Paediatric Allied Health inPrestons, NSW

Our Occupational Therapists help children build the skills and independence they need to participate in everyday life. We support areas such as hand and upper limb function, self-care, play, positioning, sensory needs and accessing everyday environments. Our team is highly skilled in supporting children with more complex movement and upper limb needs, including specialised upper limb programs, splinting, assistive technology and equipment. We work closely with families, schools and other therapists to find practical solutions that help children participate as independently and confidently as possible at home, school and in the community.

Our Speech Pathologists are highly skilled in helping children communicate, connect and participate, whether they communicate through speech, gestures, signs, symbols or communication technology. Therapy may support speech and language, literacy, swallowing and mealtime skills, as well as alternative ways to communicate when speech is difficult. Our team has extensive experience in AAC and complex communication, including communication devices, switches, eye-gaze technology and other alternative access methods. We work closely with families, schools and other therapists to build reliable communication systems that allow children to express their wants, needs, ideas and personality across their everyday environments.

Our Dietitians provide expert paediatric nutrition support for children whose growth, eating or nutritional needs may be more complex. We can help with concerns around growth, nutritional intake, restricted diets and feeding difficulties, as well as ensuring children receive adequate energy, protein, fluids, vitamins and minerals. Our Dietitians have strong clinical knowledge in supporting children who experience higher energy needs, reduced appetite, fatigue during meals or difficulty consuming enough nutrition to meet their needs. We work collaboratively with the child's broader therapy and medical team to ensure nutrition supports their health, development and participation.

Our Physiotherapists are highly skilled in helping children develop and maximise their movement and physical abilities, whatever their starting point. Therapy may focus on strength, mobility, balance, coordination, walking, transfers, endurance and positioning, with goals tailored to what is meaningful for each child and family. Our team has extensive experience supporting children with complex movement needs, drawing on advanced therapy approaches and specialised equipment to help children practise movement in ways that are targeted, engaging and achievable. We also provide expert support with mobility equipment, orthotics and positioning to help children move, explore and participate throughout their day.

Our intensive therapy programs provide a highly targeted block of therapy focused on achieving specific goals over a shorter period of time. Children have repeated opportunities to practise and build on targeted skills across consecutive or closely scheduled sessions, supported by therapists with advanced skills in paediatric therapy and rehabilitation. Programs may focus on movement, strength, walking, upper limb function, communication or everyday skills and can incorporate specialised therapy approaches and equipment. Each intensive is individually designed around the child, with one or multiple therapy disciplines involved depending on their goals.

Our AAC & Equipment Clinic brings together clinicians who are highly skilled in assistive technology, complex communication, mobility, seating, positioning and alternative access. Our team has vast experience assessing, trialling and prescribing solutions including communication devices, switches, eye-gaze and other access methods, seating and positioning systems, wheelchairs, mobility equipment and other assistive technology. We consider how the child moves, communicates and accesses their environment so that recommendations work together rather than in isolation. Our multidisciplinary approach allows us to find highly individualised solutions that help children communicate, move and participate more independently.

Our feeding team brings together clinicians with extensive experience in paediatric feeding, swallowing, nutrition, positioning and mealtime participation. We look beyond the food itself to understand the full picture, including oral motor skills, chewing and swallowing, positioning, sensory needs, nutrition, fatigue and the child's physical ability to participate in mealtimes. Depending on the child's needs, support may involve Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy, Dietetics and Physiotherapy working collaboratively. This depth of knowledge across disciplines allows us to develop practical, individualised strategies that support safer, more comfortable and more successful mealtimes.

Our Physiotherapists use hydrotherapy as a targeted therapeutic approach to help children work towards their movement and physical goals in the water. Sessions can address strength, mobility, balance, coordination, endurance and confidence with movement, while the buoyancy of the water can create opportunities to practise movements that may be more challenging on land. Our therapists have advanced clinical skills in adapting activities, handling and support to each child's abilities and goals. Hydrotherapy programs are individually designed and can complement a child's broader physiotherapy or multidisciplinary therapy program.