Clinic-based intervention
Occupational therapySpeech language pathology
At Skills for Kids we provide occupational therapy and speech language pathology intervention for children of all ages, from infants through to high school. Our intervention is targeted to children who have a difficulty with participation either at home, preschool or school. These children may have specific disabilities and disorders such as learning difficulty, developmental delay, intellectual impairment, dyspraxia, autism spectrum disorder, asperger's syndrome, attention deficit disorder and sensory processing disorder - or they may be children who do not have any kind of label. They are simply having a difficulty making a 'just right fit' with the expectations or demands of home and school. Our goal is to increase children's independent participation in different parts of their lives.
Therapists begin work with a child by doing an assessment either short or comprehensive depending on the needs of the child and the choice of the family. The purpose of this assessment is to identify strengths and difficulties and to determine a starting point for intervention.
During intervention, therapists work with your child on a weekly or fortnightly basis for half hour or hour sessions, either at the clinic or at your child's school. Therapists can provide intervention in the real world environment of preschools and schools, if there are enough children at any one preschool or school receiving therapy. Therapists maintain regular communication between parents, teacher and other relevant health professionals so that we are all working in the same direction together with your child.
Occupational therapy intervention addresses key 'doing' SKILLS which a child is having difficulty with such as:
Occupational therapy intervention also addresses different UNDERLYING ABILITIES which may be causing problems for these skills. Underlying abilities may be:
Occupational therapy at Skills for Kids uses 3 main strategies for intervention:
Speech language pathology intervention helps children whose communication is affected by articulation, language, voice or swallowing difficulties.
Speech language pathology assessment and intervention encompasses all aspects of communication including speech, language, writing, reading, signs, symbols and gestures. Speech language pathologists also work with people who have difficulties swallowing food and drink.
Being able to communicate effectively is something most Australians take for granted. Few of us understand what communication is, or have ever imagined what it would be like not to communicate effectively.
There are six areas of communication:
Communication includes being understood as well as understanding others, either in speaking and listening, or in reading and writing.
Children who experience difficulties in the area of literacy often have an underlying language problem. A language disorder will have a direct impact on learning, including academic learning. Speech language pathology intervention aims to remediate the underlying language problem therefore allowing a child to learn to read and write.
Problems of speech can include difficulty producing speech sounds in words and sentences or the total inability to make the mouth movements required to say words.
Problems of language can include poor vocabulary skills, the inability to sequence words and sentences logically together to make meaningful conversation or the inability to understand and follow instructions.
Problems in pragmatics can include poor use of eye contact, not knowing how to break into a conversation, or using an inappropriately friendly voice with strangers.
Fluency problems can be seen in the three year old who has a mild stutter and the adolescent who does not speak in class because of a severe stutter.
Voice problems can include a harsh, raspy voice due to vocal nodules in a child or a complete loss of voice due to voice strain in a singer.
