Therapy Assistants are a vital part of your child’s early intervention team. Working together with allied health professionals, your child’s Educators and your family, a therapy assistant can bridge the gap between therapy sessions and daily life and give your child more opportunities to practice their skills to achieve their goals.
What is a therapy assistant?
A therapy assistant works as an additional support to children requiring early intervention therapies. Following the child’s early intervention plan developed by a qualified allied health professional, the therapy assistant delivers regular one-on-one therapy in a child’s natural environment.
Therapy Assistants are supervised and mentored by the child’s main therapist or key worker and provide input and feedback to ensure the child’s progress is on-track and their needs are being met as they build their skills.
Other indirect supports that your TA might provide include documentation of therapy sessions and communication to the key worker, developing resources, assisting with coordination of services, preparing therapy spaces for sessions and sourcing and ordering therapy resources.
Therapy assistants are not responsible for creating or changing therapy plans, develop goals or providing therapeutic reasoning or advice – these are all activities that are performed by your child’s main therapist.
Why should I engage a therapy assistant?
Therapy assistants are a wonderful addition to your child’s circle of support and here’s why:
Benefit from longer sessions
Learning and developing new skills takes time and practice and sometimes a standard appointment is just not long enough. Therapy assistants are available for longer blocks of time which allows plenty of opportunity for repetition and practice or just extra support where they need it.
Or some children might benefit from having their TA join them for a few hours at their childcare or preschool to assist them in fully participating in everyday routines alongside their peers or provide individualized learning support in the classroom.
Access therapy sooner
We know that many families are on long waitlists for occupational or speech therapy and that allied health professionals are just not available in some areas. You can access therapy sooner with a tailored Therapy Assistant program. Our model allows children to benefit from therapeutic supports without the wait.
More efficient use of funding
As therapy assistant sessions are charged at a lower rate than allied health therapists, you can make your funding go further. Whether that is through a TA program or by simply booking an additional session with a TA in between allied health appointments, you can afford to give your child the support they need.
Who are the therapy assistants?
At Leor, the needs of the child are our main priority. Our therapy assistants come from a broad range of backgrounds and experience which allows us to match your child to a therapy assistant who will suit them best. Many therapy assistants are final year students of allied health disciplines such as speech pathology, occupational therapy and psychology. We have early childhood educators and social workers in the mix as well as parents who have the lived experience of raising their own children with complex needs.
They must hold or be working towards qualifications in either Allied Health, Early Childhood Education, Educational Support or Allied Health Assistance, be able to demonstrate their experience supporting adults or children with diverse needs or show prior professional experience working as an Allied Health Therapy Assistant.
All of our therapy assistants have passed a rigorous selection process and undertake thorough checks before they commence with families, including reference checks, criminal history and working with children checks.
Can therapy assistants help my child get ready for school?
Yes! Many families are seeking some additional support for their children as they prepare to start school.
A therapy assistant can provide individualised learning support to assist your child to develop skills such as self care, communication and comprehension, fine and gross motor skills, behaviour and attention.
Speak to our team about your personalised therapy assistant program.
If this sounds like the right approach for your child’s needs or you’d like more information about this or our other allied health services, call our friendly team on 1300 510 511 or submit an enquiry form.