific situations
• involvement in our group program
• individual sessions in the clinic or in another setting
• other individualised responses that we feel will best allow us to help you achieve your desired goals

Home and school visits – It is important for us to observe the child in a range of different environments as the environment plays an important role in performance and participation in a task. We offer both home and school visits to ensure we are viewing the child holistically and can provide the best possible intervention.

To allow us to fully understand your child’s needs, the assessment process may involve provision of video footage of your child at home and/or during the initial session in the clinic.
Verbal summaries are always provided at the time of the initial session that will include our clinical opinion and recommended next step. A brief written summary is included as part of the initial assessment process.

Individual sessions

Individual therapy sessions -Individual therapy sessions may be the best option for your child. In these sessions, children work one on one with an occupational therapist on a regular basis for a period of time to meet specified goals. Goals are set in collaboration with families and others where appropriate prior to any intervention and progress is measured against these goals with review and agreed timeframes to ensure our intention is targeted and effective.

• In individual sessions the therapist will work with the child to build their skills and abilities and provide suggestions and strategies to assist at home and in the community.
• The therapy sessions are designed to support your ability as parents/carers to meet your child’s needs at home and in education/community programs. You will be actively involved in individual therapy sessions to ensure this occurs.
• Individual sessions may occur at our place, your place or another place where your child needs help.

Group Programs

Group therapy sessions

• Your child may be invited to participate in group therapy sessions. This is a fantastic way to encourage your child to learn and practice skills in a social context with peers.. Each group session will focus specifically on the children’s collective needs while addressing individual goals. Again, individual goals are set in collaboration with the family and others as appropriate and progress is measured against these goals. Please visit our groups page to view the groups we are currently offering.