02 9686 2306

Services

Spectrum Therapy Australia is an experienced team of Psychologists, Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists and Behaviour Therapists who work together under one roof to provide the best results for your child and family.

Assessments at Spectrum Therapy

Psychology

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder Assessment (Including assessing females, with their unique presentation)
  • Cognitive Assessments to assess intellectual abilities, difficulties & giftedness
  • Mental health assessments
  • Emotional and behavioural functioning assessments
  • NDIS Reviews to identify areas of improvement in a child or adults’ development and assess therapy outcomes
  • Initial assessments to determine how children and their families can develop therapy goals

Occupational Therapy

  • Initial assessments to determine how children and their families can develop therapy goals
  • NDIS Reviews to identify areas of improvement in a child or adults’ development and assess therapy outcomes
  • Evaluate sensory processing patterns
  • Functional capacity assessments
  • Tests to assess gross and fine motor skills including handwriting difficulties and motor impairment
  • Tests for vision, weakness, balance and acuity

Speech Pathology

  • Initial assessments to determine how people with disability and their families can develop personal communication and therapy goals
  • NDIS Reviews to identify areas of improvement in a child or adults’ development and assess therapy outcomes
  • Assessments to establish vocabulary, literacy, communication and language skills and classroom learning needs
  • Articulation and phonological tests to assess speech sounds and clarity
  • Identify preverbal and verbal language development problems
  • Clinical swallowing assessments to test for dysphagia, identify the underlying cause and determine the severity

Why get assessed?

  1. To diagnose paediatric disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.
  2. As a parent you are concerned with your child’s development. Some typical concerns include speech and language concerns, social development concerns, toileting, dressing, eating concerns, fine or gross motor concerns, and behaviour concerns.
  3. To understand your child’s intellectual ability to assist their learning outcomes.
  4. To help schools and therapists understand your child’s strengths and challenges so they can work out what your child needs. working out what extra support they need to achieve and how they can get the most from their education. Assessments can be used to help the school with personalised learning and support planning for your child.
  5. Assessments can be used to support funding applications for NDIS or school funding.
  6. To get a baseline of where your child is at, and what skills would be best to target, if they are about to commence an intervention program/therapy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a referral?

No, a referral is not required.

Can I use Medicare, private health or NDIS funding to pay for assessments?

This will depend on the nature of the referral, the clinician completing the assessment and individual circumstances. Please call the clinic and email us a copy of your referral so we can advise if it is valid.

How much do the assessments cost?

The hourly rate for assessments range from $193.99 – $214.24/hr and are typically completed in 6 – 10 hours depending on what assessments are administered and the needs of the client.

Where are the assessments completed?

At our clinic in Baulkham Hills. We may also be able to complete some of the assessment on Telehealth but all assessments generally require at least one face to face session.

How long until I receive the report?

Reports are released once full payment is made and are ready within 30 days of the initial appointment. Please advise us at the time of booking if you require a report more urgently and we will do our best to accommodate.

How old does my child have to be before they can be assessed?

This will depend on the assessment that is administered, however many of our assessments can be administered from birth.

Do you assess adults?

Yes, many of the assessments we administer are appropriate for adults also.

Submit an Assessment Enquiry Below

What Services are you interested in?
Autism AssessmentPsychometric AssessmentADHD AssessmentOT AssessmentSpeech AssessmentPsychology TherapyOT TherapySpeech TherapyAllied Health Assistant Program

How did you hear about us?

Specifically tailored with YOUR child’s strengths and challenges in mind

We start off by completing a thorough assessment of the child’s strengths and weaknesses. This may occur at home, school, child care, kinder or at our clinic.  This helps us get to know the child and family and tune into what is important to them. It also creates a baseline so we know where to start.

Next we collaborate with the family and child to set clear, functional goals that have meaning to them.  Based on these we devise an individually tailored program to meet these specific goals.  How often sessions occur, when and where is decided on with the family to support them to be realistic and to fit in with the families capabilities.

We see preschoolers, primary school aged and high school aged children. We also assist adults with a disability.

Children with Autism and Asperger’s may experience many difficulties in life that can impact on the whole family. Managing emotions and making friends are difficult for us all however children with autism (Asperger’s) and other disabilities find these areas particularly hard. By working with a psychologist your child can learn to manage their emotions and make long lasting friendships.

