INTERVENTION

Sessions are generally 30min, 45 min or 1 hour in length and occur weekly or fortnightly. Sessions can occur in our clinics, at home, in preschools/schools and in the community based on need. 

Some of the areas we focus on at Coastwide Therapy include:

Sensory Processing - Assessment occurs using the Sensory Processing Measure, parent interview and observation of the child. From there strategies to help children run at the optimal level of alertness for learning and interaction are developed and implemented across environments.

Emotional Regulation - Emotional regulation or self regulation is the ability to monitor and modulate which emotions one has, when you have them, and how you experience and express them. Learning to self-regulate is a key milestone in child development and is essential to children’s day to day life because it affects their understanding of situations, how they respond, their behaviour and their enjoyment of life. As therapists we support children to understand and manage emotions providing them with skills that they will use through to  adulthood.

Play and social skills - Play is recognised in Occupational Therapy as a key focus area for achieving developmental goals. Although there are many different definitions of play, the research is clear that it plays an important role in a child’s health, well – being, learning, engagement with their peers and their understanding of the world around them. Play is known to be the window into a child’s development and hence it is an approach we use daily in practice at Coastwide Therapy Services.

Fine Motor Skills - These skills are not only important for school based activities but can have direct impact on self care (dressing, bathing, feeding, grooming) and playing with peers. Each clinic is resourced with a huge range of games that are used to develop fine motor skills so little fingers can be used more functionally. 

Gross Motor Skills - These skills involve things such as balance, endurance, strength, posture, climbing, throwing, jumping, skipping, catching, motor planning etc. These skills allow children to explore their environments and to be aware of where their body is in space. At Coastwide Therapy Services this is done using a range of fun activities like obstacle courses, balance beams, climbing structures, suspension equipment etc. Joint sessions with a Physiotherapist are also available if required.

Visual Processing - These skills are encouraged using a range of activities, games and interventions that work on visual tracking, memory, figure ground, matching, visual motor etc all of which are essential skills for academic learning such as maths and reading.

Pre-writing/ hand- writing development - Using the ETCH (Evaluation of Children’s Handwriting Assessment) we identify the child’s and focus on our interventions on grip development, posture, letter and number formation, sizing, position, spacing etc We make handwriting fun – something that for lots of children can be anything but.

Self Care Skills – OT’s assist children and their families to break down everyday tasks (showering, dressing, grooming, toileting) into manageable steps and working on key components of the task for overall success. This may include the development of visual schedules, fine motor and gross motor activities, fun games that involve motor planning and coordination, along with specific practice of the self-care skill itself in the home or school environment.

Equipment Prescription - We prescribe any adaptive equipment required to assist a child be more functional and engaged in their environment. Our therapists have extensive skills in prescribing a range of equipment including wheelchairs, bath aids, hoists, slings, hi low beds, car seats, toilet aids etc.

CLINIC

Coastwide Therapy services has 4 clinics across the Central Coast - Killarney Vale, Toukley, Woy Woy and Wyoming. Each clinic is set up with a range of resources including suspension equipment, slides, crash pits and toys to meet your child's needs. Using standardised and non-standardised assessments along with the information collected from parents our Occupational Therapist's will set achievable and meaningful goals collaboratively.

The Occupational therapist uses a developmental play-based, fun approach to work on your child's physical, emotional, social and sensory needs. Parents will be engaged in the therapeutic process as research shows that unless parents understand the process and can replicate interventions at home, seeing a therapist once a week will not reach the best outcomes for your child. The therapist will empower you to have the tools to implement therapeutic interventions into your everyday routine at home.

The Occupational therapist will guide your child through a process of discovering how their body works and what it can do, to promote the development of the skills and confidence they need to successfully participate in all that life has to offer.

HOME

Our therapists also complete home based intervention which provides a unique opportunity for the Occupational Therapist to interact with the child, their siblings and their parents/ carers in their day to day home environment. These sessions also allow therapists to work on everyday functional skills and routines which are often difficult to replicate in a clinic environment. As a parent it allows you direct contact with your therapist in your own home to provide support and recommendations based on those things already existing in the home eg routines, layout, toys etc.

Additional costs do occur for visits outside the clinic.

SCHOOL & PRESCHOOL VISITS

Therapy is conducted either in your child's classroom/ playground or they can be withdrawn from their class, utilising a private therapy space within the school, depending on your child's needs.

This approach means the therapist can have direct access to your child's teacher, opening lines of communication and sharing knowledge on how to best support your child. The therapist provides written or verbal feedback at the completion of school-based sessions and you as the parent are required to have a face to face session or phone call at the end of each term to assess and evaluate goals. This is an important part of the therapeutic process to ensure the therapist, teacher and parent are on the same page and moving in the same direction. 

Additional costs do occur for visits outside the clinic.