Therapy Services

Paediatric occupational therapy supports children in developing skills within varied functional areas and across different environments. They help children overcome developmental challenges and help them take part in their lives to the best of their ability. For most children this includes in play, self-care, school learning, home living and engaging with others. Occupational therapists work to support your child in improving their independence as well as their ability to participate in developmentally appropriate activities. 

Integrate and Evolve Therapy Services offers occupational therapy intervention and assessments to toddlers, children and adolescents. 

An occupational therapist can help your child with:

· Developmental delay

· Intellectual disability

· Sensory processing (touch, taste, smell, sound, vision, balance, movement and body’s positioning)

· Regulation and attention

· Challenging behaviours

· Self-esteem and anxiety 

· Play skills

· Posture and positioning

· Gross motor skills

· Coordination skills

· Eye-hand coordination skills

· Fine motor skills

· Pre- and handwriting skills

· Visual perceptual skills 

· Executive functioning 

· Planning and organising

· Social engagement and interaction skills

· Activities of daily living (sleep, toileting, dressing etc.)

When commencing Occupational Therapy services, it is important that each client is assessed to ascertain their functional skills and ability at the onset of service delivery. Clients should be re-assessed each year to measure progress and to support the clinician in setting new therapy goals. Should you have undergone a recent assessment, within the past 12 months, please provide these reports to your therapist so that they are able to see if an updated and current assessment in required prior to setting therapy goals. 

An initial OT assessment includes the following steps: 

· An initial parent/client consult (1 hr), to work through a case discussion and get a sense or what assessment tools would be beneficial when assessing the client. 

· The assessment period/s.  An assessment generally takes between 2-3 hours, depending on the client and their complexity. Assessment can be broken up over hourly slots or can be done in a single sitting. This will be discussed further at the initial      consult. 

· Following the assessment, a report will be completed. This will be explained further and a document request form will be signed during the assessment period. A full report is charged at 3-4 hrs. 

· Scheduled feedback session (1hr) with parents to discuss assessment outcomes and      ongoing therapy goals related to these outcomes. 

Ongoing therapy session:

Servicing the southern suburbs in Adelaide

Regular occupational therapy session frequency will be discussed with relevant parties and decided on according to individual client needs. 

· 1 hour weekly sessions. 

· 1 hour fortnightly sessions.

· 1 hour higher intensity sessions such as twice weekly or more. 

Therapy services are provided within the home setting and the school setting should this be deemed appropriate. 

Therapy session are 60 minutes (45 minutes contact time, 15 minutes non-contact time). 

Your therapist will work closely with you, the parents, your child’s teacher and any other support providers or caregivers. 

Interactive Metronome® (IM) is an evidence-based assessment and training computer-based program. It is designed to improve timing, attention, coordination and regulation in children and adults with a wide range of cognitive and physical difficulties. As the individual activates a trigger in time with a steady auditory beat, IM technology provides real-time auditory and visual feedback for millisecond timing. Knowing whether you are hitting before, after, or exactly in sync with the beat to the millisecond allows the individual to make immediate corrections to improve timing and rhythm over the course of training.

Peer reviewed studies repeatedly confirm the importance of timing and rhythm for human performance. According to IM research improvements may be noted in the following areas:

· Processing speed

· Attention, focus and concentration

· Sensory modulation

· Behaviour and self-regulation

· Control of aggression and impulsive behaviours

· Social interaction

· Self-confidence and self-esteem

· Auditory and language processing

· Expressive and receptive language

· Motor skills

· Bilateral coordination

· Balance and gait

· Upper extremity function 

· Athletic Performance 

· Activities of daily living 

· Handwriting skills

· Academic performance

· Reading Comprehension, Rate & Fluency

· Mathematics

· Working Memory

· Ability to follow directions

· Executive Functions

· Planning and organisational skills

An Interactive Metronome program is a high intensity-based program, run every 3 months as a maximum or as otherwise agreed. The frequency of sessions for each intensity block is determined following your initial screening on the IM machine. There is an additional nominal machine hire cost per session over a above your regular therapy fee. 

· 10 x 1 hour session block, minimum of 3 sessions a week with no more than 2 days gap between sessions. 

· 12 x 1 hour session block, minimum of 3 sessions a week with no more than 2 days gap between sessions. 

· 15 x 1 hour session block, minimum of 3 sessions a week with no more than 2 days gap between sessions. 

The IM program includes the following: 

· First a screening, Duration 1 hour.

· Scheduled feedback and planning session with parents to discuss program. Duration  45 min to 1 hour.

· Scheduled IM sessions (10, 12, 15 or more block), established during parent planning session (around 4-5 weeks of 3 x sessions per week minimum). 

· During the last IM session, a final screening will be done.

· Scheduled feedback session with parents to discuss progress and changes noted in      overall performance, should this be deemed necessary.

· An end of block report write-up. A comprehensive report including pre- and post- intensive scores, and observations and findings throughout the IM intensive. 

Following an intensive a 3 month 'break' period from IM is recommended to allow the program to work its magic on a brain level. Other therapies can recommence at this time. It may then be recommended to recommence a new IM intensive, following the same steps above. 

Please note: It is recommended that individuals do not continue with any other regular therapies during their IM intensive. This will however need to be discussed with and considered by all relevant parties. 

For more information and research on IM please visit www.interactivemetronome.com