Paediatric Occupational Therapy near Dulwich Hill
Helping your child build skills and confidence.
Support your child’s development
Wherever your child is on their development journey, our team is here alongside you. Whether they have a developmental delay, a disability, are neurodivergent, or simply need a little extra support, our engaging occupational therapy sessions encourage your child to work towards greater independence.
Here at Inner West Paediatrics, we bring experience supporting children across a wide spectrum of abilities and disabilities. These include autism, global developmental delay, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, genetic differences, learning difficulties, ADHD, social-emotional difficulties, trauma, and behavioural differences.
What our occupational therapy team can offer
We help your child develop the important skills for joining in meaningful day-to-day activities, from play and school to self-care such as feeding, dressing, and toileting.
These skills cover fine and gross motor abilities, strategies to support attention and concentration, play and social interaction skills, and regulation strategies across emotional, sensory and behavioural areas. We also provide a range of ways to access care, including:
In-person OT
Mobile occupational therapy
Online OT
The thinking behind our skills work
Fine and gross motor skills
Our therapists explore the motor skills that sit beneath everyday movement, including strength and endurance, stability, balance, coordination, and motor planning. We then build strategies to support your child to engage happily in the activities they love.
Self-care tasks and activities of daily living
We work through daily living tasks such as dressing, toileting, eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene step by step, helping your child build the independence to do them on their own.
Play and social interaction
We take the time to get to know your child’s interests, their sensory preferences and aversions, their interaction skills and their play skill level. We also look at the skills and understanding of family and other important people in your child’s life. From there, we create fun play ideas and strategies to support your child to build meaningful social connections and interactions through everyday routines, while growing the capacity, skills and confidence of the important people around them to join in meaningful play.
Regulation (Emotional, Sensory, Attention)
Our occupational therapists help your child build strategies for emotional regulation, sensory regulation, and attention, so they may join in important activities as comfortably and independently as possible. Alongside this, we support you and other important people in your child’s life to develop strategies and skills, and to modify tasks and environments that allow your child to thrive.
Functional Capacity Assessments
An FCA provides clear, evidence-based recommendations designed to support NDIS applications or reviews, advocate for the right supports, and guide therapy planning and collaboration with schools and other professionals. We spend time alongside you and your child to collect all the information required and develop a thorough report about your child’s abilities. We may also recommend therapies, accommodations, assistive technology, and suggested next steps.
Community and School Participation
Our occupational therapists can support you and your child to recognise the school and community activities they value, and to develop strategies that encourage their participation.
Every child deserves support that fits them.
Our paediatric occupational therapists collaborate with families to deliver personalised support that suits your child’s particular strengths and needs.
The evidence behind our therapy
- DIR Floortime principles
- SCERTS®
- Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP Approach)
- Learn to Play approach
- Occupational Performance Coaching
- Handwriting Without Tears programs
- Toileting interventions
- Sleep interventions
- Zones of Regulation
- Alert Program
- Autism Level UP
- Regulation and sensory supports
- Upper limb programs including CIMT & bimanual skill programs
- Cognitive interventions
Questions we're often asked about occupational therapy
What is occupational therapy all about?
Occupational therapy aims to help people achieve independence and improve their quality of life by addressing physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges.
What can an occupational therapist support my child with?
Occupational therapy can help to address a wide range of issues, including difficulties with fine motor skills, coordination, and self-care tasks, as well as social skills, emotional regulation, and attention.
Might my child benefit from occupational therapy?
If your child is struggling with everyday tasks, like getting dressed, holding a pencil, managing emotions, or engaging with peers, it may be worth exploring OT support. If you’re unsure, get in touch, and our team will help you determine what they may benefit from.
How do your OT therapists plan intervention?
Our occupational therapists begin by working with you and your child to understand your priorities and establish meaningful goals. From there, intervention focuses on activities that build the skills your child needs, while adapting tasks, environments or routines where appropriate to support participation in everyday life.
What speech and occupational therapies do you provide?
- Hanen Programs (It Takes Two to Talk, More Than Words, Target Word, Talkability, Learning Language and Loving it)
- DIR Floortime Principles
- Learn to Play approach
- Key Word Sign
- Paediatric Autism Communication Therapy (PACT)
- SOS Feeding Approach
- Responsive Feeding Approach
- The Lidcombe Program
- Sounds~Write
- Meaningful Speech for Gestalt Language Processors
- Occupational Performance Coaching
- High and Low Tech AAC assessment, trial and intervention
- Handwriting Without Tears programs
- Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP Approach)
- Toileting interventions
- Zones of Regulation
- Alert Program
- Regulation and sensory supports
- Upper limb programs including CIMT & bimanual skill programs
- Cognitive interventions
Do you provide resources for parents and carers to use at home?
Yes. Our therapists share practical resources and strategies with parents and carers to support their child’s development between sessions, since meaningful progress happens in everyday life rather than in the clinic.
What funding options are available for occupational therapy?
What areas do you service?
We service areas around:
And more!
Support your child beyond OT
Why families choose Inner West Paediatrics
Matched care
We carefully match a therapist to your child and family based on the information you provide, through a thorough triage process, so you get the right support from the very start.
Family at the centre
Our team is focused on growing parent and carer confidence and skills, so they feel equipped to support their child's long-term independence.
Proudly local
As an independently owned, locally operated practice, Inner West Paediatrics provides community-first care that puts your family first.
Giving Dulwich Hill kids a strong start through OT
Every child deserves the tools to grow and learn with confidence, which is why we offer tailored OT support to families in Dulwich Hill. If your child is struggling with everyday activities, connect with our committed team today.