+ What is a Peadiatric OT?

A Peads OT is someone who has specialised in the area of child development and associated disorders. We focus on your child's developmental roles and help you to help them work towards independence in their daily functional goals.

In short, a Peads OT is a ‘Life Coach’ for anything to do with home, school or community involvement in a child’s life.
An OT’s goal is always to work towards functional independence no matter the disability, age or stage of life.

+ Why does my child need OT?

Your child may have been recommended to attend OT because the teacher or other specialist has identified a need in their developmental milestones. An OT can assess and advise you on how to address these concerns in a creative and fun way for your child's particular development stage.

+ Do I need a referral for OT?

You do not specifically need a referral to OT unless you require funding support, in which case, yes it is necessary to speak to your GP to obtain a referral. However, there is always an out of pocket Gap fee on these rebates, which you are required to pay at the time of your appointment.

+ Which evidence-based programs does SSOT run?

Our staff are trained to provide the following programs;

Secret Agent Society

The Secret Agent Society (SAS) Computer Game Pack and Small Group Program help kids 8 to 12 years of age crack the code of emotions and friendships. Junior Detectives graduate from SAS equipped with the skills to feel happier, calmer and braver while making new friends and keeping them.

Zones of Regulation®

A curriculum designed to help students identify their feelings and emotional reactions and learn sensory and perspective taking strategies that encourage better self-regulation. A simple colour coded, four zones format encourages learning. This is a classroom and family friendly tool with wide application across students of all ages, right into adulthood.

Social Thinking®

Evidence-based strategies to help people age 4yrs upwards, to improve their social competencies, including:

• Self-regulation
• Social-emotional learning
• Executive functioning
• Perspective taking
• Social problem solving

The Resilience Donut®

The Resilience Doughnut is a practical, research-validated model being used around the world to build the emotional resilience and wellbeing of children, adolescents and adults. The Resilience Doughnut is a practical, research-validated, therapeutic model for building resilience in children, adolescents and adults.

Kimochis®

Fluffy toys with feelings inside that assist in the development of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Kimochis® are sensory toys that appeal to children of all ages, and enable them to safely explore and express complex feelings in a simple manner. They help to increase social awareness , establish positive relationships and interactions with others as well as challenging the children to consider problem solving through difficult situations. Kimochi (Key-mou-chee) menas “Feelings” in Japanese.

The Alert Program®

The Alert Program® was created by occupational therapists, Mary Sue Williams and Sherry Shellenberger. The program was developed to teach children how to change how alert they feel (regulation) and to teach adults how to support learning, attending, and positive behaviours. By using an engine analogy, children learn “if your body is like a car engine, sometimes it runs on high, sometimes it runs on low, and sometimes it runs just right.”

+ How does therapy work?

Therapy is a process and takes time, different children respond at different rates of change. The most effective therapy is noticed in those who regularly take the time to implement the suggestions given by the OT’s at home and at school. This allows for increased opportunity of the brain to be exposed to the input and allows the opportunity for the body to respond and to develop new patterns of behaviour or ways of doing daily activities more successfully. In some cases more than one option needs to be tried in order to establish the ‘just right’ challenge for each child. A ‘ just right challenge’ is one that challenges the child sufficiently to allow them to make the adaptations necessary to achieve success. This in essence is Sensory Integration Therapy.