We see preschoolers, primary school aged and high school aged children. We also assist adults with a disability. Spectrum Therapy Australia provides:

ASSESSMENTS

  • Autism Diagnosis (including high functioning autism, formally known as Asperger’s)
  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis
  • Intellectual Disability Diagnosis
  • Global Developmental Delay Diagnosis
  • Giftedness
  • Learning difficulties/disability including dyslexia
  • Adaptive Behaviour
  • Depression
  • Anxiety

 

THERAPY

Working with the family to establish goals our psychologist can help your child to:

  • Make friends and maintain friendships
  • Reduce meltdowns
  • Reduce anxiety
  • Increase self esteem
  • Improve sleep
  • Decrease episodes of aggression, anger and self-injury
  • Reduce fussy eating
  • Understand personal space
  • Understand allergy and contain anxiety around eating
  • Improve attention and concentration
  • Improve ability to follow instructions

 

GROUP PROGRAMS

Social Success! – Help your child make and keep friends by joining one of our group programs!

 

If your child is struggling to make friends, maintain friendships, having difficulty getting along with peers, is being bullied, is anxious about peer interactions, lacks self-esteem or just wants to make some new friends, then this is the group for them.

Group members participate in an introductory goal setting session with one of our therapists, prior to the group starting, unless they are already receiving Spectrum Therapy services.

 

The program will cover topics such as:

  • Getting to know each other
  • Identifying friendship building and blocking behaviours
  • Strategies for self-regulation
  • Safe ways to express emotions
  • Listening skills and communication styles
  • Recognizing perspectives of others
  • Problem solving and compromising

Call us today to register! 9686 2306

A frequent question we are asked at Spectrum Therapy is what does an Occupational Therapist do? The answer is almost everything! OT’s can help children with life skills that are essential for their development. Whether it be brushing their teeth, getting ready, putting on their shoes, eating, holding a pencil, remaining focused in the classroom or following instruction – an OT can help!

Spectrum Therapy Australia provides:

 

ASSESSMENTS

Our Occupational Therapists can assess your child’s:

  • Sensory processing; noise, light, touch, smell and sight
  • Gross motor
  • Fine motor
  • Visual spatial awareness
  • Visual Motor Integration
  • Play skills including parallel, associative and cooperative play
  • School readiness; following group instruction, turn taking, independent play, sitting and sharing
  • Self-care; grooming, eating
  • Concentration and attention

 

THERAPY

Working with the family to establish goals our Occupational Therapist can help your child to:

 

  • Reach developmental milestones (speech, gross and fine motor)
  • Improve poor attention and concentration
  • Developing play skills including parallel, associative and cooperative play
  • Assist with problem feeding and picky eating
  • Improve listening or processing problems including auditory processing
  • Aid children with literacy difficulties / Dyslexia (spelling, reading, writing and/or reading comprehension)
  • Improve oral-motor problems that lead to problems with feeding, speech and / or dribbling
  • Learn to play, copy, and problem-solve in order to make lasting friendships
  • Improve challenges with routine and following instructions
  • Reduce avoidance / distress with daily tasks (e.g., transitions / dressing / showering / mealtime / outings)
  • Increase muscle tone, strength and / or endurance
  • Improve coordination (fine motor and / or gross motor)
  • Improve messy or reduced handwriting
  • Decrease challenges with meal times (e.g. improving diet and/or utensil use)
  • understand sensory processing abilities and help to regulate responses to noise, touch, taste, smell and sight
  • Increase bodily awareness to avoid being a space invader

 

GROUP PROGRAMS

Social Success! – Help your child make and keep friends by joining one of our group programs!

 

If your child is struggling to make friends, maintain friendships, having difficulty getting along with peers, is being bullied, is anxious about peer interactions, lacks self-esteem or just wants to make some new friends, then this is the group for them.

Group members participate in an introductory goal setting session with one of our therapists, prior to the group starting, unless they are already receiving Spectrum Therapy services.

 

The program will cover topics such as:

  • Getting to know each other
  • Identifying friendship building and blocking behaviours
  • Strategies for self-regulation
  • Safe ways to express emotions
  • Listening skills and communication styles
  • Recognizing perspectives of others
  • Problem solving and compromising

Call us today to register! 9686 2306

Communicating is tricky! Understanding others, expressing yourself, finding the right words, saying things nicely are all areas each of us can find challenging at times. Communicating is a skill we use every day and doing it well is essential for making friendships, achieving academically and succeeding in finding and maintaining employment. Helping your child communicate effectively is a skill that is going to make a huge impact on their life now and in the future.

