Sunshine Coast Occupational Therapy:

Our Sunshine Coast Occupational Therapists (OTs) are trained to help adults and children be able to participate in the activities that they want or need to do within their day. This can mean a broad range of activities from learning to brush your teeth or how to play and interact with other children, or learning how to shower safely or live independently. Our aim is to help your child or loved one become as independent as possible. Contact us today to see if OT will help you to enjoy life more!

 

Our Sunshine Coast OT Team are Qualified to assist you in the Following Areas:

Keyworker / Transdisciplinary Practice 

Keyworker training illustrated the importance of including the family as a central focus. This means conducting therapy sessions within the child’s natural environments as opposed to within a clinic setting. It also means building the capacity of the family to assist their own child, empowering them to feel confident in their own skills. 

Physical Activity 

Occupational Therapists work to assist physical skill development in order to achieve functional movement patterns. Motor skills include whole body movements, balance, using play equipment, participating in gentle exercise, playing games/sports, hand eye coordination, arm control, visual tracking, handwriting, reflexes, fluency and some aspects of self care tasks.

Play 

Play is an important part of everyday life not only for our physical health but also for our mental wellbeing. It is often a great way for people to learn a new skill with less stress or pressure to master the required skill immediately.

Play is crucial for physical development, executive function, emotional regulation skills, social skills and communication development. When we use play as the therapy tool we are often able to achieve skill development, and also provide the family with a way to use these skills within their own daily routines. 

Executive Function  

We work with parents and carers to support their understanding of regulation before supporting the child to understand their own regulation skills. Executive function also includes memory, attention, concentration, planning, goal setting, following multiple-step instructions, and managing sensory input from the body.

Using a person centred approach and collaborative problem-solving strategies, we work to assist the child and their primary carers to support children’s executive function skills and to improve function in everyday life.

Self Care  

Occupational Therapists work to assist people to gain independence in their activities of daily living. Daily tasks such as toileting, dressing, personal hygiene, eating, meal preparation, exercising, using transport and community access are important skills to successfully understand and use throughout life. This is another area where play as the therapy tool can often increase a child’s success within various self care routines.

Sleep 

Sleep is another key element in daily life that we can support families with. Using collaborative problem solving strategies we assist families understand the strategies to increase their child’s feeling of safety and to implement effective sleep routines/practices.

Learning  

Supporting primary carers to understand their child’s learning style and their specific needs. Working with the child’s education team to understand lagging skills and support adjustment to the learning environment to facilitate the child being able to learn in a meaningful way.

For Children:

Our Occupational Therapists can help your child participate in everyday opportunities by:

  • Developing the underlying areas that prevent your child from achieving a task (such as strengthening muscles or reducing sensitivities)
  • Providing opportunities to practise new skills in a safe and supportive space using expert guidance
  • Modifying the task to make it more achievable
  • Introducing equipment that can make a task easier to do
  • Changing the environment (such as preschool, home or school) to allow your child physical access or the ‘just right’ sensory space
  • Collaborating with the key people in your child’s life to increase awareness and provide consistent solutions for all to use with your child

Our Occupational Therapy team can help your child with the following areas:

  • Attention, focus and concentration
  • Behaviour and self-regulation
  • Sensory regulation
  • Social interaction and engagement
  • Tolerance of sensations (increase or decrease)
  • Planning and organising the body to complete tasks
  • Fine motor skills and handwriting
  • Classroom participation
  • Visual motor skills – copying from the board, scanning and tracking
  • Self care skills – feeding, dressing, toileting, sleeping
  • Play skills
  • Splinting, casting
  • Equipment prescription
  • Minor home modifications

For Adults:

Our Occupational Therapists can help your loved one participate in everyday opportunities by:

  • Providing training and support for completing activities such as bathing, dressing, toileting, eating or grooming independently.
  • Life skills training – learning to live independently in the community, developing skills such as cooking, cleaning, money management, managing your daily and weekly routines and preparing for employment.
  • Manage and understanding Pain. Pain is one of the several ways our body tries to communicate with us. However, it is often unpleasant. Understanding pain and ways to manage it are important, as pain can impact our daily function.

We Can Help With:

  • Gross Motor Skill Development
  • Fine Motor Skill Development
  • Behaviour support and Self Regulation
  • Handwriting support
  • School Readiness
  • School Skills support
  • Posture
  • Sensory processing support
  • Self-Care
  • Anxiety
  • Attention
  • Visual Perception Skills
  • Social and Play Skills

Our team offer a free phone consult to see if OT will make a difference in your life, you may learn – it’s been the missing link all along your health journey. Contact us today.

Check out How it Works to understand more about assessment, therapy, funding and more.

At Zoe we take a caring, encouraging and family-centred, team approach to working with you or your loved one.

All of our Occupational Therapists are Registered Members of AHPRA. We know that leaders are learners and are developing our skills weekly through internal and external development courses.

If you live outside of the Sunshine Coast, or you prefer not to deal with traffic – Telehealth is for you! Check out How it Works to understand more.

Call us today, we look forward to serving, supporting and celebrating you!