Therapy Assistants

Home Based Multidisciplinary Therapy Assistants for kids aged 5-12

WHAT IS A THERAPY ASSISTANT?

A therapy assistant works under the delegation of allied health providers to support the implementation of therapy programs focusing on practicing skills to boost therapy intervention.

WHY USE A THERAPY ASSISTANT?

Although therapy services have become more accessible for families through the NDIS, it has become increasingly challenging securing regular therapy sessions with preferred allied health providers. Many of them are either fully booked or have extensive waiting lists due to the growing demand for services, which has outpaced the availability of professionals in the field. A shift to more clinic-based services, has led to therapy environments not offering the same coziness as home or community settings.

Some providers have tried to tackle this issue by cutting down on the frequency of sessions and giving caregivers a home therapy program with activities to help their kids practice skills learnt in therapy. This can leave parents feeling totally swamped and drained. That's where a therapy assistant can step in and be a real game-changer for both the therapist and parent alike! They take on the job of making sure the home therapy program runs smoothly. This not only ensures the child’s progress but also boosts therapy intervention overall.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?

LaunchPod provides MULTIDISCIPLINARY THERAPY ASSISTANTS implementing a MULTIDISCIPLINARY HOME BASED program!

This means, ONE Therapy Assistant implementing ONE home therapy program!

Juggling appointments with a range of different therapists and their allied health assistants, each focusing on their own area of expertise, can be a cosmic conundrum for parents.

That's where our stellar multidisciplinary Therapy Assistant program will launch you back into orbit as it brings together all the ‘therapy homework’ prescribed by your child’s preferred allied health providers into ONE home based therapy program. Our early childhood teachers gather all the info needed from your child’s preferred allied health providers to create a super fun and engaging home therapy program with measureable outcomes that will be reviewed every 8-12 weeks. Using our innovative high quality resources, our multidisciplinary therapy assistants implement a range of engaging activities, allowing your child to explore their superpowers and reinforce skills acquired through formal therapy with your preferred allied health providers. Our program is overseen and supported by a senior, speech pathologist. Conducted in the familiar surroundings of your home, this holistic approach addresses various essential life skills while ensuring an enjoyable experience.

We firmly believe that a happy brain is a healthy brain. Infusing fun while practicing skills learnt in therapy accelerates capacity building to endless possibilities. Our program encompasses an exciting array of activities and resources, including LEGO, robotics, drones, virtual reality (VR), art and craft, sensory play, problem-solving games, and much more. These carefully curated tools target goals and skills specified and outlined by your child's allied health team:

cognitive development including problem solving, planning and sequencing, attention skills, decision making, motor planning
social-emotional development and sensory integration
physical development - fine and gross motor skills
communication including reciprocal interaction, turn taking, active listening, non verbal and visual ques, contextual communication

WHAT DO OUR SESSIONS LOOK LIKE?

A trained Therapy Assistant will come to your home between 1 to 3 times a week, tailored to your child's specific requirements.
Each session is a 2-hour session meticulously crafted into four distinct phases.
Purposeful movement and sensory breaks are thoughtfully integrated between these phases, creating a well-structured framework that promotes overall regulation, thereby optimising your child's skill development experience.
During each session, a diverse range of activities and high-quality resources are seamlessly integrated, specifically tailored through collating information from your child’s allied health team to practice skills that will empower your child to achieve their goals.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Does your program replace allied health therapy?

Definitely not. Our multidisciplinary, home based therapy assistant program is designed to boost allied health therapy intervention and should certainly not replace the invaluable input from your allied health team. Your allied health provider may be happy for you to reduce the frequency of formal therapy sessions when your child participates in our weekly program, but it is still essential for your allied health team to consult with your child on a regular basis to continue providing ongoing assessment, recommendations and training.

Do therapy assistants require oversight of an allied health professional?

Yes. NDIS guidelines stipulate that a therapy assistant is required to work under the delegation of an allied health professional and needs to be covered by the therapy assistant’s employing provider. LaunchPod has a senior, developmental occupational therapist on board that supports and oversees the delivery of our Therapy Assistant programs and provides regular feedback and training to our therapy assistants. All of our therapy assistants are covered by LaunchPod’s professional indemnity insurance.

Can we use your therapy assistants if our child already has their own allied health providers in place?

Absolutely! How, you may ask? We will send your allied health team a link to complete a short intake form requiring the goals they would like your child to achieve and the skills they would like us to focus on in our program. Alternatively, if your allied health provider has sent you their implementation plan, you can forward this to us. We use this valuable info to create a customised individualised program which is submitted to our senior occupational therapist for final approval. Although our program runs in 10-12 week cycles before being reviewed and adjusted for the next cycle, a continual feedback loop is established between all stakeholders through regular emails that may include progress notes, session photos or questions.

HOW DO WE SIGN UP?

Signing up for the Multidisciplinary Therapy Assistant Program is a straightforward process. Here's how you can get started:

Contact us: We will send you an e-brochure with additional details on the costs involved and what’s included. This will help you make an informed decision before signing up for the program and enrolling your child.
Initial Consult: If you would like to proceed, contact us to schedule an initial consultation to discuss your child's strenghts, interests, and goals to help us create a personalised and engaging program that targets the specific skills you wish to develop, and which aligns with your child's NDIS goals.
We design an individualised program: We will send you a link to share with your child's allied health team. The link will direct therapists to a short online intake form requiring each therapist’s goals they are working on with your child and the skills they would like our therapy assistants to practice and strengthen. We use this info to create your child’s individualised program that will then be approved and overseen by our senior occupational therapist.

Based on your child’s strengths and interests, we will assign one of our trained therapy assistants who will implement the structured and customised program. This ensures a tailored approach that resonates with your child's unique personality and maximises their learning potential.

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