 

Spectrum Therapy can teach your child to communicate with others so they can make friends and, understand you and clearly tell you what they need with words, instead of challenging behaviour.

Spectrum Therapy Australia provides:

 

ASSESSMENTS

  • Articulation (the clarity of your child’s speech)
  • Receptive language (what your child understands)
  • Expressive language (your child’s use of sentences and grammar)
  • Pragmatic language (how your child uses language in a social context to interact with others)
  • play skills
  • Literacy and phonological skills (the developmental of reading, writing and spelling skills)
  • Fluency of speech

 

THERAPY

Working with the family to establish goals our speech therapist can help your child to:

  • Greet others in different enviroments; home, school, community
  • Communicate verbally in an appropriate way
  • Communicate nonverbally using gesture, facial expression and eye-contact
  • Read and spell
  • Process and understand verbal and nonverbal forms of communication
  • Know when and what to communicate in different contexts with family, friends and strangers
  • Learn how to have a conversation
  • Make friends and maintain friendships
  • Developing play skills including parallel, associative and cooperative play
  • Learn to love spending time with others, talking, laughing and playing with friends

 

GROUP PROGRAMS

Social Success! – Help your child make and keep friends by joining one of our group programs!

If your child is struggling to make friends, maintain friendships, having difficulty getting along with peers, is being bullied, is anxious about peer interactions, lacks self-esteem or just wants to make some new friends, then this is the group for them.

Group members participate in an introductory goal setting session with one of our therapists, prior to the group starting, unless they are already receiving Spectrum

Therapy services.

The program will cover topics such as:

  • Getting to know each other
  • Identifying friendship building and blocking behaviours
  • Strategies for self-regulation
  • Safe ways to express emotions
  • Listening skills and communication styles
  • Recognizing perspectives of others
  • Problem solving and compromising

Call us today to register! Phone 9686 2306

Practice! Practice! Practice! Is often how we learn skills best! That is why Spectrum Therapy now offers specific learning programs to help your children learn. Delivered by an Allied Health Assistant, these sessions can be a great add on to your current therapy plan or an interim option if you are on a waitlist. The programs are also a cost effective way to develop these skills.

 

Spectrum Therapy Australia provides:

1:1 Programs

  • 4 week Handwriting Program
  • 4 week Lego Program (with a focus on fine motor and social skill development

These programs are suitable for children aged 4-12years

GROUP PROGRAMS

Social Success! – Help your child make and keep friends by joining one of our group programs!

Call us today to register your interest in groups or book a 1:1 session !

Phone 9686 2306

The Social Connection programs aim to help children and teenagers improve their social skills and create an opportunity to make friendships in a structured setting with the support of Occupational Therapists, Psychologists and Speech Pathologists. In a Social Connection program, your child will have the opportunity to learn the fundamental skills required for participation in group activities, have the opportunity for parallel, associative and cooperative play with other children of similar abilities, and will continue to develop the social skills needed for positive friendships.

 

Who can participate in the programs?

Social Connection programs will be run for the following age groups:

  • Transition to School Age
  • Primary School Age
  • High School Age
  • Children, Teens and Adults with an Intellectual Disability

 

What Skills will be addressed?

  • Following directions
  • Responding in group settings
  • Sharing in play and conversation
  • Improving listening skills, concentration and attention
  • Learning how to be a good friend
  • Problem solving in social situations and conflict resolution
  • Transitioning to and from activities
  • Recognising and managing emotions and appropriate emotional responses in social situations
  • Turn-taking in play and conversation
  • Learning to understand what is expected and unexpected in social settings
  • Understanding and interpreting emotions and thoughts of their peers in play and conversation

 

How will these key skills be developed?

Social Connection programs will use a combination of direct instruction, role-playing, social stories, and incidental teaching. These skills will be addressed through a range of activities such as story-telling, arts and crafts, group instructions, and group games. These skills will help your child to learn the critical skills needed to develop and maintain positive friendships, cope with challenging social situations and regulating and understanding emotions.

TRANSITION PROGRAM

Give your child a confident start to school with this program. Many children start to feel anxious about starting school over the long summer break. This program runs in the last weeks of January and can make a huge difference to your child starting school confidently and calmly.

