Support during the school years

The GBSS therapy team realises the importance of working with a child in their everyday environments. Through visits to Granite Belt schools, the team can support the child’s educational goals, and share information with families/carers and staff. These visits also enable the child to learn and use therapy ideas and strategies in their normal life.

The occupational therapists run classroom programs for self-regulation and improving skills for learning. This means that while the child is learning how to manage their behaviour, and build up skills such as writing, all their classmates and their teacher are learning the same skills and the words that go with them – and having fun while doing it.

The team supports families and carers, as well as teachers in the classroom, by providing resources and equipment that help the child listen, understand, and participate in class. These resource include:

  • visual schedules so the child knows what is happening
  • reward options so that attention is on positive behaviour
  • sensory tools to help a child concentrate
  • social information stories to help the child learn what to do in different situations.

 

The therapy team may work with one or two other children as well as the focus child to practise social skills like turn-taking, sharing, winning and losing, and how to be a friend.

The therapy team works closely with families and education staff to make sure we are all working towards the same goals, coordinating with and understanding each other. This also means that the parents and carers are getting the same information as teachers and that strategies and ideas are consistent across the child’s everyday life.