About STRIDE Occupational Therapy

STRIDE Occupational Therapy is the new private practice of Sue Taylor, an Occupational Therapist with 30 years of clinical experience, including 13 years as the owner, director and clinical principal of SPOT for Kids P/L.  Sue's clinical experience has included working in acute hospital settings, paediatric and adult rehabilitation, school-based programs and community-based private practice.  She has particular experience in working with children and adolescents with Acquired Brain Injury, as well as extensive experience in splinting, equipment prescription, home modifications and establishing home and school-based programs.

Occupational Therapy with children

While most children cope well with the various social and learning opportunities of Preschool, some children, for a range of reasons, find it difficult to master the skills required for them to participate in their Preschool program in a successful, confident, independent and productive way. Occupational Therapists can often assist in the process of identifying the particular issues that are interfering with a child's development, learning and participation through observation and assessment. They will work with the child, their parents, their teachers and other significant people to develop programs and strategies that create opportunities for that child to improve the sensory, physical, pre-academic, social or emotional abilities that they need to enjoy and learn from Preschool.

Paediatric Occupational Therapists are health professionals who focus on the child and the activities and tasks that the child has to, needs to or wants to do but are having difficulty completing at a level that is satisfying to them, effective or age-appropriate. These could include:

• Personal care skills such as using cutlery, dressing, hand washing or going to the toilet.
  
  
• Sensory processing skills such as touching or eating various textures, managing different levels of noise, being able to sit still and listen or seeking or avoiding certain movement experiences.
  
  
• Physical skills such as holding a pencil or scissors, balancing to ride a bike or scooter, skipping, jumping and climbing, using two hands at the same time, being able to play with and manipulate play materials, or following sequences of movements in dancing and songs.
  
  
• Play skills including playing alongside and with other children, using developmentally appropriate materials effectively to achieve an outcome that they are happy with, or combining physical and thinking skills to plan and complete play activities.
  
  
• Cognitive (thinking) skills such as following instructions, planning and organizing games and play, problem solving, paying attention/concentrating or remembering information.
  
  
• Visual perceptual (looking) skills such as recognising shapes, letters or numbers, finding one thing amongst others, recognising objects when they can only see part or remembering what they have seen.
  
  
• Social skills such as making eye contact, taking turns and sharing, remembering social rules about touching, people’s space and listening.
  
  

Philisophy

STRIDE Occupational Therapy’s philosophy is to provide functional, meaningful therapy tasks in order to maximize our clients’ safety, independence and opportunities in accessing their community and developmentally appropriate activities, and assisting families in developing realistic options.

We believe that the client, their family and therapists should be involved in collaborative decision-making, and that goals should be realistic, objective and measurable.

We believe that close liaison with schools, kindergartens, child care services and other relevant agencies is essential in establishing consistent goals and approaches.

We believe strongly in using the child’s own environment and community to support the therapy process.

Programs

STRIDE Occupational Therapy aims to offer children and adolescents with developmental needs or acquired brain injury individualized programs with an emphasis on functional therapy and community reintegration.

In order to minimize interruptions to students’ routines and to maximize opportunities for family and school involvement, programs or intervention may be offered as blocks of therapy during school holidays, out of school hours or in conjunction with teaching and integration staff in the classroom.

Programs will be directed towards maintaining the child in their local environment and linking them in where possible with existing community-based programs, maximizing opportunities for functional learning and practical application and independence.