Kids Play Occupational Therapy

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A big change in the NDIA approach has been announced

https://www.ndis.gov.au/news/9175-age-children-supported-under-ndis-early-childhood-approach-changing?fbclid=IwAR3jimQM36i5ktRoabYjh3a5YQ8PNziCzoxJQXUM-CCarAp4O7sCGLjfXoA #:~:text=to%20primary%20school.-,From%201%20July%202023,support%20up%20to%20this%20age

The age of children supported under the NDIS early childhood approach is changing | NDIS From 1 July 2023, the age of children supported under the early childhood approach will progressively change, to include children younger than 9.

This looks like a great experience

Join our group! Prep for Prep in 2023 at Springfield Lakes clinic.

Have a look at today’s acheivements from our holiday groups.

Check out these photos from our junior social skills group! The boys in the group worked really hard to develop their skills in communicating, turn taking, engaging with friends and sharing ideas in play.

There are spaces still available for our April school holidays social skills group program! Contact us if you'd like to secure your spot!

Did you know we offer group programs?
This Easter holidays, we are running a social skills group for 8-11 year olds, and a handwriting group for children in grades 2 and 3 (with flexibility to accept grade 4 students as appropriate).

The social skills group ran in January and was a great success, with children developing their abilities to engage within a group and collaborate with peers while enjoying a community access trip to laser tag.

The handwriting group focusses on essential skills for classroom writing, including letter formation, line awareness and spacing/sizing. Feedback from previous groups highlighted the rapid improvements children make in the intensive program.

If you are interested in either program, please contact us to book, as spaces are limited.

👀 Did you know that a child’s greatest learning is done through play?

📖 Research continues to tell us that there are important links between a child’s ability to play, and their ability to use language, understand stories, communicate using more words, and socialise with others. There are also links showing that children who engage in pretend play have improved body awareness and self regulation.

So what about when children don’t know how to play?

🧸 Children who don't know how to play might not use toys functionally and might be more interested in taking toys apart or exploring different parts of toys like spinning wheels on a truck. They might disrupt the play scenes of their peers or siblings. They might wander aimlessly and appear not to know how to join in on play scenes with others. They might be repetitive in their play and need more ideas for their stories. You may never have seen them do a pretend play action, such as pretending to talk on the phone, or giving teddy a drink and snack.

🤩 Pretend play is a highly important intervention that can target multiple goals and areas of daily life. It is through learning to play that children can make amazing shifts in their communication, socialisation, and self regulation, and overall wellbeing. While it might look like they are ‘just playing’, pretend play is actually very hard work as it is complex thinking time for your little one.

🥳 Our Occupational Therapist, Casey, has had the exciting opportunity of attending a 2 week long training course all about pretend play! She is eager to start incorporating more play into sessions with her clients.

If you’re interested in Pretend Play, check out this wonderful website: https://www.learntoplayevents.com/for-parents/

For those who are even more interested, here’s a short (and entertaining) video, and a Ted Talk on pretend Play

- Jaak Panksepp on Play and the Development of Social Skills https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriFlkeTqbU

- The decline of play | Peter Gray | TEDxNavesink https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg-GEzM7iTk

This is why we call ourselves Kids PLAY ;)
- Casey OT

The decline of play | Peter Gray | TEDxNavesink In this talk, Dr. Peter Gray compellingly brings attention to the reality that over the past 60 years in the United States there has been a gradual but, over...

Kids Play sends our deepest well wishes to families affected by the devastating recent flooding events.

We are remaining OPEN during this time.

Therapists affected by the floods will be in contact with their clients to make alternate arrangements in cases where your appointments are affected. Your safety is our main priority, so please don't risk driving to our clinic if it is unsafe.

Take care and stay safe!

- Casey OT

DOES YOUR CHILD NEED SUPPORT WITH FEEDING?
- no current waitlist -

Do you find that your child picks at their food or has trouble trying new foods? Maybe they are limiting the foods that they once ate or transitioning from a PEG?

Our incredibly skilled feeding therapists (yep over 20yrs experience in the area) for the first time ever, are opening up a Telehealth feeding clinic to be able to support more families around Australia, families just like yours?

What does this mean for you?

No waitlists. It means that you don’t need to compromise on clinician experience with huge waitlists. Here at Speechnet/ Kids Play OT our specialised Feeding Speech Therapists and Occupational Therapists have a lot of experience and spaces right now, be fast though, these spots will not last for long.

What do you need to do?

Give our friendly receptionists a call on 07 3349 9234 and ask for an initial appointment in the feeding clinic.

We look forward to supporting your family and seeing your child thrive.

In December, we had great fun running a social skills group. In the group, the kids worked together to follow a group plan, and organised to go to the city, grab a drink at a cafe, hang out at a playground and play laser tag! They learned many new social skill concepts along the way, and we all had a blast! We hope to run it again in future holidays.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS refer to the ability to use the small muscles of the hand, with adequate strength, dexterity and coordination, to grasp and manipulate objects of different sizes, weights and shapes.

These skills are important for a child’s success with school-based activities, such as writing and manipulating classroom materials. They are also an integral part of everyday functional tasks such as dressing, using utensils and tools, playing musical instruments and games.

(Source: https://schools.shrewsburyma.gov/ot/fine-motor)

Our group programs for these summer holidays are here at last! Check them out and get in touch if you'd like to book in! On the menu for this December-January is Social Skills and Handwriting 😄

OT week maybe be done, but we have more great art to share!

Where do we do OT? We have 2 clinics, one at Holland Park and one at Springfield, but we also provide services in homes, schools, kindergartens, via telehealth and in the community.

We recognise the importance of transferring OT skills to daily life, and feel that by providing OT in a range of settings, we can support kids in making the connections from theory to action!

The art of OT week continues!
Image 1 shows child (8 years old) and OT (wearing a face mask) working on a sliding block puzzle game (Rush Hour.)
Image 2 shows child (7 years old) and OT playing games. It also shows the lycra hammock, and the very popular Rush Hour game.

In OT, we use logic games such as Rush Hour to develop independence in planning and problem solving in a structured and motivating way.

Thanks as always for the fabulous art, kids!

Happy OT week to all the OTs, clients, and thier families! Here are two beautiful artworks by Kids Play OT clients.

One picture is of a child climbing high on the hammock while his OT cheers him on, and the other is a child engaging in obstacle courses to work on her motor skills!

In OT we love challenging our clients while having fun. Obstacle courses and equipment like the hammock help our little ones work on motor skills, persistence, creativity, planning and organisation, and much much more. After all, the best therapy is when we forget we're even doing therapy.

Thanks for the amazing artworks Daniel and Leah! 😄
🎨