Developmental Therapy Support in Geelong
Empowering children through specialised occupational therapy focused on skill development in Geelong.
Helping You Achieve Your Goals
Developmental Assessment
Our developmental assessment is a comprehensive evaluation used by therapists to understand a child’s strengths, challenges, and overall development across key areas such as motor skill development, sensory processing, attention, emotional regulation, and daily living skills. This assessment is particularly important for autism support and typically involves a combination of parent interviews, clinical observations, and standardised tools. This process helps identify how a child is functioning in everyday environments like home and educational settings, and informs personalised therapy goals and intervention strategies within our children's therapy services to support their participation, independence, and wellbeing.
Motor Skill Development
Motor skill development is crucial for children, as it refers to the progression of their ability to move, coordinate, and control their bodies for everyday tasks and play. Occupational therapy plays a significant role in enhancing both gross motor skills and fine motor skills, which are vital for children's therapy services, enabling participation at home, school, and in the community, especially for those who require autism support.
Gross motor skills involve the larger muscles of the body and encompass activities such as running, jumping, climbing, balancing, and ball skills. These skills are essential for building physical confidence, engaging in playground activities, and improving overall strength and coordination.
Fine motor skills focus on the smaller muscles of the hands and fingers and are necessary for tasks like drawing, writing, cutting, fastening buttons, and using utensils. The development of fine motor skills also enhances hand strength, coordination, and precision, further supporting children's growth.
Best Practice in Autism
We use evidence-based, neurodiversity-affirming approaches that provide autism support to help autistic individuals thrive in ways that are meaningful to them. Rather than focusing on 'fixing' behaviors, our children's therapy services prioritize understanding each person’s unique strengths, differences, and needs while fostering motor skill development. We create supportive environments that enable participation, wellbeing, and autonomy.
Social Skills
Occupational therapists provide autism support by helping children develop social skills, build confidence, and foster connections in everyday interactions. This includes understanding social cues, taking turns, sharing, and enhancing communication skills as part of children's therapy services.
Therapy emphasizes essential skills such as initiating and maintaining interactions, flexible thinking, and managing emotions in social situations. OTs utilize play-based and interest-led approaches to encourage meaningful engagement with peers, which can also aid in motor skill development.
The ultimate goal is to empower children to feel more confident in navigating social environments, building positive relationships, and actively participating in group activities at school and within the community.
Mealtime Management
We provide autism support for children facing mealtime challenges by addressing the skills essential for safe, comfortable, and positive eating. This may include sensory processing, posture, and motor skill development for self-feeding abilities.
Our children's therapy services can assist with fussy and problem feeding as well as difficulties with trying new foods. The therapy emphasizes building confidence with food, enhancing practical skills, and creating calm, supportive mealtime routines—always employing a gentle, family-centered approach to reduce stress and promote enjoyment of eating.
Regulation
We provide autism support to help children develop regulation skills across sensory, emotional, and behavioural areas. This involves assisting children in understanding their body signals, managing big feelings, and responding to everyday challenges in a calm and flexible manner.
Our children's therapy services may focus on building awareness of energy levels, developing coping strategies, and supporting attention and engagement. Occupational Therapists (OTs) also collaborate with families and educators to create supportive environments and routines that promote regulation and motor skill development.
The ultimate goal is to empower children to feel more in control of their bodies and emotions, enhancing their confidence, participation, and overall wellbeing.
Handwriting Skills
Occupational therapists provide essential autism support by fostering the development of handwriting and written expression through targeted children's therapy services. They focus on building the underlying skills necessary for effective handwriting, which includes fine motor skill development, pencil grasp, hand–eye coordination, posture, and visual motor integration.
The support offered also encompasses structuring written work, aiding children in organizing their ideas, planning their writing, and ensuring a clear layout, spacing, and sequencing.
Therapy emphasizes improving letter formation, fluency, and writing endurance, employing practical and engaging strategies to build confidence. The ultimate goal is to promote clear, legible, and well-structured writing, enabling successful participation in school tasks.
Groups
Groups provide a supportive and engaging environment for children to build skills alongside peers, especially in the context of autism support. These groups are designed to target specific areas of development, such as motor skill development, while promoting confidence, connection, and participation.