The program includes:

  • Practice of a school routine (i.e. mat time, recess, table work, taking the roll, etc)
  • Fun pre-writing and pre-reading activities.
  • PE games.
  • Practice of independent work.
  • Practice of how to meet new friends.

Call us today to register!

Moving on — Stepping up to secondary school

Looking for a stress free start to secondary school for your child? One of the major transitions for children, especially children with Autism Spectrum Disorders or Anxiety related issues, is the move up to Secondary school. This unique program assists this group of children prepare for that step.

Goals of the program:

  • To provide a specialist facilitated environment for students to share their concerns related to their transition to Year Seven and to problem solve around these concerns as a group.
  • To introduce strategies for each participant to manage their school transition related anxieties.
  • To introduce strategies to prepare the students to manage organising their own diary, timetable and belongings in Year Seven.
  • To explore learning styles and explore specific study strategies which could be implemented by them at home and/or school.
  • To explore social skills required, including introducing themselves to new peers and teachers.

This program runs throughout October – February to assist secondary school kids make a successful move from Grade 6 into Year 7.

Call us today to register!

*Please note all our programs require three registered children to proceed.

We believe the more we can share our knowledge and experience, the more it helps the kids we work with. Spectrum Therapy Australia runs a range of training and information seminars for parents, teachers and other professionals on a range of specialist areas related to developing social, sensorimotor, emotional and other skill areas for children.

Seminars we run include:

  • Understanding Autism in the female population
  • Using visual cues to teach and promote positive social behaviours in children.
  • Senseability – Multisensory learning
  • How does your engine run? The Alert Programe for self-regulation
  • Helping children make and keep friends
  • Practically Social – teaching children with Autism/Asperger’s friendship skills
  • Getting hands ready for school tasks
  • Fun finger stuff – activities for developing writing skills
  • What is Autism/Asperger’s clearing up the myths
  • Successful sensory processing strategies for the classroom
  • Calm your child for better sleep
  • Managing challenging behaviour
  • Dealing anxiety in everyday life

We believe the more we can share our knowledge and experience, the more it helps the kids we work with. Spectrum Therapy Australia runs a range of training and information seminars for parents, teachers and other professionals on a range of specialist areas related to developing social, sensorimotor, emotional and other skill areas for children.

Preschool Screenings

Many parents wonder if their child’s motor, play, social and speech and language skills are at the right level for their age. An OT or Speech Screening Assessment can investigate whether your child is meeting developmental outcomes.

Spectrum Therapy Australia can offer OT and Speech and Language screenings to preschools in our local area.

It takes approximately 30 minutes and cost $15 per pre-schooler. Each parent will receive a short report indicating if their child is meeting developmental outcomes, or if further evaluation is recommended.

Contact us on (02) 9686 2306, if you would like to access this service.

Parent-information Sessions

We provide a FREE 40 minute parent information session at preschools, schools and day-cares in the Hills District or Online

We can present on a variety of topics, including:

  • What should my child be saying at this age?
  • Phonological awareness and school readiness
  • What is stuttering and what should I do if my child is stuttering?
  • Improving expressive language and emotional intelligence
  • What motor skills should my child be able to complete?
  • How to best play with my child?
  • How to promote independence in my child’s daily living skills?
  • Regulation tips to help your child through big feelings

If you have any topics that you would like to hear about, please let us know.

In service Training Sessions for Educators

Spectrum Therapy Australia offers in service training to primary school, high school and preschool teachers. The cost of the training session depends on the length of the session and the number of attendees. We can develop a talk specific to your needs or present on the popular topics listed below;

  • Speech and Language Development
  • Phonological awareness
  • Auditory Processing Disorder
  • Stuttering
  • Using ipad apps to develop language and listening skills
  • What should I do if a child is stuttering in my class?
  • Group time/story time tips to strengthen children’s language skills.
  • How to ensure a child is regulated throughout the day?
  • Working with a child on the spectrum?
  • Sensory strategies to assist with learning and independence
  • When a child should be referred to an OT?
  • Setting your classroom up for success?
  • Understanding Autism in the female population
  • Using visual cues to teach and promote positive social behaviours in children.
  • Fun finger stuff – activities for developing writing skills
  • Managing challenging behaviour

Masterclasses Coming Soon..

Have a Question?

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