What techniques are used by therapists at SSOT when they treat the children?

Our OT’s and OTA’s are trained to provide your child with the benefits of tried, tested and evidence-based therapeutic techniques in the following categories:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy/ Focussed Psychological Strategies (CBT/ FPS)

Focussed Psychological Strategies are specific mental health care management strategies, derived from evidence-based psychological therapies that have been shown to integrate the best research evidence of clinical effectiveness with general practice clinical expertise.

Sensory Integration Therapy - AJ Ayres

Uses the neurological process of integrating sensory information from the body and the environment that contribute to emotional regulation, learning, behaviour, and participation in daily life. It was developed by Dr Jean Ayres who was both an OT and a psychologist.

Sensory Modulation

Efficient sensory modulation is the ability to deliberately choose to regulate the degree to which one is influenced by various sensory inputs. Sensory modulation can be impacted by both external environmental conditions and/ or internal variants.

Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT) - Bobath

Bobath theory follows ‘normal developmental patterns’ as a treatment approach usually for children affected by Cerebral Palsy. The goal is to improve range of movement and to enable the active, practical and functional use of the limbs in play and daily activities, to reduce/ limit the advancement of contractures and to maintain and enhance all possible levels of function.

Behaviour Management

Behaviour management skills are of particular importance to teachers in the educational system as well as for parents at home. Behaviour management includes all of the actions and conscious inactions to enhance the child's choice of behaviours, which are personally fulfilling, productive, and socially acceptable.

Positive Behaviour Support

An evidence-based approach to supporting people with intellectual disabilities who have challenging behaviour patterns. Being an evidence-based practice means that Positive Behaviour Support has been proven to be successful.

Cognitive Skill Development

The process of growth and change in intellectual/mental abilities such as thinking, choices, reasoning and understanding.

Visual Perceptual Skill Development

Types of visual perceptual skills needed for learning:

• Form Constancy – the ability to identify a form even if it is different in size, orientation, colour, or texture
• Figure Ground – the ability to distinguish a form from the surrounding background
• Spatial Relations/Position in Space – the ability to understand the position of objects in relation to each other and to one’s self
• Visual Discrimination – the ability to perceive the differences and similarities in forms
• Visual Closure – the ability to identify a form even though part of it is not visible
• Visual Memory – the ability to remember what one sees.
• Posture, Motor coordination, endurance and balance

Fine motor & gross motor development

Fine motor skills are small movements that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue. Gross motor skills are the bigger movements that use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso, and feet for activities like climbing and running.

DIR Floortime - Greenspan

A direct intervention that encourages you to follow your child's lead, challenge their creativity and optimise moments of sensory, motor and emotional motivators. The DIR model is based on the assumption that the core developmental foundations for thinking, relating, and communicating can be favourably influenced by working with children’s emotions and the effects on their behaviour, through play.

Play Therapy 

A form of counselling or psychotherapy in which play is used as means of helping children express or communicate their feelings.

Learn to Play - Stagnitti

Relaxation Therapy

A form of FPS in which children are taught how to use relaxation as a means to manage their stress/ anxiety, it can also be used for sleep training.

Social Skill Training 

We use these skills to communicate and interact with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language and our personal appearance. They include the ability to identify and ‘read’ emotion, greet one another, take turns, wait for a turn, ask and answer questions, respect others personal space, share toys etc. Social skills for older children involve making and keeping friends, bullying, conflict resolution and cyber safety etc. which are also part of our programme development. SSOT utilises evidence-based therapy practices in all social skills groups and takes its lead from “Socially Thinking” strategies as well as “Zones of Regulation” theory and practice.

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.”

“Play Attention” Training: https://www.playattention.com/empower-your-mind

Play Attention (similar to CogMed, but more specific to the development of visual perception training)- is a computer-based attention training system that measures brain activity using an armband and biofeedback. It is designed to create awareness and ability to train active attention skill development through self-monitoring techniques. Clients are expected to complete a minimum of 40-60 hours of training. This can be used in conjunction with or separate from medication use for children with ADHD

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.

What do I do if I have a Compliment or Complaint?

Sensory SMART strongly believes that feedback, including complaints, suggestions and compliments, is crucial to ensuring effective and high-quality service delivery and the continual improvement of services and systems. We rely on our clients to assist us with this.

What kind of feedback can you give us? 

• A Complaint
• A Suggestion or
• Compliment

Ways to help us improve our service 

• Discuss the issue or suggestion with the staff member who is directly involved 
• Discuss the issue with the Director
• Complete a Complaints and Feedback Notification Form by emailing us on [email protected], or you can collect one from the Sensory SMART clinic

Alternatively, your phone calls, letters or emails are also welcome.

Can someone help me give feedback?

Yes, absolutely - You can choose a support person to assist you with your complaint or feedback. This person can be a friend, family member, staff member or an advocate from another organisation.

What will happen?

Sensory SMART is committed to resolving complaints in an ethical, confidential, timely, transparent and fair way.

We view feedback as a positive opportunity to improve the quality of our services and operations and to strengthen relationships with our clients and with our community.

Complaints are treated confidentially. Only the people who need to help find a resolution will be involved.